February 2024 Update - Bluebell Walk

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February 2024 Update - Bluebell Walk

 

Millenium Avenue

What a surprise to find in January the first Wild Daffodil bloom along Millenium Avenue - the vanguard of the brilliant display (below) which year on year is enhanced by more flowering bulbs. Wild daffodils or Lent lilies, (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), used to grow in profusion throughout England, prompting the 16th-century Flemish botanist Charles de l’Ecluse (famous for introducing tulips to Holland!) to observe that “all the taverns seem to be decked out with this flower.”

 

To view this annual spectacle, which is always over by the start of the Bluebell Walk, visit Bates Green Garden on a Wednesday.

  
 
 Photo by Pete Goldsmith

 

Bluebell Walk & Bates Green Garden Leaflets

Finally, the 7th draft of the Bluebell Walk leaflet has been approved, so it is now at the printers.  You can download both the Bates Green Garden Leaflet and the Bluebell Walk leaflet from the respective websites. Click on the thumbnails below.

 

Bluebell Walk leaflet thumbnail

  

Bates Green Garden leaflet thumbnail

  

Beatons Wood Ponds

It was 20 years ago when the ponds were last cleaned out in Beatons Wood. Before we undertake any dredging activities, we make sure the work will not have any negative impacts on the environment, and to protect the existing pond wildlife, only those parts that were badly clogged with leaves, were dredged this year.  Increased phosphate levels that are generated as the leaves decay, promotes algae growth that can only be reversed by dredging.

I must remember though, that when the ponds next need some maintenance, the best time to do it would be in the late summer, when the water level is low and ground conditions are more suitable!

 
Dredging the pond

New Animal Barn

We have just prepared the new home for the Pygmy Goats and Kerry Hill Sheep, as the Arlington Church Plant Stall is taking over the Barn that they had occupied for so many years. The new Animal Barn is now opposite the old location.  Did you know that this year is the 125th anniversary of the Kerry Hill Sheep Society and that the breed originated in Wales in the early 19th century?

New animal barn

Garden Bird Feeding cam

Early in December I apologised that the live stream had malfunctioned, but the repair unfortunately was only short lived!  This week possible glitches have now been removed, to ensure we can view uninterrupted the garden birds feasting from their feeders on the large screen in the Bluebell Barn, and of course you can also enjoy watching the birds from the comfort of your armchair at http://youtube.com/channel/UC1zTDZRbQUndez-WjiB0t8g/live

 

John McCutchan

 

This message was added on Wednesday 7th February 2024

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