Saturday 18 August 2012

First Work Party for the Wild Flower Project

Following a couple of meetings of people interested in supporting or participating in this project, we finally got our first work party underway on Saturday 4th August.

The task of managing the whole area (approximately 3/4 acre) will need the support of volunteers with appropriate machinery to cut down the rough growth on the top of the mound.

So we decided to start by tackling the area nearest to the Sports Centre, which is more grassy.
 


Seven volunteers spent an enjoyable morning pulling out Creeping Thistle (cirsium arvense), and some nettles.  Thistles are a good nectar source for bees and butterflies, but they are also an opportunistic weed, and spread by seed and by underground runners.  Our aim was to reduce the numbers in the grassy bank, rather than to eradicate them.  There are still thousands flowering on the mound itself.  Our next step is to cut the grass in September.  Any volunteers?







Saturday 4 August 2012

Winkleigh Wild Flower Project Begins






This area of our local village Playing Fields consists of a large mound of earth excavated when the Sports Centre was built in 2003.  For the past 9 years it has been left alone.  The top of the mound is covered in brambles, nettles, docks and thistles.  The area surrounding the mound is grass which has grown more rough and tussocky due to not being cut at all for this period.

The Winkleigh Memorial Playing Fields Committee has agreed that a group of volunteers can manage this area for the benefit of local people and for wildlife.

We started keeping a record of plants and creatures found on the site from April 2012.  On 1st May, I saw this caterpillar (Drinker Moth).

                         
                          Red Admiral butterfly caterpillar in a nettle tent


             Orange Tip butterfly eggs on Lady's Smock (or Cuckoo Flower)