Celebrating our 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago this week, on a cold and frosty morning, a dozen volunteers from Winkleigh and Hollocombe Parish came together to plant the first trees on the top of The Mound. These trees were planted to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

This area had been given rent-free to a group of interested people to develop as a space for nature by the Trustees of the Winkleigh War Memorial Recreation Field.  At that point it was rough ground, covered in thistles, docks and nettles which had been left alone since the building of the Sports Centre in 2003.  At first, we had romantic visions of a wild flower meadow, but our first work-parties showed us just how fertile the ground was and how it would be very difficult to restore without using pigs or stripping off all the topsoil.  Initially there was no fencing or rent to pay, as the rest of the field had not yet been let out to a sheep farmer.  This blog tells our story of joys and challenges over the past decade in more detail. Thanks to the many people have been involved, of all ages, in so many ways to support this project. Just look at these photos to see the Area's development!

Before we started in
 2012

First trees planted 1st December 2012

Sheep invasion in May 2014!

Involving young people June 2015

Volunteer topping the grass May 2017

Families tree-planting in January 2020

View from field in June 2021

Wild Cherry 2022

Silver Birch

Knapweed and Yarrow

We welcome everyone to join in our maintenance work-parties and citizen science events.

First post-pandemic winter work-party

Today, for the first time since the winter of 2019-2020, we were able to gather a larger group of people together for a work-party on The Mound without restrictions or fear of spreading coronavirus. 

It is also the first time we have been able to celebrate together being Winners in the North Devon Biosphere Pledge for Nature Award in Spring 2021.  Winkleigh Biodiversity Group won the Community Group Award and Kim was nominated a 'Community Champion'. Kim and Penny are proudly holding up the plaques we won.

Our Pledge for Nature Awards

 

The weather was cold but dry, so the ten of us spread out over the Area each to our separate tasks. James replaced many of the plastic tree-spirals with the plant-based biodegradable ones we bought recently with funds raised from the Winkleigh Tree Hub in April.

Replacing plastic tree-guards

David trimmed back some of the most flowery patches on the grass path.  Cutting grass back now will help the Knapweed, Yarrow, Oxeye Daisy and Marsh Woundwort which flower there in mid-Summer. 

Strimming the flowery patches

The rest of us, Kim, Trevor, Catherine, Maggie, Ian, Sue, Penny and Philip all set to snipping bramble around the smaller whips so that they don't get shaded out next year.  The taller trees actually benefit from bramble around them, as this stops the deer from damaging the bark. During the morning's work we also had three visitors to see what we have been doing here.

Trimming back some bramble

To our delight we found two small nests made of woven vegetation.  This one is 8cm in diameter and is definitely a Harvest Mouse nest. It was found by Maggie in some bramble which had been cut back by Alan last week. We will register this find with the Devon Harvest Mouse Survey which is run by the Devon Mammal Group. It is the first nest found in our 10km x 10km square this winter survey season.  The only other one this year was found by Kim here (photos on the April 2022 blog).

Harvest Mouse nest of woven grass

What is truly amazing about Nature, is that if you give it space and leave it in peace, many species move in.  For the first time this year, we have lichen growing on two of the trees.  Firstly, a foliose lichen on a Wild Cherry and secondly a script lichen on English Oak, both planted in 2012.

Foliose lichen

Script lichen

The site has changed since the summer, when the dead Leylandii hedge between the Old Bowling Green and the Biodiversity Area was removed. We can now see the Sports Centre and a certain amount of shelter from the westerly winds has gone.

View to the South West

On our tenth anniversary we are celebrating our achievement and yet we are also awaiting anxiously the outcome of a proposal by the current Trustees to develop a sports pitch across part of the Biodiversity Area, which would cut into the Spiral Maze and displace many trees, shrubs and plants, which feed and house many of the species that make their home here.

Young hazel, oak and rowan

Summer fruits and next year's butterflies

It was a warm sunny day at the end of August when I took a stroll around the Biodiversity Area to see what was there.  Blackberries were ripening on the brambles, providing fruit for birds, wasps and small mammals, such as voles, dormice and harvest mice.

In addition, I found some black aphids clustered along a stem, looking like a good meal for hungry birds.

One of the Silver Birches had a good crop of catkins, to provide seedlings for the future, but also good to sustain birds and voles through the coming winter.

Birch catkins August 2022

The cycle of life was also evident in the hope for next year's butterflies and moths.  One brightly-coloured Cinnabar Moth caterpillar was chewing on Common Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), before spending the winter as a pupa, to emerge in May to July next year.

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

And finally, I was enthralled to watch a pair of Small Copper butterflies mating in the warm sunshine on a bramble leaf, promising more of these delightful small butterflies for 2023.

Small Copper pair mating

The Small Copper is usually only seen in ones or twos.  We usually have some on the site each year, as the caterpillars feed on Sorrel, which is abundant. They sometimes eat Broad-leaved Dock, too.  Warm, dry conditions are favoured, unlike some of the other butterflies which prefer our damp grassland. So perhaps this unusually dry hot summer has been beneficial to them. Wing Span (male to female): 32-35 mm.

Devon's driest Summer for decades

This Summer has seen so little rain that an official drought was declared this month and a hosepipe ban introduced.  Naturally, this has affected the smaller trees in particular and it is possible we may lose some of those planted last season.  When I visited in early August, many of the trees were surviving, but had autumn colouring and they were losing their leaves prematurely.  The recent rain will have helped them enormously.

Bird Cherry from 2022

On a brighter note, the warm sunshine has helped the many butterfly, bumblebee and insect populations.  Here are some photos of butterfly species observed in the grass.  This is the second year running that I have seen the beautiful Marbled White in flight, so am hopeful a colony may be established.

Small Skipper - Male

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)

1. Can be seen as a butterfly end of June to the start of August.

2. Female lays her eggs on the grass known as Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus).       

3. The caterpillars spend the winter cocooned inside the grass stem.

4. Typical habitats are rough grass, grass verges and woodland clearings.

Marbled White

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea):

1. Beautiful patterns of striking black and white.

2. Flies late June to early August.

3. The female drops her eggs to the ground, rather than choosing a specific grass species to lay upon.

4. Caterpillar eats shell then hibernates.

5. The Red Fescue (Festuca rubra) and Sheep's Fescue (Festuca ovina) are the main plants that the caterpillars use.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper butterfly

Flies in July to August and feeds on various grasses with a preference for fine grasses such as bents (Agrostis spp.), fescues (Festuca spp.), and meadow-grasses (Poa spp.). Common Couch (Elytrigia repens) is also used. 

There were plenty of other insects there too, and I managed to catch a mature grasshopper resting on a blade of grass. These adults will be around until winter sets in and their nymphs will emerge next April or May.

Meadow Grasshopper (mature)

 

All these records will be sent to Devon Biodiversity Records Centre, as well as informing the Big Butterfly Count and the Big Meadow Search 2022.

In May, we carried out some summer maintenance.  A small group of us met to clear grass around the smaller trees. Here Peter and Alan are at work.  

Home to many creatures

Over the past few weeks, we have made a few visits to weed around the tree spirals and to plant a further 20 trees donated by The Woodland Trust.  These included some Spindle, Silver Birch, Osier Willow and Field Maple.  We have also added a few primroses in the far corner. Last week I saw a Willow Warbler along the hedge-bank. But the most exciting find was a Harvest Mouse nest inside a tree-tube!  It was the solitary nest of a young mouse and could have been there since 2021, or the previous Summer, as that particular tree was planted in late 2019.

Solitary Harvest Mouse Nest

 

Later on I found another nest, this time it was closely packed at the base of the tree-tube and made of leaves, some grass, fur and chewed polythene.  This was most likely the nest of a Wood Mouse. They like the warm, dry tree-tubes and treat them like an underground hole. It is difficult to see, but here is the photo:

Wood Mouse nest

There were Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queens scouting around for holes.  Some trees are in blossom now, such as Crab Apple and Wild Cherry, with Hawthorn, Rowan and Whitebeam not far behind.  Today was warm and sunny.  Maggie was taking advantage of the dry weather to cut the grass path for the first time.  We saw several butterflies, including Peacock, Holly Blue, a pair of Tortoiseshell, Brimstone and a female Orange Tip.  The Lady's Smock (food-plant of the Orange Tip) is in flower both in the Biodiversity Area and in the field outside. Maggie also saw a couple of lizards.

Peacock butterfly

Drinker Moth caterpillar

Oak Marble Galls

It is wonderful to see how each year we are finding different creatures settling in.  We have insects (bees, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps) breeding on site.  We have small mammals (voles, wood mice, harvest mice). Also reptiles (lizards and slow worms) and a plentiful population of snails - white-lipped, brown-lipped and Garden Snails, which are a good food source for voles and thrushes.

Adding to the Spiral Maze

We are now reaching the end of the tenth planting season. Yesterday, a couple of us went to the Biodiversity Area to add in a few more whips to the spiral row of trees.  This time we planted the rest of the second Woodland Pack of 50 - Oak, Alder and Rowan given to us by The Conservation Volunteers #IDigTrees funded by Ovo Energy customers.  In addition, there were some Osier Willow, Silver Birch, Common Lime, Spindle and Field Maple.  We added 34 trees to the total, which is now many hundreds. A rough tally of planting since December 2012 suggests that we have put in around 800 trees.  Of course, not every one will have survived, but most of them have and are in varying degrees of maturity. Many now flower and fruit every year, providing nectar and food for birds and mammals.  The Wild Cherries are in flower now, and many others are showing flower buds.

There were a few birds around - Blackbirds, Wood Pigeon, Sparrows (in the hedge) and possibly a Blackcap Warbler, but I could only hear it, not see it.  There is also a Song Thrush which visits the old Bowling Green and may be nesting nearby.

I also disturbed a tiny leaf beetle (Chrysolina bankii) with a beautiful copper shell and red legs and antennae.  It feeds on plantain leaves.

While I was clearing grasses from the tree tubes, I found a tiny Cucumber Spider (Araniella cucurbitina), the same species I found here last Spring.

The trees are coming into leaf now.  I noticed that a few trees, such as this silver birch, that are growing among brambles along the fence are holding their own.

 

250 trees distributed to our local communities

On Saturday, we hosted a stall and gave away approximately 250 trees to people living in Winkleigh and surrounding parishes. These whips were given to us by The Woodland Trust for community distribution.

Giving away a bundle of trees

Trees ready to go to the stall

Everyone completed a short online form to register, and then collected their trees from us on the morning.  We are grateful for all the generous donations made towards our activities.  This will be mainly used to maintain the Biodiversity Area.

 

New trees for Jubilee Wood for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee

 

In the past few days, Aly and Kim met to plant some new trees in the Jubilee Wood, as part of the Sports Centre's plan to improve nature on the War Memorial Recreation Field site.

Small trees in rabbit spirals

The trees were donated by The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) as part of their #IDigTrees campaign, funded by Ovo Energy customers.

 

They include Oak, Silver Birch, Rowan, Beech, Hornbeam, Spindle and Goat Willow. 

Altogether, we have now planted 32 trees, as we also have a "Landmark Tree" given to our Parish by Saving Devon's Treescapes (Devon Wildlife Trust).

 

This has been planted as part of our Queen's Platinum Jubilee "Green Canopy".

Kim during the planting

After the planting we took a photo of Mike Wilson, who is Chair of the Winkleigh War Memorial Recreation Field Trustees with the Small-leaved Lime Tree.

 

Spring flowers are showing in the wood, and the ferns are just starting to unfurl their leaves.  There are primroses, greater stitchwort and celandine in flower.  There will also be bluebells in the next month.

 

Primroses

Greater Stitchwort

Lovely mature oak tree

Jubilee Wood - Winkleigh

Sycamore and Ash trees were planted in Jubilee Wood, Winkleigh for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Over the past 45 years they have grown up to mature trees. Sadly, upon inspection, it was found that most of the Ash trees had the air-borne fungal disease Ash Dieback and so the decision was made to cut them down before they presented any danger from falling limbs. It is estimated that Ash Dieback will kill 90% of Devon's Ash trees in the coming years. Devon Wildlife Trust's advice is to leave the trunks upright, so that they may become hosts for insects and provide food or nesting sites for woodpeckers. In the photo you will see some of those which were truncated. Two of them have nest-boxes which were provided and installed by Winkleigh Environment Group. There are still several Sycamores and young Hazel, Hawthorn and Oak in the wood.

On these mature trees are a lot of lichen, including Pepperpot Lichen, Lecanora chlarotera, and Graphis scripta. I have submitted these records to Saving Devon's Treescapes Project. There are also primroses and a few bluebells within the wood. There are plans to plant additional trees within the boundary, as part of the Queens Jubilee Green Canopy.

 

 

 

Winter Winds

 

 

This week involved some tidying up of tree tubes and spirals, which were probably blown out of the ground by the twin Storms Eunice and Franklin. We had planted another 50 native tree seedlings during December and they certainly had been rocked around by the wind. Most have survived the winter and just needed stamping back into the ground. These trees were given to us by The Conservation Volunteers, funded by Ovo Energy. This year some of them were planted along the hedge in the Allotments to provide wind-protection.