The Pickering's Wildlife Garden 2020 |
Click on photos to enlarge.
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Mon 13th Jan 2020
Do you ever have one of those days when you know you’re truly alive? So it was this morning as I gathered rotten logs in the woodland, the wind whipping through the trees of Pickering Pasture, strengthening with the oncoming high tide.
Today was our first project day of the New Year, and storm Brendon was racing across the Atlantic to embrace us with a less than convivial greeting, mmh, was climbing ladders and putting up nestboxes a good idea? Not deterred the friends party split up and started their jobs.
Do you ever have one of those days when you know you’re truly alive? So it was this morning as I gathered rotten logs in the woodland, the wind whipping through the trees of Pickering Pasture, strengthening with the oncoming high tide.
Today was our first project day of the New Year, and storm Brendon was racing across the Atlantic to embrace us with a less than convivial greeting, mmh, was climbing ladders and putting up nestboxes a good idea? Not deterred the friends party split up and started their jobs.
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In the nature garden, sheltered by the visitor centre, it was a little less blowy and the woodcrete nest-box was put up in the tree, one fixer and two to hold the ladder, well done guys, shouldn’t be long before the blue tits are viewing their prospective residence.
Today, Maurice was finishing off the bug house, installing a wooden entrance tunnel leading to the space under the house, a sheltered area designed to offer a hedgehog a safe place to sleep. His next job will be the construction of the wooden compost bin. |
Hedgehog home
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Nest box fixing.
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Aiming to exhibit as many wildlife enhancing initiatives as possible in the garden, one outstanding project was the creation of a frog abode, offering them a cool, dark hiding place from potential predators, with the bonus of a built-in food source.
Having built the pond last summer we were too late to see much amphibian action, but now it has matured a little and has plant colonisation we are hopeful of seeing frogs migrating to the water to spawn, something that could happen anytime now, already the first frog spawn has been recorded on the Woodland Trust Natures calendar, on 12/01/20 in Devon. https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/ Throughout their life cycles, frogs have an important place in the food chain as both predators and prey. Common frogs are most active at night, coming out of the pond or their hiding places to feed on a wide variety of invertebrates such as flies, moths, mosquitoes ,snails, slugs and worms, so a useful ally in our garden. In winter they hibernate either in the pond mud or under piles of rotting leaves, logs or stones, so a purpose built lodging incorporating these materials should be ideal. The abode was started today; created by digging a hole in the ground about a foot deep, filling it with assorted stones and logs, creating a higgledy-piggledy underground maze. We then continued to pile logs on top creating a low mound, and placed some soil back over the top, aiming to leave entrance gaps around the edges. In our abode a range of wood was used, some of it aged and rotten, already, hopefully, full of tasty invertebrates for our amphibians. A little more work is needed to finish the abode, for alas, the storm was giving no quarter and it was time for the friends along with the wildlife to take shelter. Laura |
Frog abode
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Wed 1st Jan 2020 I joined the hordes of new year's day strollers this afternoon; yep the reserve car park was overflowing with dog walkers and perhaps those nursing hangovers.
This is the second time I'd called in over the festive holiday, each time I've topped up the feeders in the nature garden, which continues to attract visitors. Both days were cool but sunny and the birds were in fine voice, and all the feeding stations were busy, most noticeable being the flocks of long-tailed tits, such a delight to hear and see... did you know their old English Gloucestershire name was mumruffins!? However the cutest highlight of the day had to be the wee vole sneaking his lunch from under the scrape bird feeder, bless, didn't entertain the thought of him in the clutches of a local kestrel and buzzard.
The garden was snoozing in a golden light, only the winter pansies and a few yellow daisies hanging on; no sign of any bulbs breaking through yet, unlike my flowering snowdrops and rising daffodils in my garden away from the coast? As we welcome the new year our garden approaches it's first birthday; I've found it to be an enjoyable and fascinating project, which has drawn on the skills and shared knowledge of all the friends and look forward to it's further development.
Today I surveyed a scene that has disturbed many visitors to the reserve, that being the tree clearance in the woodland belt, on the embankment alongside the riverside walkway, the works being carried out by Halton Council . I was surprised, dare I say shocked, at the amount of trees and shrub undergrowth that had been removed, apparently this management aims to promote the diversity of the shrub and tree layers and eventually improve it ecologically for wildlife. I have no experience of woodland management so can't really comment, but it does look excessive; there is a news item on the website which gives 2 points of view. http://www.thefriendsofpickeringspasture.org.uk/tree-clearance.html It wasn't really obvious to me today, but I read that some new trees have been planted on the slopes. Hopefully in time, nature will quickly re- populate the site, and for the time being, those creatures that sheltered and bred there will have found a suitable new home elsewhere on the reserve. Further tree planting on the reserve is planned in the new year, a follow up from the friends tree project day, part of last years Big Climate Fightback campaign and national tree planting day.
Happy New Year Everyone. Laura
This is the second time I'd called in over the festive holiday, each time I've topped up the feeders in the nature garden, which continues to attract visitors. Both days were cool but sunny and the birds were in fine voice, and all the feeding stations were busy, most noticeable being the flocks of long-tailed tits, such a delight to hear and see... did you know their old English Gloucestershire name was mumruffins!? However the cutest highlight of the day had to be the wee vole sneaking his lunch from under the scrape bird feeder, bless, didn't entertain the thought of him in the clutches of a local kestrel and buzzard.
The garden was snoozing in a golden light, only the winter pansies and a few yellow daisies hanging on; no sign of any bulbs breaking through yet, unlike my flowering snowdrops and rising daffodils in my garden away from the coast? As we welcome the new year our garden approaches it's first birthday; I've found it to be an enjoyable and fascinating project, which has drawn on the skills and shared knowledge of all the friends and look forward to it's further development.
Today I surveyed a scene that has disturbed many visitors to the reserve, that being the tree clearance in the woodland belt, on the embankment alongside the riverside walkway, the works being carried out by Halton Council . I was surprised, dare I say shocked, at the amount of trees and shrub undergrowth that had been removed, apparently this management aims to promote the diversity of the shrub and tree layers and eventually improve it ecologically for wildlife. I have no experience of woodland management so can't really comment, but it does look excessive; there is a news item on the website which gives 2 points of view. http://www.thefriendsofpickeringspasture.org.uk/tree-clearance.html It wasn't really obvious to me today, but I read that some new trees have been planted on the slopes. Hopefully in time, nature will quickly re- populate the site, and for the time being, those creatures that sheltered and bred there will have found a suitable new home elsewhere on the reserve. Further tree planting on the reserve is planned in the new year, a follow up from the friends tree project day, part of last years Big Climate Fightback campaign and national tree planting day.
Happy New Year Everyone. Laura
The Winter garden.
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The garden in Winter.
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Field vole
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Tree cutting.
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Pickerings Pasture sunset.
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