Blackbirds nesting in the garden

For the last two weeks a pair of blackbirds have been building a nest outside our kitchen window. The birds are in a dense japanese honeysuckle, hidden from the local cats, magpies and crows, I hope.  Until this year, the honeysuckle has not been dense enough to hide a nest, but now there is a tangled mas of branches and leaves.  Rightly or wrongly, I have put one of the mobile cat scarers in the blueberry bed below the nest site.  I'd hate to see some overfed moggy run off with the nestlings.

Further down the garden (which is only small) a pair of wrens are nesting in the ivy by the shed.  The wildlife value of the garden has increased so much since we moved in 10 years ago.  There are over 20 fruiting trees or shrubs, there is a small pond, a shed with a planted roof, flowers and berry plants, native ferns.  All in a plot 6x15m.  I'll do a blog soon on the growth of the garden.

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

Bristol Avon clean up

Every time I go fishing I pick up litter and plastic bottles. It's depressing. However inspired by clean up campaigns on other rivers, I have decided to get something going on our own Bristol Avon. I fish the river fairly regularly at Newbridge, downstream of Bath. It is good fishing, in a very pretty landscape, with lots of wildlife - otter, boar, deer, water rail, wildfowl and more. But the banks are marred by litter and the place deserves better. So today, my girls and I made a start and managed to fill our rubble bags with plastic bottles from just three spots. We collected over 200 drinks and energy bottles, plus about 30 larger bottles, 2 oil containers (one still with oil, but no lid - nice), 10 or so gas canisters, 5 beer cans and 6 glass bottles. The girls were brilliant and want to go again, with some more help because I can assure you, 7 bags weigh alot and we dragged them about a kilometre back to the van. With the exception of the oil containers, we recycled the lot at Tescos. If you'd like to help, leave a comment or email me through our web site www.afla.co.uk. Birds will be nesting soon, so a 'deep clean' will be impractical but we hope to do another session this spring.

New web pages

We have just updated our website with four new projects - click on the following links to find out more:

http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/yarnton.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/EL/cheltenham.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/HO/woodland.html

http://www.afla.co.uk/NEW/beauch.html

Gores Marsh Park, Bristol

Over the last few years, we have worked with the Gores Marshalls and Bristol City Council on developing Gores Marsh. One a fairly featureless recreation ground, the park is now more marsh like, with accessible paths, a big dog free play area, wetland trees and beds of canary grass for children to explore. Our website (www.afla.co.uk) has photos of the park and a design history. For further information, please visit: http://www.afla.co.uk/CH/gores.html . 

Here is a video filmed today in the early morning light.

Blackthorn in the hedges, panic on the drawing board

The rate of change in the landscape this spring seems incredibly fast.  So fast, that my pencil and pen can barely keep up.  A few weeks ago, before the clocks changed, we enjoyed a trip down to the coast of Somerset, at the edge of the Quantocks.  Our journey from Bristol took us around the edge of the Mendips, still gripped by winter, and over the Levels, showing signs of spring.  Most striking was all the blossom on blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), contrasting nicely with lush new growth in the fields and the first bright green leaves of hawthorn.  White lambs gambolled across the meadows and swans patrolled the ditches between.  All so pleasing that I had to record in a sketch the essence of what I had seen.  With work committments and our madly hot weather, I have had barely time to finish the colouring as the blackthorn blossom, round here at least, is going past it's best.   Already the cherry blossom is out, amongst many other changes.  So much to see, draw and write about.  I may not be able to keep up.

Magnolia at Westonbirt Arboretum

We visited Westonbirt Arboretum last weekend, to enjoy the fine weather and meet up with friends blowing in from all four points of the compass.  Our previous visits have been in autumn, to admire the colourful leaves of the amazing maple collection.  Westonbirt is also a place to visit in Spring, as it is home to cherries, azalea and many fantastic magnolia trees.  The magnolia in flower are worth the entry price alone.  With sunshine and blue skies, the whole family were transported somewhere exotic and by the end of the day, we all felt as though we had been on holiday.  Relaxed and fulfilled.