Extending the dead hedge

I wasn’t at Wild Acres last week, but was astonished at the changes to the site over that short period. The top of the site is now fully clear of machinery, logs and random junk and can comfortably hold 15 cars in marked bays. A new wall has been built, new beds rotavated and lots of grass cut.

I spent the first part of the morning raking the wildflower patch in the bottom meadow to remove the cut material. We have a plan to put plug plants there, but there is also a natural seed bank and plenty of cowslips. Will be interesting to watch what comes up over the next few weeks.

For the rest of the morning I cut the willow next to the garden areas to prevent them shading out over the summer.

There was quite a lot of willow stems, but they fitted nicely into the existing dead hedge. It drops a little more every year which allows it to be topped up.

Just as the lunch bell went, it started to tip with rain. So we had our lunch sheltered in the outdoor dining room, with the sound of rain on the roof. For desert there was rhubarb crumble, which seems very early for that to be harvested.

In the afternoon, I went down to the river for the regular raft check for the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. I would normally have done this yesterday, but was busy on another task. But in the end, there were not many signs of visitors. Otter for sure, but otherwise just brown rat.