Clearance around the pond completed

Clearing back the blackthorn and willow which had been shading out the pond is now completed. The  'before' photo is in the post of 3rd Feb - and here is what it looks like now:

It is more of a 'marshy area' rather than a pond, as it was dug in continuity with a drainage ditch (an on-stream pond). This is not necessarily a bad thing as a marshy area with different water levels is probably a much better wildlife habitat (see here or the  DEFRA website for more details). The run-off water in the ditch is from the fields of a dairy farm and is probably very rich in nutrients, so would probably not be good for an open water pond. So I shall just continue doing a bit of silt removal to maintain some variety in the water level in this marshy area. I have left the emergent vegetation on the bankside well alone as this is great habitat, and have concentrated on removing overhanging bushes and trees.

All the branch cuttings have been added to the 'branch heap' which you can see in the background of the photo above. This provides an excellent place for nesting birds (robin and wren among

the branches and mallard in the base) as well as an over-wintering site for insects.

Any bigger pieces of wood that were not suitable for fire logs have been stacked at intervals around

the marsh to act as frog, newt and toad homes - as well as adding some more rotting wood habitat.

Leaf fall - good or bad at present?

I have been pleased that each autumn more of the grass that was between the trees in the woodland is being shaded out and covered in leaves. Last autumn was the biggest leaf fall yet, with a good covering across the wood. however Have noticed that in the local mature woodlands all of the leaves have now gone, whereas in my woodland there is still a think carpet. I wonder if this is because the mycorrhizal fungi are not well established. I once read Oliver Rackham (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Rackham) saying that what was under the soil is much more important for the health of a wood than what we can see above the ground (this was his argument against planting new woodlands - he thought that there should be much more focus on conserving ancient woods).

I hope that the bulbs that I planted in the autumn will find their way up through the dry leaves, and I guess that as the leaves compost they will encourage fungi to grow.

Question of the day is whether ivy can be transplanted? I have a lot growing over a path near the garage, so as I cut it back I have transplanted some into the wood as it makes such a superb habitat for birds and insects. It has roots growing from the stems so I think that it will transplant well.

Moles at work

I have read that molehills are a sign of health grassland. If this is the case I have a very healthy field. I guess that you only get moles where there are lots of worms and a good worm population is the indicator of field health. The wildflower meadow is completely covered in molehills, which I am raking flat and then using as a seedbed to scatter some hay rattle and red clover seeds that I kept to one side during the autumn sowing.

I have read a lot about rattle needing to be frozen before germinating, but in previous years it has looked as if the seed scattered in late February has done pretty well even though it has probably only had one or two frosts.

I am just thinking about getting some more plug plants to go in during the next couple of weeks as the first of the warmer spring days. Trouble is that they have to get established before the grass really starts to grow, so need to be planted in the next week or so.

The Winter work continues

It is fantastic that for the first time this year we have a proper layer of fallen leaves among the new trees, which will hopefully keep the grass down and allow some of the woodland plants to start getting established. However this amount of leaf fall also created a new job - raking the path so that the grass on the footpath was not killed off by a covering of leaves. As these before and after pictures show it makes quite a difference.

Another large task has been to clear back some of the overgrown bushes and vegetation from the boggy area that we dignify with the name of a pond.

Overgrown 'pond' area before clearance

This is an area that was dug out about 20 years ago, but it was dug in line with a ditch/stream that has a lot of agricultural run-off, so it is very silted up and will never be a nice pond. However as a boggy area it is excellent with frogs, toads and lots of bog plants. (I read that if you are making a pond it ought not to be in continuity with the ditch, but have a back channel leading to the pond to prevent silting). Maybe one day we will get a digger to remake a better pond into a much larger feature - but in the meantime I will continue to hack back the blackthorn and pull up great hairy willow herb.