More native trees whips added to the spiral hedgerow

#IDigTrees - Over 1 million trees. And growing...December 2020

Despite the restrictions on meeting up during the Covid-19 pandemic, we successfully managed to plant all 100 young trees donated to us by The Conservation Volunteers (IDigTrees Project) which is funded by Ovo Energy. 

 

 

Kim - "Chief Organiser"

 

Included in the packs were: Oak, Alder, Beech, Silver Birch and Hornbeam (10 of each) and Rowan, Bird Cherry, Hazel, Crab Apple and Grey Willow (10 of each). We have not planted Alder or Green Beech on the site before, so this adds to our biodiversity.

Dave

Matt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie

 

Six volunteers met up on four separate occasions in December, with two or three people working together on one occasion, to keep within the Government guidelines on meeting outdoors and keeping a safe distance.

Vicki

Kim - again

Dave

Kim admiring the 2012 Cherry Tree

Spring to Autumn 2020

Well, it has been a strange year so far with a worldwide virus pandemic going on.  The grounds of the Sports Centre were closed to the public, so Nature was left more or less to itself for a few months. The school children could not come to plant trees in late March, so older members of the community met up in pairs or threes, while sticking to the government guidelines and all the trees were put into the ground during April and May.  These were from a pack of 105 Trees from the Woodland Trust which arrived on March 11th.  Unfortunately, the Holly did not survive the hot weather, and we have one pack of Hawthorn still to plant.  So in total we planted approximately 75 trees this Spring (Field Maple, Downy Birch, Hazel). We were able to plant a further 25 Alder Buckthorn, making around 60 in total.  These were not very healthy plants, so we obtained a refund from the nursery which supplied them.  We will see in 2021 how many have survived.  

Thanks to those who turned out in cold and windy conditions and got these plants into the ground either here or in the allotments (including David, Penny, Philip, Kim and Catherine).

 Our rough grass with holes is ideal habitat for ground-nesting bumblebees which nest in disused mouse nest.  Here is a Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen looking for a nest on 9th April.

Maggie and Ian from Wheatland Farm Eco lodges volunteered to support us by cutting the grass paths with their super new mower this year. It was initially a bit tricky getting it through the small gate...

Maggie has cut the paths several times this season, even in the really hot weather in June and the paths have responded well - it is more accessible now on foot.  Maggie avoided cutting down the best of the Knapweed, Yarrow and other flowers, so the bees had plenty to feed on.

Trees planted from the Fruit, Seed and Nut collection are now producing food for the birds and mammals.

Flowers feeding the insects, too.  Here is a Small Copper whose caterpillars feed on Sorrel. 

Total trees planted (planting season 2019-20: December-May = 250 approximately)

Woodland Trust Trees - we make a start on planting them

This week we had been hoping that the older children from Winkleigh Primary School would come to plant some trees donated by the Woodland Trust with funding from Sainsburys.  Unfortunately, this was cancelled at the last minute, due to the need for minimising social contact with others.  So a few adults gathered on Tuesday and again today (Saturday), despite a very cold wind.  We were careful to space ourselves apart to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19.

The first tree to be planted was a Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica), which needed a larger hole.  Philip got to work with the mattock to clear the ground. This Beech tree was donated by a Winkleigh resident, for which we are grateful.

Using  mattock to clear the grass

The soil is wet from heavy rain, but the other small trees were easy enough to pop into a slot made with a spade.

We have now planted approximately 35 Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus), a shrub which provides food for the caterpillars of the Brimstone butterfly.  Let's hope we can start of colony of these beautiful yellow creatures, which are usually on the wing from March until August.  The females are a pale green, and are sometimes mistaken for Large White.  They lay single eggs on the tips of the twigs, sometimes even before the leaves open in April.  The caterpillar chews tiny holes in the leaf, so it is quite easy to spot them, even though they are exactly the same green as the leaf.  These shrubs were funded by the newly-formed Winkleigh Environment Group.

In addition we planted 15 Hazel and 10 Field Maple.  We are now reaching a situation where most of the spiral hedgerow has plants spaced approximately 1-2 metres apart.  The next phase will be to maintain the area and keep the grass from choking the smaller trees.

Volunteers braving the chill Easterly wind

The leaves are appearing on Hawthorn and Wild Cherry, and some on the Willow.  The first blossom is also just opening on the Cherry.

Wild Cherry planted in 2014

Our next planting is on Sunday 29th March, and we are hoping for warmer weather.  We still have Hawthorn, Downy Birch, Goat Willow to plant.

More trees to fill the gaps

An enthusiastic group of volunteers gathered on Sunday afternoon, 12th January.  After endless rain, at last the weather was dry and we planted approximately 100 trees in two hours.

This time we had an energetic band of 5 teenagers and 10 adults - a great turn-out at short notice.

The native trees included willow, blackthorn, hawthorn, oak, red dogwood.  We also planted some primroses and raspberry canes.

To avoid more plastic, we re-used our rabbit spirals and canes from some trees which no longer needed them.

We also took the opportunity to do some formative pruning on some of the older trees, such as the Cherry and the Oak, guided by Tom.

The trees were funded by Ovo Energy as part of #IDigTrees and distributed by The Conservation Volunteers.

Woodland Trust's Big Climate Fightback

A happy tree-planting group

National Tree Week and the Big Climate Fightback

This weekend was the Woodland Trust's 'Big Climate Fightback' campaign to get a million trees planted.  So we organised a work-party up at the Biodiversity Area on Sunday 1st December.  The grass had just had a second cut, which made walking around the path more manageable.  It was great to see the enthusiasm of the volunteers, young and old.  Thirteen adults and four children, got stuck into clearing grass, cutting bramble, and planting another 30 trees - mainly native tree seedlings from our gardens.

Busy volunteers

Here are some of the volunteers, with another four of us who do not appear in the photos.  We have ordered some more packs of trees, so this looks like being a busy Winter, as we fill in the gaps around the spiral maze hedgerow.

It was a bright, dry but cold afternoon.  We were delighted to have another sighting of a Stonechat, which flitted around us and sat on the top of canes.

Big Climate Fightback - Woodland Trust 2019

Seven years' progress - let's celebrate!

Before we started - Winter 2012

Seven years ago - first tree planting in December 2012

This week is National Tree Week and the Woodland Trust are asking people to pledge to plant a million trees by this weekend.  So we are going up to the Biodiversity Area on Sunday 1st December from 1.30pm onwards to plant a few more trees and to maintain the ones we already have planted.  We are planning to cut back brambles and remove some tree guards which are now too tight. The weather is still mild, so the grass is likely to be quite long.  Seven years have passed since our first planting on 4th December 2012.  Some of the volunteers are no longer with us having moved away, but new people have joined us along the way.  Many thanks to all those who have offered encouragement and support to this project, which is beginning to bear fruit both metaphorically and in reality!

Cherry Tree in 2019

Nuts and berries for the birds

On visiting the Biodiversity Area today, I could see that many of the trees now have ripe berries for birds and small mammals.  One of the packs of trees donated by the Woodland Trust was specifically chosen for this purpose.  We have rose-hips, dogwood berries, rowan berries, hazelnuts and whitebeam berries.

Dog Rose

Rowan

Hazel

In turn the mice which eats these fruits and nuts build nests which will be used by future bumblebee queens, and are in turn eaten by owls.

Dogwood

Haven for pollinating insects and butterflies

In early August, on a warm sunny afternoon I went to carry out a count of butterfly species for the Big Butterfly Count.  The main grassland species Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper were present, but in smaller numbers than earlier in the year, due to the warm summer they had emerged early.  I also saw Small Copper, Large and Small Whites and several Small Skippers.

Large White on Common Knapweed

There were also a lot of bumblebees, feeding on the Knapweed.  There were a lot of Red-tailed, Common Carder and White or Buff-tailed Bumblebees. I saw at least one Queen Red-tailed and several males.

White-tailed

Red-tailed Male

White-tailed Bumblebee

Red-tailed Female (Queen)

 I also found the colourful Cinnabar Moth caterpillars.

 There were other pollinators too, including this Soldier Fly.

On July 13th, I went to visit the area and found that there were lots of wild flowers in bloom.  As we are only topping the grass once or twice per year, and we do not have the possibility of raking the grass cuttings, it is heartening to see the development of so many flowering species, thriving in competition with the grasses.

Marsh Woundwort

Yarrow

Meadow Buttercup and Silverweed

Oxeye Daisies and Marsh Thistle

Catsear

There are also a lot of Common Knapweed which provide a lengthy season of nectar in July and August.

All the new trees are planted now

On Saturday morning it was a beautiful sunny day so Penny and I completed the planting of the rest of the 100 trees (sent to us by Woodland Trust as part of the Memorial Woods plantings).

So far, since December 2012, volunteers from Winkleigh area have planted approximately 350 native trees on the site, and the Spiral Maze hedgerow has eventually become clearer 'on the ground'.  Thanks to the cutting of the grass round the path, it can also be seen from the satellite images on Google.


Here are some more photos of the maturing trees.

Rowan planted 2012

Wild Cherry planted 2014

 ...and the volunteers planting the new ones.

Spring 2019

Trees are flowering once again in Spring

Today, I went up to the Mound again to continue planting around the Spiral Maze Hedgerow.  Sue came along to help me and we planted more than 30 trees in around an hour.

Thanks to the Woodland Trust, we were given a further 100 trees this winter, 30 of which I planted with Sheila, Sue (W) and Andrew last November.

We put in some silver birch, hazel, cherry and hawthorn.  It was a beautiful Spring day and a pleasure to be outdoors.  We saw a wren, blue tits, a ladybird, bumble bees and also - rather exciting - a pair of stonechats on brambles and sloe.

Female stonechat

The trees I photographed last year have really grown significantly.  Cherries and Goat Willow are in blossom, with Dogwood nearly in flower already.

Pussy Willow Catkins

Wild Cherry with Blossom

Spring has arrived on The Mound

This weekend the warm weather has brought out some of the flowers and insects in the Biodiversity Area.  The grass is about knee-high at most, and so it is possible to walk around the spiral maze.

The first trees to flower are the hazels, wild cherries, the elder and the rowan.  There is also some sloe blossom in the old hedge-bank.  The Pussy Willow catkins are good sources of nectar for bees.

Wild Cherry planted April 2014

Rowan planted April 2014

Goat Willow (Pussy Willow) 2016

Elder - existing hedgerow

I also saw a black ladybird with red spots (possibly a 2-spot), three Great Tits, a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, a wren, two brown Carder Bumblebees.  There are also a lot of Red Admiral caterpillars in their nettle tents.

Caterpillars hidden from predators inside their 'tents'

Some early flowers are dandelion, celandine, lady's smock - the food plant of the Orange Tip butterfly.  The leaves are opening on the Alder Buckthorn, but no sign of Brimstone butterfly eggs yet.