Spring Tidy-up Work Party

A few of us gathered this week to check the smaller trees and replace canes or rabbit spirals, where they were absent or broken. Some of the larger trees needed their protectors removed, as they had grown big enough. On Monday, Kim and Emily met up and braved the showers to work on the trees along the boundary fence. After the dry April, the very wet May has caused everything to grow very fast. The hawthorn, rowan and whitebeam are now all in flower.

On Wednesday, Penny and Kim were joined by Euan, who is volunteering in conservation work as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award. Euan was clearing away branches from some hedge-cutting along the ditch, to allow us to mow the paths.

We were pleased to see some Spring flowers - red campion, welsh poppy and garlic mustard. We also caught sight of a couple of Field Voles and Lizards darting out of sight. The Spring has been cool so far this year, and there were no butterflies on the wing, but we did find some caterpillars of the Peacock butterfly in their web on some stinging nettles.

Spring - signs of new life

This Spring has been a chilly one, with the coldest April for 60 years, so things are coming out more slowly than last year. Nevertheless, the Mound is beginning to show plenty of blossom on the trees and shrubs. The Cherry blossom is over and there are tiny cherries appearing already. Summer food for the birds and small mammals.

There are flowers on the Crab Apples, Rowan, Hawthorn and Holly, providing nectar and pollen for pollinating insects.

On my latest visit yesterday, I encountered plenty of flying insects and a pretty little Spider called a Cucumber Green Orb Spider (Araniella cucurbitina) settled on the leaf of an Alder Buckthorn.

There was also a colourful Drinker Moth caterpillar here.

The grasses have also started to flower, including the fragrant Sweet Vernal Grass and Timothy Grass. There are also some Garlic Mustard plants flowering now alongside Red Campion in the damper parts. Garlic Mustard is the caterpillar foodplant for the Green-veined White butterfly, so we hope for some this Summer.

Our first planned tidy-up was rained off last week, unfortunately, but we are planning another one soon. We are always looking for volunteers. Some of the canes and spirals need to be removed or replaced. We have also had our first noticeable deer damage to the bark of a couple of trees. This is pretty unavoidable given our proximity to Winkleigh Woods, but I hope not too much damage will be done.

Winter signs of life

The other day I went to have a look around at the site, to see what I could discover of the wildlife living on The Mound. I found signs in the long grasses of animals having passed through or sheltering there. For example, there was a tunnel of grass leading through the wire fence, which could have been made by a hedgehog or a badger.

There was a little round hole, indicating a tunnel made in the grass by a vole, a pile of snail shells nibbled from the spiral end, which is usually the sign of Bank Voles and a pile of green droppings, characteristic of Field Voles, because their main diet is grass.

Bank and Field Voles are one of the main sources of food for Tawny and Barn Owls.

Our area also provides a home for many insects, some of the more attractive ones having already been pictured on this blog. I found two galls, pictured below - an Oak Marble Gall and a Thistle Stem Gall which provide a nest for the larvae of specific insects (Andricus kollari and Urophora cardui).  Insects feed birds and bats, and some smaller mammals.

. 

In addition, the tall hollow stems of Common Hogweed have provided protection for the larvae of a fly or wasp, shown by the holes bored to let them out.

So, even in mid-Winter, there are signs of life all around The Mound.

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