Head Gardener's Diary - February
It’s the end of January and we’ve already mowed
the entrance and formal gardens with the Marquis cylinder
mower making some nice stripes and tidying these areas.
I have been out on the Husqvarna ride-on mower tackling
the paths, walled garden, cherry circle and heather beds.
The grass has barely stopped growing this winter but its
been so wet in the garden this is the first week its been
dry enough to mow.
However
this has given us the chance to get on with some other tasks
including the Jungle which we’d just finished forking
through when those strong winds blew two Eucalyptus trees
over – they have now been sawn up and removed, only
the stumps remain. We also lost one pine near the entrance
and the previous week another pine over towards Swiss Cottage.
We have started thinning the three blocks of wood in the
centre of the garden to create Ash/Oak copses with undergrowth
of coppiced hazel and a margin including coppiced hawthorn
and field maple. The pheasants, which have taken up residence
in the garden, seem very interested in our work and hang
around the perimeter waiting until we’ve gone home.
There’s also evidence that the fox is keeping an eye
on our work.
If anybody has noticed the bird feeders recently put up
in the garden, they have been to attract birds to certain
areas, where 24 students studying an MSc Wildlife Management
and Conservation course have been practising netting birds,
which they identify, and ring before releasing. They caught
a total of 48 birds, the following is a list of those birds
they ringed earlier this week:
Julia
Wesley