Let there be light

 I am trying to increase the plant interest of the hedgerow between the wildflower meadow and the woodland. To allow light in to the seedlings at the bottom of the hedge I am cutting the long grass that is blocking the light from reaching the developing plants. 

The front bar cutting mower allows a cut close to the hedge:

Once cut the grass needs to be dragged out from the hedge. The hay rake is ideal for t hi s:

Once dragged out the grass is rolled up using the rake, and then the pitchfork is ideal for picking up the roll to lug to the grass heap:

The end result is that the plants at the bottom of the hedge, such as Red campion, self heal and garlic mustard, get a chance to grow.

Going bats

Two bat boxes were occupied within about 6 weeks of being put up. One is south facing, the other west facing to get the evening sun.

Signs of occupation were so good that I had to put up a shelf to catch the bat droppings.

Such a good illustration of the benefit of making space for nature. Create the right environment and wildlife will take advantage of  it.

Summer nectar source

 Hemp agrimony seems to be a great nectar source now that there are no wildflowers in the meadow. There were 5 Red Admirals and lots of bumble bees feeding in this photo.

I have been growing some more Agrimony from last years seed and they are now outgrowing their pots.

So I have been planting them out in groups. Preparing the ground by either digging an area or using Roundup to decrease competition from coarse grasses.

It may be a bit soon to plant out as the ground was rock solid and I will have to carry water to keep them going through the rest of the summer. However, if I can keep them watered they will have a good long time to get established before winter.

I found this leopard slug under one of the pots.

Turning of the year

 Cutting the meadow is always a happy/sad time. Sad to see the departure of such a vibrant plant and insect community. Happy that we are literally sowing the seeds of next year’s explosion of life.

Harrowing and Seeding

 Field harrowing is an important part of the natural cycle of the meadow. I have taken the opportunity to add in some seeds - ox eye daisy, bird’s foot trefoil, bedstraw and rattle.

Having about 20% bare earth allows seeds to germinate. This year we have been very late in harrowing so there may not be time for the seeds to germinate - 3 weeks ago would have been much better.

If there is a mild and damp spell over the next few weeks germination will still happen. As the grass is growing very quickly, so I am going to need to cut it to let the light into the seeds to allow them to grow.

I plan to put some more rattle in towards the end of the winter.

Pond digging results can be seen

The pond had almost totally silted up as it had been constructed with the flow of water entering from upstream (and hence bringing in all the silt). I dug it out last summer and created an upstream dam using the dug out silt. The pond now fills by backflow from the downstream end, which I hope will mean less silting up.

Across the downstream entrance I have planted Yellow Iris which have now grown up and I hope will provide a filter mechanism to further reduce the silt getting into the pond.

The water level is now regulated by a downstream dam and sluice.

I managed to identify the Marsh Marigold (Kingcup) roots as I was digging out, and replanted them (actually no planting needed - just divided the root balls and put them back into the dug out pond). This has been successful with a great display of yellow colour this spring.

Cuckoo Flower count

Cuckoo flower count this year is 517. It is very nice to see another big increase.

The Cuckoo Flower (Lady's Smock) is concentrated in the wetter areas of the field - the distribution coincides almost exactly the places in which the rush is starting to grow. Neither of these plants has been introduced, this is just the natural evolution of the wildflower meadow as we return it to poorer soil by cutting in early summer. 

There is also a change in the nature of the grass. In previous years there has been an obvious difference between the area that was ploughed and reseeded and the area that originally had finer grass and so was left intact. The seeded area has always had a greater growth of grass, probably due to the nutrients stirred up by the plough. This year there is no very much distinction between the areas, so I hope that this is the result of taking off the grass each year, which over 15 years has decreased the nutrient content of the sward.