2025 NEWS

Events 2025

MONTHLY LITTER PICK

A Litter pick along the Emm Brook is undertaken on the first Saturday of every month of the year. The next litter pick will be on Saturday 4th October 2025 at 10.00 . Meet at Dragonfly Bridge to the rear of Morrisons Supermarket, Woosehill RG41 3SN at 10:00. Please wear suitable clothing, footwear and gloves.Litter pickers and bags provided. Parking is available at Morrisons.

WOOSEHILL MEADOWS & EMM BROOK WORK PARTY CALENDAR– Autumn & Winter 2025/26

2025

SEPTEMBER

Sat 6th - FOTEB Litter Pick

September Litter Pick A total of 10 bags of rubbish were removed along with 2 bikes in bits ,wheels and tyres, 6 Camping chairs and various other metalwork. All in 1.5 hrs.

Sat 20th - Work Party

Dead hedge maintenance Our Saturday work party kicked off with willow pollarding and hazel coppicing along the lovely Emm Brook near the balancing pond. We had a productive morning in the sunshine (before the rain arrived!) with our super-motivated team: Willow tree work Replenishing the dead hedge with fresh brush material Carrying out some “first aid” for a willow with a large split branch at the stream bank Pollarding a young willow and one of the smaller veteran trees

OCTOBER

Sat 4th - FOTEB Litter Pick

Fri 12th - Survey, Walk & Talk

Sat 18th - Work Party

NOVEMBER

Sat 01st - FOTEB Litter Pick

Fri 07th or Fri 12th - Survey, Walk & Talk

Sat 15th - Work Party

DECEMBER

Sat 6th - FOTEB Litter Pick

Sat 13th - Work Party

Fri 19th - Survey, Walk & Talk

2026

JANUARY

Sat 3rd FOTEB Litter Pick

Fri 09th - Survey, Walk & Talk

Sat 24th - Work Party

FEBRUARY

7th - FOTEB Litter Pick

Sat 14th - Work Party

Fri 20th - Survey, Walk & Talk

MARCH

Sat 7th - FOTEB Litter Pick

Sat 14th - Work Party

Fri 20th - Survey, Walk & Talk

AGM 2025

This years AGM was held on Monday 12th May, 2025 at the Woosehill Community Centre, Emmview Cl, Wokingham RG41 3DA .

BALSAM BASHING 2025

The annual Balsam Bashing will be undertaken on the Emm Brook later in the year. Once the Balsam has come into flower. Balsam Bashers The Three Amigos will walk the Emm Brook from Area 2 to Area 8 removing Himalayan Balsam as they go in the summer.This years first dates will be 3rd and 4th July.

The Balsam pulling season is over and a total of 75 hours have been put in to remove Balsam over a total distance of approximately 3.53 km or for those of us of a certain age 2.19 Miles.

MONTHLY BIRD WALKS AROUND DINTON PASTURES 2025

RSPB

The RSPB group runs “A Date With Nature” walk at Dinton Pastures Country Park on the first Saturday morning of every month of the year. These start at 9:00 am in the main car park (postcode RG10 0TH), and finish by 12:30 pm. A donation of £2 per adult (children free) is requested. Car park charges at weekends are currently £2.30/hr up to a maximum of £9.20 (for 4 hours or over).

This Month on the Emmbrook
What to look for if you are out and about in

OCTOBER

General

It's a spectacular month as woodlands are ablaze with the reds, yellows and golds of autumn leaves and birds feast on the bright hedgerow berries. The first fungi are starting to appear, too. This is the month that highlights the changing seasons. In the garden birds such as the Blackbird, Blue Tit and Robin will be seen more frequently as their need to find food increases. This time of year is a good time to start feeding them, if you have ever stopped. Autumn colour can be seen along the Emm Brook as the trees and hedgerow leaves change. The last sunday of the month is traditionally when the clocks change again. We move the clocks back an hour on the 28th October at 2 AM and adopt Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) until March.

Birds

In autumn very few birds can be heard singing, although they do call to one another as they move around in flocks.Keep an eyeout for Long-tailed Tits moving from tree to tree at Riverside walk. The exception can often be Robins with their melancholy autumn song. A spell of warm weather sometimes persuades Song and Mistle thrushes to sing from some lofty perch, and this is always welcome. The start of the month Meadow Pipits can sometimes be seen flying over Riverside Walk in large numbers as they migrate to other areas. Redwing and Fieldfare will be migrating from Northern Europe to winter in Britain.This is the time Jays are also active burying acorns to eat during the winter.

Insects

Fewer insect will be seen as the cold weather sets in however certain insects become more noticeable. Around this time of the year Crane flies or Daddy Longlegs appear in their greatest numbers. Harvestmen also known as Harvest spiders can also be seen.

Butterflies

Red Admiral
Red Admirals can still be seen on the wing on sunny day along with Speckled Wood.

Dragonflies

Common Hawkers can still be seen alongside the Emmbrook at Dinton Pastures.

 

Moths

Merville du jour

An exotic-looking moth with an exotic name, the Merveille-du-Jour . It’s an autumn flier that feeds on Ivy flowers and ripe berries, widespread and not scarce in woodland, parkland and gardens; the larvae live on oak. Not all moths are brown and boring! New moths that you may expect to see in the garden in autumn and early winter:

Other Wildlife

As the tree canopy is gradually lost Grey Squirrels can be seen moving through the branches looking for acorns.

Around mid-October Toads go into hibernation, finding logs or stones to hide beneath until Spring arrives once more. Frogs also hibernate at this time at the bottom of ponds or some other sheltered place, ready to emerge again in the following January. Spiders webs – on cold autumn mornings you suddenly realise how many spiders there are. Take an early morning walk and spot spider webs outlined in dew on hedgerows, in meadows even on house windows and car wing mirrors. Spider silk is truly amazing – see if you can find a spider actually making a web and watch carefully how it's constructed.

 

Plants & Trees

Winter Tree

The leaves on the trees and hedgerows start to change colour to a yellow - gold colour. Why do leaves change colour

Individual flowering plants such as hogweed, meadow sweet and greater bindweed may still be found along the banks of the Emm Brook where they have escaped the mower. However they usually look lonely and bedraggled.

October is a good time to see fungi, cool damp days you will find many types in woodland and fields.

Emmbrook Weather

Bernard Burton has been recording the weather alongside the Emm Brook since 1976. His weather station originally situated at Emmbrook Secondary School till 1996 and now at Emmbrook Junior School daily monitors the weather. For a more detailed anaylsis of the previous month's weather visit this link. Emmbrook Weather

For todays Emm Brook weather Todays Weather

For todays Emm Brook sunrise and sunset times Click here

Newsletters

At their meeting in November 2010 the FOTEB management committee took the decision to discontinue the printed newsletters for members. This decision was not taken lightly since there is of course a tradition of keeping members informed of events and sightings by way of regular printed newsletters. However, knowing that the majority of members have internet access and are regular visitors to our website - and having received an increasing number of representations from members expressing a wish to receive literature in an electronic format - your committee felt that the time had come to cease the time-consuming and costly production of regular printed newsletters and replace them with an online noticeboard on our website.

Click on Archive page at the top of the screen to view one of the previous News letters.

Emm Brook River levels now on line

The Environment Agency Website now has a daily update on river levels of the Emm near Tesco's in Area 2