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Busy busy yesterday. Along with the usual warden duties we spent a lot of time relocating plants from pots troughs and hanging baskets ready for the summer bedding plants.

We also worked on 2 eco friendly areas which I have initiated onsite. Building natural barriers and a log pile in one area and starting on a planned bee and butterfly haven in another, all of which will help to sustain the dwindling population of our pollinators and add to the enjoyment of our club members I hope.

The construction of the natural habitat area meant foraging in Glucksburg Woods for fallen branches and logs being careful to take only newly fallen materials so as to leave established habitats undisturbed.

Both areas are being constructed where there are huge swathes of nettles, which have to be cleared by hand, but also leaving enough controlled growth as they are an important part of the eco chain, attracting many insects which in turn attract birds and other creatures.

I shall try to post some pictures of our progress over the next 7 months of our stay here at Sandringham.

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That's amazing darkazana, keep up the good work.

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I'll look forward to seeing how that evolves darkasana I wish I had room in my garden to do that.

I do try to plant lot's of bee friendly flowers and herbs and am hoping to build a bug hotel with my grandson this year.

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Don't know if I'd be allowed to put in a pond, PeverilPeril. Everything has to be risk assessed on site and it might be deemed a danger to children. I had thought about it but will have to discuss it with the powers that be. We will be building an insect hotel out of recyclable material though, and hopefully putting some rainwater butts at the back of the office to save water for the hanging baskets etc.

Most of the plants we will be using will be coming from my garden at home....I seem to have an abundance, especially lemon balm, buddleia, rosemary and lavender, they all love to self seed.

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A raised area with shallow tubs of water will suffice. Just plant some reed mace or anything you find in a local pond and the wildlife will arrive. Insects such as corixa and giant water beetles will wing their way in, attracted by the water. And of course the birds will love it.

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I've got lots of newts and frogs in my pond. I also let an area near the pear and apple trees grow wild. I have two bird baths and a water feature and all these things help to attract the birds. You'll see from my photo on the Railway & General thread that I can attract the birds. :biggrin:. I love to look out from my kitchen window and see all the birds come into my garden, especially the robins and goldfinches. At certain times the garden will be full of birds and the next minute they're gone. When the garden is in full bloom and full of birds, it's one of the great pleasures of my life.

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I have a fair bit to do with the restoration side of quarrying as well as actually working in one and we have to resposible for the wildlife that's on site from making insect hotels out of old pallets and other recyleables, make bird and bat boxes to put up around the site,recently we have been given the task of seeding an area set aside for Turtle Dove seed mix in the hope we can encourage them to nest on our site, also we have appointed a "bumble bee walker" this involves one of our staff walking a 1 mile route around site this month logging what species of bumble bee he has seen and walking the same route in a couple of months time to get a comparison, all this and try to run a safe site as well, never a dull moment in our industry. Good luck with your project darkazana there's always plenty to do to help our wildlife

Rog

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More progress today, with natural debris cleared up and deposited in a pile, in the habitat area providing shelter or nesting material, or maybe just compost. Which brings me onto todays development that we now have a compost box, made by Rog our warden. I had suggested that we should build a compost heap when we were emptying the winter tubs and baskets ready for some new plants. I had noticed some old fencing at the back of the bin compound, and today Rog did just that. I am so pleased that the wardens are supporting my efforts, and of course they will benefit as they will not spend so much on compost for their plants next year.

I have noticed that the robins in particular have been very active around the compost area and where we have cleared some nettles and started planting our Pollinators Haven.

Photos to follow soon.

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Most of my neighbours leave wooded sections on their land for wild life, deer, raccons, Possums. Other wildlife include Bobcats, they grow pretty big, Mountain Lions have been spotted and documented on hunters cameras, a Brown Bear was hit by a semi trailer a few months back, so they are around us.

A warning has been put out by the wildlife wardens, feral pigs are out of control, we have been told to shoot them on sight!! They are dangerous and cause untold damage to livestock and land.

Birds are my favourite animals, I love the Northern Cardinals, males are bright red, Red Winged Blackbirds are pretty, as are the woodpeckers.

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I saw my first Monarch butterfly of the season yesterday. I also confirmed seeing a Monarch caterpiller on Tuesday, need to see more of this butterfly, as it's an important pollinator.

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Well not interesting at the moment, but here are a few photos of our ongoing project.

First up, the nettles that we had to clear!!

Before...

DSC_0046_zps88ib9rcc.jpg

and after..

DSC_0043_zps2sijfucs.jpg

with the beginnings of the structuring.

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Since those photos I have removed quite a few of the nettle roots to make way for planting, and we have put in the bin lid pond, but need to make it more unobtrusive.

In the meantime here are some pictures of our compost area being constructed.

DSC_0054_zpscat5gbsu.jpg

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With the first offerings!!!

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More to follow later when I get out with the camera again.

In the meantime, my attention was caught by something fluttering among the shrubs through the fence just outside our caravan window. On closer inspection (through the window) I was thrilled to see a thrush sitting on her nest just feet away, so I shall keep my eye on her and see if we have some babies there soon.

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With such a large place you should be able to fill several compost bins of that size.

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I know Compo, but it's where to site them. We shall start small and see how things go with this one. We are also considering a wormery, though just for the staff I think....it would be overkill for all the site to contribute, quite literally. The aim with the compost bin is to produce enough compost for the planters and hanging baskets on site.

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Well a bit further on with the wildlife garden. Cleared quite a few nettle roots last week and positioned the bin lid pond, but just felt it was not quite right. Today got some plants into the ground, lemon balm, lavender, foxgloves and lupins brought from home, and also transplanted some forget me nots and, I think, pink campions which were growing among the rhododendrons. Also got some sunflowers in which I had grown from seed and then scattered a box of butterfly and bee flower seeds all over, with the idea of just weeding out nettles until I know what is growing there...that is as long as the rabbits and pigeons don't finish everything off!!

So this is what we have so far.

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Oh yes I forgot to mention that I have stared on the Insect hotel. Two storey so far, 1 pallet cut in two and stacked.

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I have used a plasterers bucket for the main pond, and the bin lid further down which will act as a bird bath/bee hydrator. There is no water in yet as tap water has to stand for 2 or 3 days, and we have no water butts on site yet. I'm hoping some forecast rainfall might even start them filling.

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Well disaster struck in the form of pigeons I think, with most of the plants being eaten away. There is a tiny bit of lemon balm, two foxgloves and very little else left noblue

A couple of days ago we had a delivery (including our new water butt and rainwater diverter) and managed to talk the driver out of a pallet to add to the insect hotel.

Yesterday I found a dead pigeon at the back of the "hotel" stuck underneath it, probably got stuck trying to steal some of the filling....serve him right for eating the plants. A wildlife haven is all very well as long as it attracts the right sort of wildlife. I think pigeons rate as the asbos of this site!!

Well onwards and upwards. the ponds both have water in them and I have covered what few plants remain with some upside down hanging baskets, in hopes they may offer some protection until I can get some more suitable netting.

On the plus side We have signs that visitors are being attracted with a siskin stopping off at the bird bath (dustbin lid) for a drink this afternoon. Off to the garden centre tomorrow for some bird feeders, netting and other bits and pieces for the project.

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May I suggest that Slugs were probably your culprit. Slugs love lupins and any other soft tissued young plants. Perhaps a handful of slugs pellets would help in the early days of establishment. If you are worried about the other things being poisoned by the pellets, you can get wildlife friendly slug bait for yer garding centre.

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Thought about slugs, compo but they were never touched when they were in our compound and there are very few about, not even any trails to be seen and in places the whole plant has been removed. Probably more like the muntjacs that we have in proliferation around here. They were not touched last night after I covered them with the hanging baskets. I shall persevere and see if we can get some plants established somehow, besides rhododendron which is as prolific as the muntjacs!!! :)

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Where we lived previously, on the edge of Ashridge Forest in Hertfordshire, we had loads of muntjacs wandering around. We laid a big rose bed with in excess of 20 bushes and within a few weeks they had been eaten by the deer. We then filled this bed with Marigolds, even though they're a flower I don't really like, but the deer never touched them......... so every year we set marigolds there, added colour in the middle of the lawn at least.

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Some of the foxgloves had been nibbled round the edges the other morning, but not too much damage. However on one edge of the garden a huge hole has appeared, bunny or badger? Well it turns out to be bunny (a bit disappointing, but then again I wouldn't have been allowed to mention it if it had been badger) and bunny has been seen investigating the site, so yesterday I laid some chicken netting over the basket cages.

We worked a bit more on the pond area, gravel around the edges and steps between the pond and bird bath, mainly to support the pond as the sandy earth is falling away, I think the nettle roots were holding the ground together....which when you think about it is why landslides have been occurring in areas of high deforestation. We have also dressed the surface in well rotted leaf mould found in the woods, to help soak in water, which simply runs off the surface when we try to water the plants. It seems to have worked so far.

I have high hopes of some visitors to the pond, sightings of frogs in the vicinity have been noted by caravanners over the last few days, and birds continue to visit too, so little by little it is starting to show signs of attracting some of our local creatures.

Next to go in will be a couple of Buddleias, grown by Colin another colleague working on the club site. I shall try and get some more photos in the next couple of days.

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