The Wintry Copse

For years, Britain's national parks have been trying to attract more visitors from a broader range of backgrounds and ages. In 2020 Lockdown, they got more than they bargained for.

During these months. where travel was banned and local exercise was encouraged, and limited, people have been heading to our green spaces in greater numbers than ever before. This, of course, creates side effects. For example in 2020, the Peak District in Derbyshire had to double its budget for litter collection. and Snowdonia developed a nuisance parking problem.

Three Cornered Copse seems to have been blessed with similar phenomena, albeit on a smaller scale. More families, cyclists and runners have swelled the usual dog walking population each day, which has inevitably taken its toll on the woods and grassland. This will recover of course, but the efforts of the Friends of Three Cornered Copse have been needed more than ever in the past 12 months. Of course the workdays, led by a Park Ranger, have not been possible, so much of the heavy lifting and path clearance hasn't happened, during the time when it has been needed most.

Inevitably not all picnickers are thoughtful enough to clear the empties, and we rely heavily on the individuals that patrol and collect the abandoned bottles and cans.

Litter has been a problem. With no gatherings permitted in our gardens and bars, liquid picnics have been popular in places like the copse. Inevitably not all picnickers are thoughtful enough to clear the empties. and we rely heavily on the individuals that patrol and collect the abandoned bottles and cans. (lf you see them please say "thank you", it helps enormously.) At the end of last year, The ButterflyCup was launched, the UK's first ever lidless, plastic-free, environmentally friendly disposable coffee cup (www.butterflycup.com ). We pick up many plastic coffee lids in Three Cornered Copse; I suspect Hove Park and Green Ridge have a similar problem. Let's hope our local takeaway coffee shops get to start using these as soon as possible.

In the meantime, oblivious to our pandemic, the wintry copse continues its cycle. Snowdrops are starting to rise tentatively above the mud, precocious cow parsley shoots are beginning to carpet the forest floor, and the hazel branches are in bud. The woodpeckers have been seen once again; their distinctive drilling can be heard high up in the leafless branches of the taller beech trees.

Soon, the muddy paths will be baked hard as concrete, and perhaps the Friends of Three Cornered Copse can start to work again, perhaps with additional members from our new visitors?

Simon Baxendale