Tag Archives: woodland

Volunteer Day – Saturday 7th August 2021

What’s going on with the weather? It’s very rare that we get such horrible weather. This morning started off looking pretty grim, a brief 30 min dry spot quickly became a torrential downpour by 11:30. Added to a rumble of thunder and some lightning, it was decided to end the event early. There might be a mid-week event volunteer event later this month, keep a lookout on here. We had hoped to continue with the butterfly counting event, but in the brief time we were on site this morning, not surprisingly we didn’t see a single butterfly.

This morning in The Glade


No matter that the rain was pouring down, the fruit trees are starting to produce some good size apples and pears, let’s hope we can have an Autumn open day event.

Ripe and ripening blackberries and growing Bramley apples.

Needless to say, the pond needs no topping up with any water. It’s looking very well at the moment. The below picture shows some bulrush plants and flowers on the pond margins.

Bulrush plants.

Open Evening – Wednesday 21st July 2021

Our evening’s butterfly count results showed quite a various number of different species present. People recorded large whites, small whites, green-veined whites, commas, jersey tiger moths, red admirals and speckled woods.

Below is a photo of a jersey tiger moth captured by one of the evening’s volunteers.

We will continue the survey once again on the next volunteer morning on Saturday, 7th August, starting at the usual time of 10:00. You can download the app or ID chart and come along and do a survey www.butterfly-conservation.org

What will you find in the woodlands?

Brief Site Visit – 2nd May 2020

Yesterday, Saturday 2nd May 2020, should have been our 1st of our 2 open days of the woodland, but with the Coronavirus situation, there were no celebrations of the day.

However, light maintenance still needs to take place, including checking on the bees, the pond, the recently planted saplings and to make sure all is well. Just 2 people were in the woodland to make sure physical distancing was observed.

As usual, weeding and watering were undertaken, including the removal of dozens of invasive, garden escape Three Cornered Leek plants, bramble removal, green alkanet removal and topping up the pond with rainwater.

Brief Site Visit – 30th April 2020

Although the woodland’s volunteer and open days have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, some members have been visiting to check on the plants and bees. Here are 2 recent photos taken by a former committee member of bluebells and wild garlic. Please note that these visits are limited to making sure all is well in the woodland, and unfortunately, no full access will be possible for some while.

Photo of bluebells in full flower, taken in the last week in April 2020.
Photo of wild garlic in full flower, taken in the last week in April 2020.

Volunteer Day – Saturday 7th March 2020

Our 3rd event of the year saw another 20 or so volunteers and committee members turn up, as well as new, local residents who had never been to the woodland before!

The main focus was in the mini-glade area, as you walk up the steps towards the main glade. Three sycamore trees were felled to allow for more light to enter the area, in order to benefit the oak trees and hedge plants. The felled trees were cut in to smaller pieces, which will either be used as path edging or for small seats in the glade. Very useful for children to sit and listen to Richard Sylvester’s story telling!

Felled sycamore tree with the trunk cut in to logs

Other activity in this included the preparation of a trench next to the footpath so that school children can plant the hedge saplings in the next few days.

Plant-wise, the snowdrops have finished flowering, but the primroses are going strong, and the bluebells are also growing well. The Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum) are also growing well and spreading nicely. This native British plant is common in woodlands and other shady areas.

Lords-and-Ladies, a very good woodland plant indicator species

Finally, the bees were rather quite early in the morning, but as the morning advanced, a little activity was seen, although later in the morning, around midday when the temperature had risen, you could see them flying around the hives.

Our pear trees (see photo) are starting to come in to bud, see photo below. Let’s hope this year’s fruit crop is as good as last year’s.

One of the pear trees starting to come in to bud.