Woodland Fun Event in October!

We had to postpone our Fun in the Sun day ealier in the year as there was too much going on in the village!
So we have set aside Saturday afternoon on October 5th for a bit of frivolity
The poster explains all.

Hope to see you there!

Wild Flowers.

The middle area of the wood is nearly ready for the pupils at Elmsett School to plant some wildflower plugs dring the second week of term. There's just a bit more strimming and clearing to do, then the areas for the plants need to be turned over to deter the grass from growing.

The wood is teeming with butterflies and bumble bees, attracted by the ragwort and other wildflowers. The mature coppiced Ash trees in the hedgerow seem free of dieback and are producing copious bundles of seeds.

The BIg Butterfly Count.

This sunny, warm weather, with gentle breezes is ideal for butterflies and there are many in Buckle's Wood.You might like to spend 15 minutes to take part in this year's Big Butterfly Count. It's very easy and helps the Butterfly and Moth conservation Trust to keep track of how these precious creatures are coping with loss of habitat, pesticides and unusual weather conditions.
Just print the identification sheet that is lon theri website, make a note of how many of each type of butterfly that you see and send them the info on line.

Great News

Our planning application for a pond has been approved by Babergh District Council. We hope to do the work during the winter, with help from James Buckle and his digger driver.

Meanwhile the wood is looking good, with many wildflowers growing along the rides, bees and other pollinating insects zipping about and an increasing number of butterflies flitting from flower to flower.

The Pyramidal Orchid has survived the winter and it was great to see a large patch of Yellow Rattle growing in the grass between the trees--I didn't spot them last year!

 

The clumps of Tufted Vetch were attracting the bees and butterflies.

Late spring

Over the last couple of weeks the wood has sprung into life. Trees, grasses and wildflowers all energetically aimimg for the sky! Lots of small insects are moving about in the grass with one or two brown butterflies and a blue one which flittered out of site before I could take a photo. Not many bees--as yet.

This spider's web  caught my attention as it sparkled in the sunshine. I'll put the photo on ispot to get an identification from the web--but the spider was rather shy!

I almost walked past this tiny vetch. It was only when I knelt down  to take this photo that I realised it was spread  over quite a large area along the edge of one of the rides.

Planning a pond

Well-- it's taken ages to sort out the Buckle's Wood planning application for  retrospective change of land use and  creation  of our wildlife pond, partly due to my aversion to filling in forms.
The forms were delivered today and I've just received an email from the planning department, thanking  me for the application. I shall be contacted if the paperwork lacks the right information and if everything is OK we shall know in 6 to 8 weeks if the application is successful.
Meanwhile, we need to relocate some of the trees that we planted in the south west corner to make room for our pond and put up some notices to inform our many woodland walkers of our plans!

Creating a pond

In 1993, when the playground was altered to  accommodate Elmsett School's Community Recycling Centre, the pond area was landscaped were made made safe for the pupils to use as an environmental resource. Wild flowers and additional trees were planted. The pond was cleared out and a  dipping platform was built.   When the new play area on the meadow was built last year, the surplus soil was used to fill in the pond.

The original design for Buckle's Woodincluded a pond. The plan was drawn by Greville from The Green Light Trust, using ideas from  the pupils and members of the community.  As all the trees have been planted, and the village has lost the School's pond, the management group have decided that this year will be a good time for a Pond in Buckle's Wood. 

With guidance from Juliet Hawkins, our pond will be safe, environmentally friendly feature that will attract a greater variety of wildlife into our woodland.



This is where the pond will be!



Waiting for news

I've sent this photo, with a few others, to The Forestry Commission and I think I already know what their reply will be, as there are a number of sites locally where many young Ash trees have had to be destroyed.

Now the guidelines have changed and only those trees  which show signs of the Ash dieback disease will have to be destroyed.   At the moment only few of the 420+ Ash trees that we have planted display obvious signs of having the disease.
 
The latest guidance says that mature trees can be left, even if they are struck down by the fungus. Experts are hoping that  there will be some native trees left that are immune to this fungus.

There are a number of old, coppiced Ash trees in our ancient hedgerow, so it's great that they don't have to be cut down.

Help with identifying Ash Dieback disease.

Ash Dieback

Farming Today on BBC Radio 4  this morning was all about this disease. A number of experts were interviewed followed  by a general discussion about whether should be done to keep our native trees free from imported diseases.

Ash Trees Dieback disease

The Foresty Commission has issued a warning about a fungal disease

that has reached our shores from the continent. A report on the Today programme this morning said that only trees in Norfolk were infected.

The link above gives more details and help with identifying diseased trees. It also gives contact details  of organisations that should be contacted if you are concerned about any  ash trees that are dying back.

The woodland is beginning to look very colourful as autumn approaches. It has been a good season for berries in the hedgerow and on the trees. Fungi are started to pop up along the rides and most of the flowers have died down and are displaying pretty seedheads.



Rose hips



Bryony



Ragwort

Old Knobbley's Book.

After many years of studying and admiring this 800 year old Oak tree in Mistley, my daughter has just published this beautifully illustrated childrens' book, which tells the tale of the events that he witnessed during his long and eventful life.
Designed with children in mind, this is an ideal book for Nature and history enthusiasts-- well if they are not interested in these subjects, they will be when they have looked at the book!

The rides have been cut!

It took James nearly 3 hours to cut the rides and the footpath along from the Old Rectory. As you can see there is plenty of vegetation to rake up and put into piles amongst the trees. This will encourage small mammals and insects into the wood.

We have made a start and the area in the middle and one of the rides have been cleared.  The lovely weather this weekend should encourage our willing volunteers to finish off the job.

These two wee beasties were a bit of a distraction. The Green Shield Bug on the seed head of a cow parsley plant  and a small spider that darted from the middle if it's web to sort out it's latest prey.

Wet, wet wet!

The wood is looking very colouful just now with a great variety of wildflowers growing along the rides and between the trees. One evening last week, I wandered about with my camera, as the sun was setting.  There were plenty of bees and other small beasties about, but not many butterflies, which is a bit worrying. The wet summer hasn't suited them at all and it has been difficult for us to find a suitable time to cut the rides.

There are always plenty of tiny beasties jumping around in the grass beween the trees. This one is a Meadow Grasshopper (I think)

This tiny spider seemed to be

posing in the evening sunlight!

Sunshine suits all.

We have had a couple of reasonably sunny days, with not too much wind, just right for wandering round the wood with the camera. Three interesting things caught my attention.


Pyramidal Orchid

Only one spotted in the woodland, although they are thought to be fairly common in England                                    







Goat's-beard

Its common name is Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.  The flower opens early and closes at noon. As you can see, this photo was taken in  the glow of evening sunlight.

A Small Ermine moth caterpillar.

Many of the branches were shrouded  in what looked like a very large spider's web, which is secreted by  the caterpillars  to protect themselves from predators.



A new elm tree for Elmsett

Photo by Loraine Wenham

James Buckle is planting our commemorative elm tree in the middle of our wood next to the  last area of trees that were were donated by and  planted  by the community.
Most of the elm trees in and around the village were killed by dutch elm disease in fact there are a few skeletal trees in the hedge that surrounds the wood.
This tree has been selected from stock that has some resistance by King and Co. a tree nursery near Braintree.
Let's hope that this one will grow straight and tall and survive for many years.

Celebrations in the Wood

The rain kept away and many people came to celebrate our Queen's Jubilee and watch James buckle plant our commemorative tree.
Much thought and effort had gone into making the scarecrows. Local charity shops had been raided to find suitable clothes and props for their creations and James Buckle, our judge, looked long and hard to find the winners!


 He thought that Lizzie, the bird-watching queen, was well thought out and reflected the  queen's love of the countryside.

There were lots of extra props (the tartan scarf, a pair of binoculars, the scarf, tied in royal fashion and a bird spotters magazine in her pocket) which made this, a truly royal scarecrow.

The rest of the scarecrows are lurking in the Jubilee Scarecrows page above!







Prize-giving



Commemorative tree

We collected this lovely disease resistant elm tree from King and Co's  tree nursery in Rayne, Essex yesterday. Could have bought a whole load of other, well grown trees for our garden, but this one took up most of the room in our small car!

It's just the right size and should grow well in the middle of the wood.

Thanks nurserymen for your help.

James Buckle will be planting this for us at 11 o'clock on Tuesday 5th June, when we celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.

So much to learn

An excerpt from the feature documentary by Louie Schwartzberg following notable mycologist, Paul Stamets, as he discusses the important role mushrooms play in the survival and health of the earth and human species.