Have you spotted the new mural yet? It’s on the tool shed by the Longhill Road entrance and features some of the beautiful birds, insects and plants that you can see in the park’s woodland areas. Painted by Aspire Artwork, it is part of a broader piece of work to celebrate and improve our beautiful woodland garden.
The mural feature’s the final verse of one of the legendary Benjamin Zephaniah’s best known poems, Nature Trail. This is a firm favourite for many local schools and families, celebrating the diversity and beauty of nature.
There’s a hedgehog and a frog
And a lot of creepy-crawlies
Living underneath a log,
There’s a baby daddy long legs
And an easy-going snail
And a family of woodlice,
All are on my nature trail.
There are caterpillars waiting
For their time to come to fly,
There are worms turning the earth over
As ladybirds fly by,
Birds will visit, cats will visit
But they always chose their time
And I’ve even seen a fox visit
This wild garden of mine.
Squirrels come to nick my nuts
And busy bees come buzzing
And when the night time comes
Sometimes some dragonflies come humming,
My garden mice are very shy
And I’ve seen bats that growl
And in my garden I have seen
A very wise old owl.
My garden is a lively place
There’s always something happening,
There’s this constant search for food
And then there’s all that flowering,
When you have a garden
You will never be alone
And I believe we all deserve
A garden of our own.
Want to read more of this joyful celebration of nature? You can borrow the book version from Lewisham Libraries .