Feeding birds,repairing another bench+ weeding etc

Monday June 26th 2017

On the way into school I stopped to water the planters and pots by the school front gate  …

Next to the wildlife area however before I started work I put 4 cans of water into the seat planter by the classrooms alas the perennial wallflower cuttings in this planter haven’t survived the recent dry weather….

As I finished filling the bird feeders in our school wildlife area Chris arrived to help -he had brought more cement and blocks from home so he spent the morning repairing another bench along the top pathway…

Meanwhile I was busy pulling out cleavers, hogweeds, bindweed and nettles near the pond and lower pathway =at least 6 large bags of garden waste being added to various compost heaps + numerous nettle stings again on my neck and arms!

Nursery class children and staff came through the wildlife area again early morning …the staff are entering the annual Teignmouth in Bloom competition with a nursery rhyme themed exhibit near our pond!

After a late coffee break Chris added 2 more can of water to the copper beach tree alas it seems unlikely it will recover….

I was busy picking a bunch of wildflowers ie buddleijas ,cow parsley, campions , hogweed, nipplewort etc for tomorrow in preparation for our annual school wildlife area display at St Michael’s Church Flower Festival

NB Won’t be able to work at school on Thursday am this week as have another appointment elsewhere

Watering,feeding birds,weeding,buddleijas in bloom + concern re copper beech tree…..

Thursday June 22nd 2017

Just me working at our project site this morning as alas Rose unable to help as her husband is unwell….

I began by watering the pots and planters at the front of school-with no rain for quite a while everything very dry plus lots of weeding and pruning needs to be done asap….

Main job of the morning was filling the bird feeders -another of our peanut feeders has been chewed through by the grey squirrels…

NB I should have moved the leopard slug from the water butt on Monday as alas it has fallen in and drowned!

I weeded out more nettles and hogweeds close to the paths in the wildlife area…,

Nursery class children  and staff came through the wildlife area this morning-several little ones asked what I was doing…

NB I noticed the copper beech tree is looking decidedly unhealthy -hopefully it’s just suffering through lack of rain -have given it 2 cans of water.. this tree ( was bought in 2008 along with other saplings we collected from a tree nursery near Cullompton, using money from our Big Lottery Grant) was planted by Mrs Lorraine Sheppard a previous headteacher at our school…

The buddleijas are starting to flower in and around our school wildlife area…

 

Mayor’s visit+leopard slug,missing apple tree,watering ,feeding birds,repairing another seat,sampling fresh cherries off our trees,another slow worm in the compost bin+ Gruffalo hunting….

Monday June 19th 2017

Weather wise another extremely hot day ie quite unsuitable for heavy duty  gardening work really….

At school by 8.20am shortly followed by Colin -we began by watering the seat planter + all the fruit trees by the playground-alas I discovered that one of our lovely apple trees has disappeared presumeably strimmed and alas destroyed by the caretaker!

I also watered all the planted pots near the shed and Colin refilled the cans and  water butts again!

We found another large leopard slug on the inside of the lid on one of the water butts…

Back in the wildlife area we started to fill the bird feeders when our Teignmouth Town Mayor Councillor Paul Burgess arrived for a planned visit to our school wildlife area project…

Chris also arrived to help so he set off to repair another seat along the top path he was also assisted by Colin after he’d finished filling the bird feeders..

Meanwhile I was busy showing the mayor around our projecto site -several times we came across the nursery children and staff who were having a lovely time exploring the wildlife area in their search for The Gruffalo…

NB I found another adult slow worm in the compost bin  which I showed to the children and teacher….

Because it was so hot we took an early coffee break in the shade -the mayor also stayed for refreshments -he seemed very impressed with the fantastic outdoor learning areas we have at Teignmouth Community School /Mill Lane!

After finishing sorting the bird food and the seat repairs we packed up and left early again ie mainly due to the very high temperature…

NB earlier Colin, Chris and I enjoyed our annual perk of sampling fresh cherries straight from the trees …we have an abundance of cherries alas the majority are far too high to be picked by humans so the birds enjoy feasting on them every year!

 

 

Feeding birds,watering planted pots,more weeding,grey squirrel seen again + slow worm found in a compost pile!

Thursday June 15th 2017

As usual my first job on arrival at school was refilling all the bird feeders around our school wildlife area then sorted the bird food in the shed ready for our next work session next Monday…

Just remembered on the way into school I stopped to water the wooden planters and flower pots by the front gates…

I also re watered all the planted pots near the shed

Most of morning spent weeding out more nettles, docks and hogweeds from by the lower pathway-discovered another large slow worm sheltering under the cardboard covering the recycled pallet compost bin near the red flowered horse chestnut tree..

Nursery class children and staff came through the wildlife area again early morning on their way to pick strawberries growing in the fruit & veg beds by the classrooms-they were going to enjoy eating the freshly harvested strawberries for their morning snack…

NB Also saw another grey squirrel near the shed this morning-alas as well as chewing through the wire on our peanut feeders they are recently also chewing the plastic and destroying our niger seed feeders

 

Hunt the missing bird feeders+ feeding birds,watering and repairing seating…

Monday June 12th 2017

Arrived school before 8.30am shortly followed by Colin who helped me refill bird feeders in and around our project site..

We had some success searching for the missing bird feeders- ie Colin found both parts of the missing blue niger seed feeder by the notice board alas the yellow part of another niger seed feeder usually hanging below the shed is still not located

The large peanut  feeder is still missing from behind the outdoor classroom seating and the top of the peanut feeder usually hanging by the top path is still alas not found!

Chris arrived to help -he went off to repair another of the bench seats along the top pathway..

Meanwhile Colin dug up some perennials (from the old bed by the boiler house) which we’ve added to the pots near the shed-Colin also watered all the planted pots + refilled the water butts..

I was busy refilling the bird food containers ready for Thursday’s work session + I watered the seat planter by the classrooms..

Nursery class children and staff came through the school wildlife area early morning..

After a lengthy coffee break and catch up Colin, Chris and I left for our homes

NB Teignmouth Mayor Councillor Paul Burgess is due to visit our school wildlife area project site at 10am next Monday

Missing bird feeders mystery + work session shortened due to wet weather conditions!

Thursday June 8th 2017

After taking last week’s half term off plus then cancelling  our work session last Monday due to heavy rain I went up to school this morning in drizzly weather to re fill our bird feeders..

Discovered that 4 bird feeders ie 2 niger and 2 peanut feeders were missing from the trees-looked around but alas didn’t locate them…

Lots of flowers in bloom ie cranesbills, herb robert, flag iris, arum lillies ,wild roses ,red campion ,ragged robin, white campion, red clover, cow parsley , hogweeds, stinking iris , wild gladioli, hawthorn & guelder rose blossom , foxgloves  etc

Alas the rainfall  became quite heavy so I packed up -after sorting the bird food – and left for home at 9.15am as I was soaked through!

NB Quite sad to see that 2 lovely small cherry trees in planted beds at the front of school have been  chopped down-possibly by an over enthusiastic caretaker?

 

Watering,planting and feeding birds etc….

Thursday May 25th 2017

Beautiful warm and sunny weather again this morning for Rose and I working together within the school grounds this morning…

I began by adding 4 watering cans of water to the seat planter by the classrooms ie above the playground-I also added more cuttings of perennial purple flowered wallflowers + later I added more compost to top up this container ie compost kindly donated by Rose ….

Not long after I started to refill the bird feeders in the school wildlife area Rose arrived to help me later whilst I was sorting the bird food in the shed Rose was busy watering all the nearby planted pots and containers + she also planted some fox & cubs wildflowers I’d brought from home…

The nursery children and staff came into the wildlife area to explore -some children very inquisitive re who we are and what we’re doing whilst others less confident not wanting to be far away from staff!

After our coffee break we locked the shed, gathered tools etc and set off to work at the front of school…

Rose planted another perennial cranesbill she’d brought from home in the bed by the staffroom window then we watered this area plus the pots & planters and other areas ie parts of the other 4 planted flower beds which are looking very colourful with irises, osteospermums, marigolds, cerinthe, geums, hebes, perennial wallflowers, lavenders etc all in bloom

Next week is half term and we have decided that as volunteers we are also taking the week off!