Friends of Queen's Wood

There are still a couple of places left on our magical Dawn Chorus Bird Walks this Saturday 2nd May 2026, at 5am and 7am, with bird wizard David Darrell-Lambert!
The walks are free, but please email [email protected] to book your place, stating which time you prefer.
No dogs on this particular walk, please.
Meet at Lodge/café - see you there. We might even get to see one of these delightful little treecreepers!

The wood anemones have been especially impressive this year in Queen's Wood - captured beautifully in these photos from Helen Mabelis.

Next Sunday (26th April 2026) we have a double bill of activities in the wood!

In the morning, our April working party is a chance to do some hands-on work to care for the woods. Tools will be provided. Meet outside the café/Lodge at 10.30am. Everyone welcome!

And to discover even more of Queen's Wood's flora, including those plants special to Ancient Woodlands, join our botany walk on Sunday afternoon, led by local expert Mario Maculan. Meet outside the café/Lodge at 2pm. Everyone welcome - no need to book.

Two ever-popular (and free!) spring events are coming up in Queen's Wood!

Spring Flower Walk with Mario Maculan on Sunday 26th April 2026. Mario has exceptional knowledge of the local flora, and will guide this walk to discover what is emerging this spring in Queen's Wood. Meet outside the Lodge/café at 2pm. Everyone welcome, no need to book.

On Saturday 2nd May, "Bird Brain" David Darrell-Lambert will lead our annual Dawn Chorus Walks. Numbers are limited, so please book your place by emailing [email protected] and stating which walk you wish to attend (5am / 7am). No dogs please on this particular walk. Meet outside the Lodge/café.

RUSSELL MILLER - ONLINE TALK WEDNESDAY 25TH FEB

Join us on Wednesday 25th February 2026 at 7.30pm online, when Russell Miller will present a talk: Woodland Management, Nature Recovery and ReWilding. What, Why, Where?

Russell is an ecologist, ancient tree expert and campaigner for wildness and social justice. This is a chance to share Russell's deep knowledge of woodland management and the ecology cycles of ancient woodlands.

Email [email protected] for the Zoom details.

🦔🌳🦔🌳🦔 Hedgehog update! 🦔🌳🦔🌳🦔

The Friends of Queen’s Wood recently commissioned London HogWatch to conduct a survey for the presence of hedgehogs in Queen's Wood. Back in 2017 a similar survey failed to detect any, although a single hedgehog was found in Highgate Wood. Our current study again failed to record any in Queen’s Wood, but we are very encouraged by abundant sightings in Highgate Wood. You can help analyze the camera footage in this very fun citizen science project: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/londonhogwatch/london-hogwatch

Hopefully some pioneering individuals will soon make it across the road from Highgate Wood into Queen’s Wood, directly or through adjacent gardens. With this in mind, over the coming year we are working to make the habitat in the wood as welcoming as possible. Landscape connectivity, especially through gardens, has been shown to be crucial for hedgehog movement and this could also help us – for example, gaps of around 13 x 13cm incorporated at the base of fences allows the passage of an adult animal.

More information from The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) about making gardens hedgehog friendly:
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/helping-hedgehogs-2
https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaflets/L16-Gardening-with-Hedgehogs.pdf

Finally, we would be fascinated to learn of any hedgehog sightings you may have made in your gardens in the past year!

London HogWatch | Zooniverse - People-powered research Help us identify wildlife in Highgate Woods, funded by City of London Corporation.

Although cycling isn't allowed *inside* Queen's Wood, we're very much in favour of active travel and cycling *outside* of the wood!

We've been contacted by a researcher at London School of Economics, who is doing work on how to make cycling safer and more welcoming for people in London. Jenevieve Treadwell has devised an AI-based image polling system, whereby people can select which images seem to present a more welcoming or safer place for cycling.

If you'd like to contribute to this research, follow this link:
https://cycleai.net/perceptionPoll. You can spend as much or as little time as you wish!

If you have any questions, contact Jenevieve directly: [email protected].

HELP US BID FOR BETTER PATHS IN QUEEN'S WOOD
Deadline Sunday 18th January!

For a number of years we have been complaining to Haringey Council about the appalling state of the path network in Queen’s Wood. Some minor renovation has been undertaken from time to time but the overall picture is one of continuing deterioration The Council has made it clear that it has no funding available from its own resources for the major work required: instead it will have to come from external sources.

The Council has recently launched a consultation on their second round of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) spending in local neighbourhoods. The Levy is collected from building developers and 25% of it must be spent in the neighbourhoods where it is collected. The deadline for responses is Sunday, 18 January.

We are planning to lodge a bid for funding for renovating the path from the Muswell Hill Road to Connaught Gardens, at the point it dips to cross the Moselle Brook. It will help our cause if as many members as possible respond to the consultation separately by advocating the case for spending CIL money on the QW path system.

The link to the consultation documentation is https://haringeyncil.commonplace.is/. There are two methods specified for commenting: completing the surveys on the website or sending an email to [email protected] We recommend the latter to avoid having to write up a project in detail.

Please note that the funds are allocated between a number of areas. Queen’s Wood has been placed in the Highgate Neighbourhood Forum area and that will need to be pointed up in your response. In framing any response you might like to emphasise the importance of a sound path network for amenity, accessibility and safety, as well as contributing to nature conservation through minimising soil compaction and erosion. Making it easier to get around the wood will contribute to the council's policies through the wellbeing and health benefits that closeness to natural surroundings brings...

If you have any queries please email us on [email protected].
Thankyou!

Queen's Wood events are ramping up for the new year! Our first working party will be on Sunday 25th January. Come along to help care for the woods in the lead up to spring. Meet outside the café/lodge at 10.30am. Everyone welcome!

On Wednesday 25th February at 7.30pm, Ancient Tree expert Russell Miller will present a talk online - a chance to share in his deep knowledge of the ecology cycles of ancient woodlands, and to ask him your questions. Email [email protected] for the Zoom details.

We're very pleased to welcome London Blind Ramblers again for an early spring walk in March. And look out for more details of Mindful Drawing, Dawn Chorus Bird Walks, and our Woodland Flower Walk, all coming up in the spring.

🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽
!PLEASE DON'T DUMP YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE!
🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽👎🏼🎄🙏🏽

Happy New Year to everyone, on this beautiful snowy and frosty day!

It's time to send out a reminder PLEASE DON'T DUMP CHRISTMAS TREES in or near Queen's Wood. It's potentially ecologically harmful to bring in dead trees or other organic matter.

Instead, Haringey council have an excellent service for collecting and recycling Christmas trees. You can leave it in your front garden with your bins, or drop off in several named sites across the borough. For more details:

Christmas tree recycling | Haringey Council Street collection, communal bins, recycling centre, park drop-off sites, community gardens

Huge thanks to botanist Mario Maculan for stepping in at the last minute and leading our walk last Sunday, when our scheduled guide, Jeff Duckett was unable to attend.

Mario is exceptionally knowledgeable about the local flora and fungi, and we were treated to a really fascinating walk around the wood, which was bursting with a wonderful variety of fungi. The highlight was perhaps the tiny tiny Holly Parachute, Marasmius hudsonii, which grows specifically on decaying holly leaves. You need a magnifying lens to see it in all its incredible beauty. Here's a link to a stunning close-up of the Holly Parachute by Barry Webb https://www.cupoty.com/barry-webb-holly-parachute [All other photos Friends of Queen's Wood]

RESCHEDULING MINDFUL DRAWING SESSION
Given the poor weather forecast and limited sign up, we have decided to postpone this event until the spring, when the weather will be more suitable.
Apologies for any disappointment. We will circulate the revised date in due course.