Despite the cold easterly wind, and with a good group of volunteers, a further supply of recycled fencing wire was fashioned into more tree protectors to complete the work to guard against further Roe Deer antler fraying of the young saplings in Bathing House Wood. Most had been planted by pupils of Donibristle Primary in March 2015 in remembrance of the WW1 soldiers who had been stationed in Bathing House Wood, and some had done so well that, like this Rowan, they were taller than Joe, one of the pupils who had been very involved in the planting four years earlier. A few new pot grown trees, an oak, a blackthorn, a hawthorn, and a rowan were also added to replace ones lost to fraying or oth
A few days ago some of you have noticed the posting by Plantlife trying to get people to appreciate the humble Dandelion. In this recent sunny weather I took an opportunity to see what might be making use of any Dandelions in our wildflower bank beside the steps. The first thing that was noticeable was that there were quite a lot of small bees flying back and forth over the lower part of the bank. Some were then resting in the sun to warm up while several were visiting Dandelion flowers to bury their faces deep into the flower to access the nectar. These were not small Honey bees, but mining bees freshly emerged from their tunnels in the sandy soil which had been provisioned with pollen a
Anyone walking the Coastal Path down from The Triangle last Sunday (7th April) would have seen a line of volunteers digging up some plants growing at the very edge of the path. The plants being removed were thistles, mostly Welted Thistle, along with some Common (stinging) Nettles. These were all plants that by the summer would have grown quite tall and would have made a walk along the path a lot less comfortable than at present. It is not that thistles do not have wildlife value, the flowers of some species can be a valuable food source for bumblebees, butterflies and other pollinating insects. Of the different thistles that we have, Creeping Thistle is however the least useful. This is
