Beautiful spring flowers in January

The beautiful winter sunshine and mild weather has brought out some glorious primroses.  We spotted these last week, whilst talking a walk through the historic Anros Vale cemetery in south Bristol.

Night time walk with the wild owls of Arnos Vale cemetery

Last night we had the most fabulous experience of taking part in a night time walk through Arnos Vale cemetery, looking for tawny owls.  Not only did we hear much owl activity, we had some lovely sightings, particularly when we stopped in the more sheltered woodland area.  It was hugely enjoyable and we learnt loads about the different owls that we will be able to find out in British countryside.  We now also know the differences between the "twit" and the "twoo" hoot.  The Owl Prowl was run by a local owl conservationist:  http://www.wildowl.co.uk/ - a must for anyone who wants to get the chance to see these lovely birds.

Autumn colour - Arnos Vale cemetery

We are very lucky to have Arnos Vale cemetery within a 5 minute walk from our office.  It is a fabulous cemetery which has recently undergone a major restoration project.  It is now being managed as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). 

http://www.arnosvale.org.uk/wildlife







Autumn is very visible during our daily walks.  Those berries that are not already red are changing colour.  The leaves have had a dramatic colour change in the last week.

There are still some very beautiful flowers though.  The war graves are particularly well maintained and even in mid October, provide the splash of colour. 

Woodland school at Arnos Vale, Bristol

We have been working on an idea for a small woodland school at the local Victorian cemetery.  The idea is to get more people into Arnos Vale Cemetery, which is located close to the centre of Bristol.  A woodland school will provide a location for teaching and practical work with young people.  Activities such as  green woodworking, woodland management and nature exploration will be centred around a shelter, woodyard and new accessible wildlife habitats.  The sketch below shows our inititial ideas, which have yet to be approved by the Trust.

Arnos Vale is an amazing landscape to visit, with something for everyone.  There is an absolute treasure trove of history, with many prominent Bristol people buried there in Victorian mausoleum.  There are war graves of many nationalities, as poor seaman injured at sea sadly died in local hospitals.  There are areas of ancient woodland, woodland flowers, reptiles, butterflies, rare lichens on grave stones, many birds, including buzzards, owls and sparrowhawks, there are badgers, foxes and rumours of deer. 
There are lots of events as well - for more information, go to www.arnosvale.org.uk

Ash poles for school ground project

My colleague Shaun and I recently prepared about 50 ash poles for Knowle Park Primary school, where we have created a natural building area, complete with a robinia framed eey-ore shelter.  The ash poles came from Arnos Vale Cemetery, courtesy of Nick Bull the landscape manager and were selected to be big enough to form a frame shelter but also heavy enough to dissuade children from mis-using the poles.

We removed all the side branches and smoothed out any sharp edges.  Hopefully, the children will now be able to make their own dens using natural materials rather than plastic stuff. The photo below is the eey-ore shelter frame, made by Children's Playground Company, out of robinia wood.