CHAIR'S REPORT 2025
(Presented to the AGM held on January 18th 2026; covering the year 2025)Our first event of last year was the Winter Walk and AGM on Sunday 19th January. It was a cool and grey afternoon, but we saw a few nice birds to brighten things up. There was plenty of action at the pavilion feeders before we set off and the highlight was a flock of Long Tailed Tits that just ignored us and gave everyone great views. The next highlight was at the boardwalk when two small brown birds were excellently spotted feeding right at the back on the ground in the gloom. These turned out to be a pair of Redpoll - a new sighting for our park list and not a regular bird in Wickford at all. They are normally found feeding on Alder in winter, so they were in the right place, but have never been seen feeding on the ground before. The final highlight of the day was at the lake where we saw 20 Mallard, the most ever seen here. Mainly males looking great with their new winter plumage, all ready for the breeding season.
After the walk, mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed, and then down to business for the AGM.
Our next event was the Birdsong Walk on Sunday 13th April. The weather was sunny but quite cool with an easterly breeze. There were lots of Chiffchaff and Blackcap singing, great views of a male Kingfisher at the lake and of a Lesser Whitethroat, also the Wrens were very active. In all 24 bird species were seen. A few butterflies were starting to emerge, and some bees and other insects were spotted in the pavilion garden.
The Picnic in the Park event that was due to take place on Saturday 7th June was sadly cancelled due to the weather.
There were 2 moth and stargazing nights this year. The first took place on Sunday 15th June at St Mary's Church, it was a fine night and in total 32 species were identified. The second was on Friday 4th July in the Wick Country Park.
The Autumn Walk took place on Sunday 19th October. The weather was mild with sunny spells. There was a nice flock of Goldfinch feeding on the alders along the boardwalk. A large flock of Wood Pigeon at the start of the walk perhaps showed how many really live around the park. There were plenty of Magpies and the Robins were very active as they sort out their winter territories. Quite a few Redwings were spotted overhead, all on migration but none landing to feed.
Abacus School again requested some help for their visit to the Wick Country Park on Armistice Day, 11th November. On the morning a group of 58 pupils and their teachers came to hear about the 3 pillboxes in the country park, then all wanting to see inside went into the pillbox near the pavilion two at a time! At 11am we then observed a 2 minute silence.
The planting of the wildlife meadow was completed early March with 29 varieties of seed being planted. The planting session of the kind donation of bulbs from Wickford in Bloom took place on 16th October, a very much appreciated thank you to all the volunteers who came along and helped with the planting.
The monthly wildlife walks again expertly organised by Martin Singleton have proved popular. Each month a comprehensive report is produced and also an annual summary which are then uploaded onto the FOWCP website. Many thanks to Martin for his continued and welcome support of these and also the event walks.
Thank you to the Wick-ed Gardeners for maintaining the pavilion garden during the year. Thank you to Marie for organising these and the valued team who come along and work so hard in maintaining the pavilion garden.
Thank you to Ali Riley for her excellent management of our Facebook page, also to Alaric Cundy for all his hard work maintaining the website.
We are appealing for more volunteers, especially to join the committee to help us arrange and give new ideas for this year's events.
Christine Lee
Acting Chair, Friends of the Wick Country Park
January 2026