Another beautiful sunny autumn Sunday. The plan for today was to see how far we could get digging out some ponds and scrapes to help intentionally store water on the land in the mini-nature reserve. We’ve tried to time the … Continue reading Digging in
The beginning of September already. The hottest, driest summer anyone can remember ended with a little rain. The rainwater collection tanks and damp meadow gratefully absorbed it, but where the ground was compacted, the rain barely made an impression. Rainwater … Continue reading End of summer working party
July’s working party was another opportunity to thin and trim the vegetative exuberance of early summer. We concentrated on a ‘chop and drop’ of the comfrey in the mini food-forest, and on pulling bindweed elsewhere on site. Comfrey is deep … Continue reading July working party
It was very windy, and the butterflies were sitting it out on this plum tree – so no purple wings were actually seen, but the underwings are definitely Purple Hairstreak! This is a butterfly that is reliant on Oak Trees … Continue reading Purple Hairstreak(s)
It was brilliant to have Mark and his drone back to capture (from the air) our progress on the project site. Here (below) are some of the shots – if you want to see the ‘before’ shots, they are here. … Continue reading Progress seen from the air
The sudden burst of wet weather following the very warm, dry spring has resulted in an explosion of nettles across the project plot, so today’s working party set out to pull those up and give the fruit trees and bushes … Continue reading Nettles and (Ragged Robin) petals
Wonderful to see a clutch of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars on a patch of nettles on the project plot this week. Along with many other butterfly species, they’ve had a rough ride with the recent wet springs, but hopefully the dry … Continue reading Lots of lovely caterpillars!
It’s brilliant to be able to wander round (in wellies!) in the mini nature reserve and spot who is currently living there. The willows that we pollarded at the end of last year are sprouting nicely. The other trees (willow, … Continue reading Spotter’s Guide
The heavy lifting is mostly completed – it was good to be able to take stock of the transformation of the site in the spring sunshine but we cannot wait for the leaves to open! It takes some imagination to … Continue reading Site transformation so far & in the sunshine
We had the allotment Annual General Meeting this weekend, and it was great to see so many people there. It was brilliant to be able to have a purpose-built space where we could actually sit and meet together (usually we … Continue reading AGM, Working Party & signs of life
Urban Allotment: climate resilience & community 