The blossom is out on the trees at Browick Road Community Orchard. Scarlet elf-cap is burgeoning in Friarscroft Wood. River testers are a-testing and seeing kingfishers a-fishing. The Great Big Spring Clean-up is triumphantly over, with dozens of rubbish bags removed. Now we are gearing up to enjoy spring and the approach of summer.

Great news for Friarscroft Wood: the county wildlife site designation has been expanded to cover the whole pond area as well as the wet woodland towards the Tiffey. Hats off to Norfolk Wildlife Trust for pushing this through, in particular, Chloe Gordon, who surveyed the wood’s flora earlier this year.

At the next workday (April 15), we will concentrate on the path through the public side of the woods. Come and visit! We are still discovering remnants of the old town allotments from 40 years ago – and some, like toolheads, are still reusable. Our toadwatch at the site has so far shown no reptile activity at all, perhaps they know our plans to expand and deepen the pond to make it more luxurious for self-respecting newts. Build it, and they will come!

A quick look back: Wymondham was very well represented at the recent "Illuminate!" evening. It celebrated 20 years of the Norfolk Community Foundation, whose millions of pounds worth of grants have helped sustain the plans of charities and community groups in the county. Greening Wymondham were invited to be there, as were Cup-O-Tea – two of the twelve exhibitors from our town. We talked to people from all over Norfolk about our town and projects, but, better still, we also spoke to other volunteers about ways forward. Cross-fertilisation to dream of!

We also have an upcoming Farmer’s Market on April 19th, so please feel free to come and chat with our colleagues at the Sustainable Wymondham stall about local action to address our changing climate.