Spring Sunshine, Willow Fences and Wildlife Wonders
TODAY
What a beautiful day to be working in an amazing park! At the moment the park really is looking stunning with most of the 200,000+ spring bulbs in full bloom and the cherry blossom trees adding additional colour throughout the park. There was a great atmosphere among the 34 volunteers today as we worked under clear blue skies.
Picture 1 shows Gary preparing the first cricket wicket of the season in what looks like a Mediterranean rather than a Mancunian setting! Long may it last!
As a result of the children being on Easter holidays from school, we had two additional young helpers in the form of Solomon and Luke from Didsbury CoE and their mums Siarah and Lorna. We were also delighted to see Laurent and Marie-Claude once again and at coffee time we had a visit from Joanne and Caitlin from MCC for a review of our current joint projects. We also had a visit from Val bearing a gift of lots of teasel seeds for the wilding area.
Everybody was made very welcome.
TODAY - A NEW AND EXCITING PROJECT - A WILLOW FENCE AROUND BUDDY AND LUCY
Following the success of the installation of the willow fence around the roundabout in the park, we were able today to experiment with the introduction of a willow fence around Buddy and Lucy. We do need to give huge thank you to Kevin, our chief researcher and project manager who introduced an even more sophisticated design for the Buddy and Lucy fencing.
Picture 2 shows Greg, Carl M and Kevin discussing the technicalities of the implementation i.e. how high it should be. Picture 3 shows the installation team in full flow. Sandra can be seen on her knees in the foreground, cutting the willow to size whilst Gary, Kevin, Tistan, Chris and Sashvat work in the background entwining the willow branches together. This exciting project took virtually the whole morning but it was well worth it as final results in Picture 4 shows.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this new project because it has had a real positive impact on the park.
TODAY - THE WILDING AREA PROJECT
Katie, Greg and Kevin continued their work in developing the wilding area of the park - thank you.
As a side project Picture 5 shows some of the creative side of our volunteers as Murray, Carl N and Greg show the amazing nesting box for insects which they designed and built before installing it in the woodland area. Thank you guys - ingenious! We are all thrilled that this year, for the first time ever, we have witnessed bees now using the nesting boxes on the side of the volunteers shelter. One up for Didsbury Park Conservation!
TODAY - PREPARATION OF THE WILD FLOWER MEADOW
We are still fighting the re-emergence of grasses on the wild flower meadow. As part of the plan to eradicate them and bring back the wild flowers Allan spent the most of the morning strimming the grasses which have now started to grow again. The theory is that this will stop the wild flowers from being smothered by the grasses in their early stage of growth.
Picture 6 shows Allan undertaking this mammoth task across a large area of wild flower meadow. Thank you Alan - well done.
TODAY - MAINTENANCE OF THE KICK FENCING
I think we need to give a huge thank you to the patience and perseverance of Charlie, as she continued the marathon painting of preservative onto the final sections of kick fencing around the park.
Picture 7 shows Charlie in the home straight as she approaches the finish at the Sandhurst Road double gates. A huge thank you from us all Charlie!
TODAY - HORTICULTURE
Picture 8 shows Carl M and Jude carefully planting the new giant ferns into the woodland area. These were the ferns rescued by Kevin from Maggies last week. Thank you also to Katie for not only providing a bowser full of water for these new plants but also for providing similar watering services to the new pyracantha plants and the hawthorn whips. Thank you all.
Thanks to Diane for doing an excellent weeding job with Ilma on the Flower Walk.
Thank you also to Denise for once again maintaining the rose beds to an amazing standard such that these beds are now a major attraction in the park. Thank you Denise.
The unfortunate news this week is that the Didsbury Shoplifting epidemic seems to have now spread to the park, as one of the new Fatsia Spiders Web plants, which we purchased and planted last week has been stolen.
TODAY - BIRD GARDEN HEDGE PRUNING
Laurent, Wahid, Jane, Lorna and Luke made up a great team of volunteers as they pruned the early spring growth along the top of the hedge around the Bird Garden. Not only did this make it look so much smarter but they worked really hard and completed the whole hedge. A fantastic result - Thank you all.
Picture 9 shows Wahid, Lorna and Luke having a well deserved rest by the skip after completing this great job.
TODAY - EDGING BY BUDDY AND LUCY
Picture 10 shows Sonia tidying up the path edging just in front of Buddy and Lucy. Thank you Sonia this made this area look even more special today.
TODAY - LITTER PICKING TEAMS
Once again we were blessed with a good contingent of volunteers ready to do a thorough litter pick of the park after a very busy weekend of visitors. Thank you to both our experienced volunteers Joyce and Wendy and our newcomers Siarah and Solomon. The park looks fantastic afterwards. Thank you.
TODAY - ELSEWHERE IN THE PARK
Shasvat and Chris started the morning off by completing a very worthwhile job of turning over the compost bay contents under the advice of Diane. Thank you - this compost is coming along nicely.
Brenda once more did an excellent job tidying up the Gillbrook Road entrance. Thank you Brenda
Christine, Carl M and Katie replanted a small number of hawthorn whips which had been pulled up by a young child who thought they were dead! Thank you. Thanks also to Lorna and Luke for rescuing them and arranging for them to be stored in a bucket of water during the week.
As a result of an email from Marion during the week, telling us that the Buddy and Lucy plaque had come loose, Murray and Carl N were able to fix it securely again today. Thank you all.
Thank you to Allan for nipping to the garage for extra petrol for the lawn mower to enable Gary to do such a fantastic job on the cricket pitch.
NOTICE - IT MAY BE OF INTEREST?
People Place Planet Didsbury are putting on an event about making home energy sustainable. If you are interested then more details can be found at:
https://www.pppdidsbury.org/events/yhbxppp
Finally, thank you once again for your amazing support.