Whinny Woodmeadow

22/01/2024

Though it was bitterly cold on our last visit, it was great to see buds getting ready to spring into action. In fact, the p***y willow was already coming out.

21/01/2024

Managed to squeeze in a quick visit to get some photos of the ponds before the milder weather.
The cold snap of the last week or two has left all the ponds frozen over - looking seasonal… 🥶

27/11/2023

Full ponds! 24 November

27/11/2023

We’ve been “beating up” this weekend - replacing trees which failed to thrive.
The new trees (except the dogwood) seem to be a bit bigger with more roots so take more planting than the originals… that’s our excuse for taking rather a long time anyway, we were practically planting in the dark…
Some new species have gone in so 🤞 they will be happy. Last 20 or so going in tomorrow 💪🏻🌳.

27/11/2023

A very useful and interesting webinar today by Richard Fox of Butterfly Conservation which summarises the findings of the latest State of Butterflies report and covers some recent conservation success stories - recommended.

The State of the UK's Butterflies: Are Conservation Efforts To Save Our Butterflies WorkingDr Richard Fox27 Nov 2023The UK's butterflies are in trouble with ...

14/11/2023

So much rain recently! Which is great because it’s lovely to see the ponds full. In fact ponds 1 and 3 (really need to come up with some names…) are massive, as they are probably about a metre beyond their usual banks!
The new plants we planted in September are now well and truly submerged… let’s hope they are forgiving on planting depth🤞.
Excited to see how they grow next season and what new wildlife arrives.
Pond 2 is full-ish but could still have more water in- this one never holds water so well and so we view it as a more seasonal pond with wildly fluctuating levels.
Ragged Robin still flowering on 11 November.

14/11/2023

You never quite know what you’ll find when you look down a tree tube!
Cute, but not entirely welcome as I found 3 of these and they’ve killed the trees and turned the tubes into des res mouse conservatories. Still, it is a biodiversity project so I guess I should be pleased. 🙂

12/11/2023

Love crisp bright autumn days! Can’t wait for more of these colours in years to come.
Last month, I checked every tree to see how many need to be replaced. We’ve actually done really well, with only around 2% losses. More whips have been ordered and are arriving in a couple of weeks - species we’ve not got already: dogwood, wild service tree, hornbeam, small leaved lime and alder buckthorn. These all have high wildlife value and most have great autumn colour too. I may have slightly over-ordered so might need to find homes for an extra 50 or so trees… 😁.
Looking forward to getting them in the ground at the end of the month.

11/11/2023

17/10/2023

Mid October and still some flowers looking lovely today 😁

07/10/2023

One year ago today, things were looking a bit different - no ponds, no (young) trees and no flowers!