The wall at the Southern end of the park is being repaired at last! The spoil from the work will be stored next to the Scout Hut on a temporary basis, but it will be removed ASAP
As soon as the wall is mended the contractor will move on to improving some of the paths. Hooray!
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There is a plant sale under way in aid of the Friends' work. We are selling Sweet William, Foxgloves, Rudbeckia, French Marigold, Ferns, Wild Strawberry. All plants cost £1. You can find the plant sale on Belle Vue Terrace, opposite the former Greaves Hotel, now "McCarthy and Stone". If you have any surplus plants that you can pot up for us to sell do get in touch via "Comments" above. Christine grows plants from seed and I just dig up plants that have self-seeded themselves in my garden. Also if you have any small pots that you don't want, please don't throw them away - recycle them our way! Small pots only please, Late April to early June is the best time to hear the Dawn Chorus, and Sunday May 1st is officially Dawn Chorus Day. The first songsters begin singing about an hour before sunrise, with the peak being half an hour before, and half an hour after sunrise. Greaves Park is an excellent place to hear the Dawn Chorus because the mixture of habitats and food plants provides good conditions for a large number of birds, but of course if you have a wildlife friendly garden you could just open a window to enjoy the show! Here is a link to a fun guide to the calls of some of our commonest birds, together with the approximate time before sunrise you can expect to hear them. https://www.birdfood.co.uk/bird-song?utm_campaign=2190892_International%20Dawn%20Chorus&utm_medium=email&utm_source=CJ%20WildBird%20Foods%20Limited&dm_i=4K7A,1AYI4,6K5GHW,60S90,1 The bad news is that someone made a big fire in one of the compost bins on Friday or Saturday night. They demolished our "Bug Hotel" and used the pallets that we used to build it to add to the fire. They have also left a lot of litter, including some large plastic sheets.
The good news is that the volunteers have put up a bee box in the Community Garden, which is specially designed to encourage wild bees to nest in it. Our usual Third Saturday group will meet on Saturday April 16th from 2-4 in the Community Garden.
We will be planting some Perovskia (Russian Sage) which is a blue flowered shrub which will be very attractive to pollinators, We will also put up a bee box, finish off the willow arch, do a bit of weeding and perhaps sow some wildflower seeds. In addition we have a donation of Foxgloves to plant. If we have time we may also move on to do some litter-picking and tidying round the park. New volunteers are very welcome! Just come along to the Community Garden. If you are not sure where it is look at the map on the "Events" page. Personally I am rubbish at identifying birds by their songs, but I always hope to get better! Here are the songs of some woodland birds, many of which can be heard in Greaves Park from time to time.
They can be found at https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/sounds-of-woodlands? As the birds start to sing to mark out their territory and attract a mate the park will be full of bird song. If you like to identify what bird you can hear you may find these two guides from the RSPB helpful.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/sounds-of-parks-and-gardens/ https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/rspb-news-stories/sounds-of-finches-and-tits/ The next Third Saturday work party will be on 19th March from 2.00-4.00. We will start in the Community Garden and then possibly move on to do some bramble clearing etc. near Parkfield House.
All new volunteers are very welcome! An extra work party met on March 5th to make a willow tunnel for children near to the willow "Wigwam" on Greaves Park Lawn (willow kindly donated by Fairfield). Below are some pictures of the team working.
The whole park is zinging with spring flowers at the moment- crocuses, on Crocus Hill and elsewhere, Daffodils, and Snowdrops. Here are pictures of Snowdrops and Wild Daffodils in the Community Garden. There is also a wonderful show of Daffodils on the bank behind Parkfield House. Our next work party is on Saturday 19 February, from 2pm -4pm. We'll meet near Middlewood, in front of the Greaves Hotel. If you are not sure where this is have a look at the map on the Web Page called "What's in the Park?"
We hope to repair the willow wigwam and perhaps build a new structure. We may also do some weed and bramble clearing round the edge of the wood. New volunteers are very welcome. If you have any gardening gloves please bring them, but don't worry if you haven't got any! |