Removing alexander plants,feeding birds ,slow worm….

Monday May 13th 2919

Beautiful sunny weather for our work session in the school wildlife area this morning ….

Arrived school by 8am and began by planting 4 new wildflower plants recently bought ie cornflower,ragged robin,bellflower and white campion which have been planted in a trough near the shed…

Next job was re filling all the various bird feeders around the site …by this time Colin had arrived to help …he kindly scraped all the bird poo again off the benches and tables !

We had begun to clear back some of the excess greenery by the seats along the top path when the nursery children and staff arrived in the wildlife area…

Also Chris arrived to help us …he went off to work clearing unwanted alexander plants behind the shed…Colin and I joined him clearing  lots of  large alexanders which were growing on the steep slope below the shed…..in fact the main work this morning was pulling and digging out unwanted alexander ….which we’ve been trying to “manage since 2004”😡

Just before the nursery children returned to class another teacher brought a class of older children into the wildlife area ie as part of a literacy lesson.

Another large slow worm seen under the matting in the recycled pallet compost bins near the horse chestnut tree

Pink flowered horse chestnut and double flowered white lilac in bloom now…

Mentioned to school site manager my concern re possibility of ash die back disease within school wildlife area and grounds ….there are at least 20 ash trees …not sure just how often H&S checks are made?

 

 

 

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May Bank Holiday work session!

Monday May 6th 2019

Lovely sunny morning for our work session at school plus very peaceful as it’s a bank holiday so no one else at school…

On arrival I went to the shed and brought tools and wheelbarrow round to the front of school…had done quite a lot of weeding of 2 planted beds by front gate by the time Chris joined me…

Whilst I was busy watering all the planters and pots at the front of school…Chris was busy chopping back the bramble growing in the shelter by the bin sheds!

Chris went off to move another log in the wildlife area whilst I completed the watering plus picked up lots of litter at the front of school….

Back in the wildlife area Chris tied back the honeysuckle near the shed whilst I refilled the bird feeders and sorted the bird food ready for future work sessions…Chris also watered the newly planted saplings in the willow dome plus scraped lots of bird poo off the nearby outdoor classroom seating!

After our coffee break we were both busy watering the planted pots near the shed before packing up and heading for our homes around 11.30am

 

Too wet to work after feeding bird feeders!

Monday Monday April 29th 2019

Light drizzle as I walked up to school…once in the school wildlife area I began work  by re filling all the bird feeders around our project site ….plus again scraped all the bird poo off the outdoor classroom seating ie 5 picnic benches by the wildlife pond…

Colin arrived  in time to re fill the last bird feeder in the far copse whilst I was cleaning the benches along the top pathway…

By this time the rain falling steadier so after refilling the bird food storage jars ready for next week we headed down for an early coffee break at the covered seat near the willow dome..

Soon after this nursery children and staff came to explore the school wildlife area…some children shy whilst others keen to talk to us…

By the time we left the area ie earlier than usual due to rain Mr Ball had brought another school class down to explore the wildlife area…

Really do need to remove the flowering alexanders at the next work session ie before they seed everywhere…plus also want to prune back the buddleijas again…

NB noticed that the grass has been cut around the fruit trees above the playground.

 

 

Feeding birds,pruning buddleijas,weeding out alexanders etc and making new bench

Monday April 15th 2019

Our second Easter Holiday work seession this morning …on arrival at school  I brought tools etc from our shed then went to do tidying at the front of school…had weeded our big bag of weeds from bed by front gate when Colin arrived to work after his recent holiday in Lake District…

Whilst I refilled the bird feeders in the wildlife area Colin finished pruning back the buddleijas in the nursery playground ..

As we finished these tasks Chris arrived to work …he and Colin spent rest of morning constructing another bench which is now in situ along the top pathway in the school wildlife area….

Meanwhile I was busy removing more of the unwanted alexander plants from behind the pond,near the shed and the copse by the wildlife pond…another 5 or 6 bags of green waste added to the compost bins

Next work session in a fortnight as next week it’s Easter Monday

Feeding birds,constructing new bench,removing brambles,pruning buddleijas …

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Monday April 8th 2019

Weatherwise lovely sunny morning for our work session in the school wildlife area

On arrival at school …lovely and peaceful as it’s the Easter holidays…I began work by re filling all the bird feeders …

After sorting the bird food ready for next time I climbed up on the slope by the boiler house and began removing brambles and dandelions etc

Soon after I began weeding Chris arrived to do some work …he went off to construct another bench for the top pathway using some of the sawn up cherry tree for the seat base ..

Meanwhile I was still removing brambles then went up to the nursery outdoor play area where I began pruning the very overgrown buddleijas..

After stopping for a coffee break I did more buddleijas pruning whilst Chris dug out some of the bramble roots ie above the playground

Hopefully next Monday we will continue to do more weeding etc including removing more of the alexanders before they go to seed😡

 

Feeding birds,watering,removing alexanders,seat repairs,palmate newts and slow worm

Monday March 25th 2019

Arrived at school just after 8.15am….first job was refilling the bird feeders in our school wildlife area then sorting the bird food ready for next time ..

Also took 2 watering cans of water down to water the recently planted rooted saplings in the willow dome…plus then I watered all the planted pots by the shed..

When Chris arrived he kindly went up to connect the hosepipe so I was able to refill our 2 water butts

I spent rest of work session removing 3 large bags of unwanted alexander plants which were added to our home made compost bins…still lots more alexander to remove ASAP from the slope below the shed!

Meanwhile Chris was busy dismantling a broken bench and cutting logs ready to remake the seat at our next work session.

Nursery plus Year 2 classes with staff in the wildlife area this morning…I showed 3 of the nursery children and a member of staff a slow worm I’d just found in one of the compost bins…also Mr Ball showed Year 2 class the 2 palmate newts he’d found in the pond .

Feeding birds,weeding and re fixing bird nest boxes

Monday March 18th 2018

Just Chris and I volunteering in school wildlife area this morning…

I arrived about 8.15am and began work by refilling bird feeders, cleaning benches and tables plus sorting bird food containers ready for next week..

I then headed along top pathway to near far steps and began pulling out unwanted alexanders… when Chris came along he helped me with this annual task…several tubs of green waste added to our compost bins ie we try to remove the alexanders before they set seeds and spread even further!

As usual nursery children and staff came into wildlife area to explore …soon several boys were playing with sticks …I deterred another boy from chasing birds whilst explaining why it wasn’t a good thing to be doing…🤔

We then brought the ladders down so that Chris could re fix 2 fallen bird nest boxes back onto trees

After a coffee break we packed up tools etc and headed off for our homes…weather dull with light drizzle….