New planting and nest boxes

Each time I visit the Community Nature Area, there is further growth in the original Biodiversity Area (The Mound) and in the new lower part with the Flower Meadow.

Spring blossom

Primroses.

Thanks to a second grant from Tarka Country Trust, two House Martin nest-boxes have been installed at the rear of the building under the eaves. 

Also, a Kestrel and an Owl Box have been put up in the Jubilee Wood in April 2024.

Owl Box

Kestrel Box

A new hedge-bank with trees has been planted right up towards the Allotments, providing hundreds more native hedgerow trees for birds and other wildlife. We look forward to seeing their growth during their first season.

Autumn comes early this year

Due to the very hot and dry Summer, berries and nuts started to mature early on the trees in the more established area of the Community Nature Area, The Mound.

Blackberries for birds and small mammals

Hazelnuts for small mammals

Crab apples

Rowan berries

Hoverfly on Dogwood

Red-tailed Bumblebee

Lower Meadow in flower and a visit from Tarka Country Trust

In August 2023, we were delighted to show round the Trustees from Tarka Country Trust.  The Sports and Recreation Centre had been awarded a grant to sow wild flowers and they wished to visit to see our progress.  Along with a grant from ND Biosphere for flower and grass seed, and trees from the Woodland Trust, the new extension area to the Community Nature Area had been created in February.

Maggie in conversation with Trustee Tom Hynes

The flowers from the native seed mix have eventually started to bloom and are clearly very attractive to pollinators such as hoverflies and bees.

It was decided to dig out a scrape or shallow pond behind the new bank.  It has been so dry this season, that water has not filled it yet, so it remains to be seen if it will be useful to wildlife.

A volunteer from China planting trees

Lower Meadow of the Community Nature Area is slowly developing

The trees and wild flower seed were sown in February, but a prolonged drought has meant the germination of the seed was slow and the little trees struggled through lack of rain.  Here are some photos of the area developing taken in early June 2023.

The transplanted Beech hedge in leaf

New trees planted along a new bank

Brimstone butterfly caterpillar

Thick-thighed Flower Beetle

Flowering grasses

Bare soil as the seed slowly germinates