West Wood LWS survey Blog 2: A well ticked list (18 July 2013)

For the most part the designated West Wood Local Wildlife Site is continuous, but it also takes in two isolated ponds in the Park Fields farmland. The one to the south is in open field and conveniently situated for fairly frequent visits on our way back at the end of the day. The more northerly one is close by but requires just that bit more of an effort to tempt us to put it off to the next time. This is July; our last visit was in April. Not surprisingly, we found lots of things that we hadn’t seen there before. Of great interest were two people - one a NT volunteer, the other a local small mammal enthusiast - checking traps set in the hope of finding water shrew. Instead, they captured five common shrews – two of them with little white ears and very cute.

Common Shrew

Some things are just puzzling. A comb of an accessible stretch of the Derwent riverside that comes within the LWS boundary produced some unusual plant discoveries. One was clearly wild celery, except its distinctive smell was not at all celery-like and it was growing on a river bank far from its favoured seaside habitat. Another was very familiar with its silver shaded leaves yet its name difficult to recall. We ceased trying when it dawned that it’s a frequent sight in many a suburban garden. We’re still puzzling over the celery though. Of course, many a garden plant finds its way into a river and its tributaries, but wild celery is quite unlike its domestic descendant in superficial appearance. And, of course, many an umbellifer looks remarkably like others of its family.

Last week two buzzards were making a lot of noise when we twice passed close to a known nest site thought abandoned. Are they back? Possibly, though there was no sign this week and, with so much leaf on the trees, the nest couldn’t be checked - or seen even.

In order to find some species on the list designating West Wood as a Local Wildlife Site, we have changed our strategy and for a few weeks are seeking specific plants where they have been previously recorded and/or in their most likely habitat. Some we can expect to locate without too much difficulty as the season progresses; some we are not so confident about. That may prove unfounded with a more targeted approach, but includes wood brome and lesser skullcap.

Narrow Buckler Fern

We have had some success with targeting though - finding climbing corydalis carpeting the woodland floor close to the upper farm track. Don’t know how it escaped our attention in the past. Wood millet is just about everywhere it should be, and dainty heath bedstraw has come into flower by tracksides and in woodland clearings. Narrow buckler fern has been found by a cascade in upper Leap Mill Burn – and possibly in other places. It’s a difficult plant to identify – not least because the books are a little unclear about some of its attributes.

Climbing Corydalis

Heath Bedstraw

We have just had another unsuccessful search for lesser skullcap, wood (or hairy) brome and wood barley, and there’s still devil’s bit scabious to wait for. Otherwise the boxes on our plant list are pretty well ticked.

 

Birdsfoot Trefoil

Steve Wootten & Phil Coyne

Summer fruits and flowers ...

Mid-July in Gibside's gardens and there's the sense that the growing season is reaching its peak. There are so many colours and scents, so many different moods and moments, so many fruits and flowers, that it's difficult to choose what's finest in all this grandeur. Here's just a taster of what's "hot" in our pleasure grounds this week.

The turf that was laid a few short weeks ago has had its first cut and it's difficult to believe this area was a muddy car park at the end of March. The weather is making things tricky though; scorching is affecting some areas and watering is still required to help combat this long dry spell. Nevertheless, we hope you agree, it's a huge improvement.

Elsewhere the vegetable plots in the walled garden are burgeoning with produce, some of which is already being harvested for use in our Potting Shed Cafe; rocket, mixed salad leaves, radish, and herbs are all picked on a daily basis to add that very local fresh touch to your lunch at Gibside.

The heat is quickly ripening soft fruits too: black and red currant, strawberry and raspberry plants are all full of fruit that is ready to be eaten. There are plenty of uses for all this bounty if you can resist eating it on the spot; from jams and jellies to pies, sauces and liqueurs. Why not come down and chat with our growers about what they're doing with theirs this year?

In our herbaceous border you'll find globe thistles just about to flower, their distinctive spherical heads are a mass of tiny blue stars that seem to fizz into life.

Many visistors are commenting on the bold red blooms of Lychnis chalcedonica too.

And a favourite that has been the source of many a conversation over the last few weeks has been the sweet william. Its sweet-shop scent takes me right back to my childhood, and it seems many visitors have been similarly transported. This allotment staple is a real old fashioned darling, the essence of nostalgia and due for a bit of a revival I hope.

Beyond the walled garden and roses are at last filling the shrubbery walk with their flowers and fragrance. Look out for the eternally popular Rosa mundi (aka Rosa gallica 'Versicolor') which appeared as a sport back around 1500 and has been beloved by gardeners ever since for its paint-splashed colouring and delicious perfume.

Further along, and much of the orangery planting is basking in this very un-British heat: diascias, mesembryanthemums, and osteospermums - all native to southern Africa - are showing off their vivid oranges and pinks. Adding to the display are the cooler, daintier blue-skied felicias, and the sun-yellow sharp-petalled gazanias.

Bees and butterflies are also loving the sunshine (see the small heath butterfly caught below enjoying the oregano), and who can blame them? There can be few better places to be on a summer's day than here in Gibside's gardens.

New Kids on the Block

During May female roe deer (does) seek out a quiet spot in which to give birth.  The young (kids), usually twins, are left hidden in thick cover for the first few weeks of life although the mother is usually not too far away and visits at regular intervals to attend to and suckle them.  Vulnerable at this age they have adapted to remain hidden from predators such as foxes by having virtually no scent and freezing motionless when one approaches relying on their spotted and dappled fur to remain hidden from sight. 



Young kids when alarmed drop on the spot and remain motionless





Close-up of above - note tongue sticking out



Occasionally a doe will choose to give birth in a hay meadow in which although the long grass gives plenty of cover it dosn't exactly provide good camouflage as seen in the picture below. An added danger is that the birthing period usually coincides with hay cutting time and many kids are killed during the process.



Kid 'hiding' in hay meadow


By now kids are growing stronger and are able to move around with the doe although they may still be left unattended for periods and can often be seen wandering and feeding alone.  As you walk around Gibside's woodland walks keep your eyes open and you may be lucky to spot some. 

West Wood LWS survey Blog 1: A slow start (13 June 2013)

It’s June and, not before time, there’s lots in flower. Much of what should have flowered early came late. Some of that still lingers here and there, now joined by splashes of yellow pimpernel, germander speedwell, red campion, buttercups, herb bennet, herb robert, bugle and other June flowers. Delicate pignut will soon be joined by its more substantial cousins – hogweed and angelica are in leaf and looking robust. Leaves are on the trees and the woodland floor is covered in greenery. Insect life doesn’t appear to be faring so well though: today we saw just two common carder and no other bees.

Back in the first week of April when it should have been spring, it seemed an everlasting winter. It promised then that maybe this was not to be the finest of years to be surveying and reviewing this Local Wildlife Site; but it is what it is.

Bare Banks of Leap Mill Burn

Frosted Leaves

Some flower was beginning to show: golden saxifrage here and there beside woodland streams and damp ditches; birch trees dangling catkins; dog’s mercury avoiding showy display; the reliable daisy. There were green leaves, but most was pale brown and dormant. Movement under the ice of a pond suggested some invertebrate presence, impossible to identify. Even the birds were quiet.

Dog's Mercury

In mid-March, the first of these sorties to survey the flora and fauna of West Wood Local Wildlife Site had revealed even fewer signs of spring, but it did give the recorders opportunity to wander through parts of Gibside’s West Wood not often visited and gain some impression of what it might hold.  A sad find was the remains of roe deer buck - hair, some skin, a front leg and collar bone - the left-overs of poachers, tidied-up perhaps by a fox. The buck had been a regular sighting for one of the rangers here, but hadn’t been seen since early January. It is widely reported that the roe deer population nationally has grown too much in recent years and that a cull is much needed. If that is so, then it should be strategically and humanely done, and maybe the poacher thinks so too and acts accordingly, but we cannot be sure without control and management.

Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage

After what seemed like months of winter weather, two days in mid-April gave us sunshine and the highest temperatures since September. It was feeling and beginning to look at bit more like spring, but still there were few plants in flower. Clearly it was going to be a while before the season would be back on track.

But by this time, some nest building going on - red kite sitting on a nest used last year, collections of twigs being assembled in trees to be kept an eye on, and buzzards had been seen again at an old nest site. By the second half of April, grey wagtails were nesting under the road bridge by the new car park, undeterred by the construction work going on around them – unlike a pair of dippers who had shared this stretch of Leap Mill Burn in the past but now, it was suspected, were migrating upstream. By mid-May this was confirmed with the finding of a nest with four warm eggs, soon to hatch into promptly ringed chicks.

Yellow Pimpernell

Bugle

Sadly, red kite activity around their previously used nest site area has ceased. It is possible that they have been driven away by people coming this way, but not many do. Perhaps they have been harassed once too often by crows.

Leap Mill Burn in June

 

Turf, phacelia & tripods ...

Marley's, our contracting team, were back on site this week to finish off turfing the last area of the walled garden. The turf arrived by lorry and was forklifted off, one pallet at a time (each pallet of turf weighs close to a tonne) and was transferred into the garden. Meanwhile, the soil was cleared of sticks and stones (a whole skip's worth!) so that laying could begin. The absence of rain this week has meant that we've been using the bowser and gun sprinkler to water this large area, and we'll need to keep a close eye on it for the next few weeks to make sure it doesn't dry out. If the turf does dry out, it will start to shrink, creating gaps ... or, worse case scenario, areas of the grass will die. The work should be completed this weekend, and hopefully within a month, it will look as though it's always been here.

The walled garden team has also been working hard, opposite this new area of turf being layed, in the two large "L" shaped beds nearest the gate. Whilst they may look empty, we have in fact sown both of these beds with a green manure crop called phacelia. Phacelia is a wonderful plant that will fulfil a number of roles for us this year. It is quick to grow from seed, will reach between 30-50cm (12-20") in height, and will blanket cover these large areas to keep out weeds. When it flowers, and its lavender-blue blooms are themselves a delight to behold, bees, hoverflies and other insects will be irresistibly drawn to it: listen to a swathe of phacelia and it hums! As if all this were not reason enough to grow it, as a green manure this crop can be ploughed back into the soil to improve it, or be cut down and composted. Phacelia's attractive airy flowers and foliage mimic a meadow en masse, and with some intersowing of poppies this should be one of the prettiest corners of the garden this year.

Elsewhere in the walled garden, volunteers have been helping to prepare one of our annual plots. Liz and Helen were busy this week erecting two tripods and planting them up with sweet peas. As these tripods are in the centre of a bed that will be packed with flowers, we need a way for the sweet peas to train themselves up the tripods; hence, we've created a lattice-work of pea sticks around which the sweet peas will be able to wrap their tendrils and climb happily to the skies. These tripods add welcome height to this plot, and will be full of dramatic colour and delicious scent in a few weeks' time. Sweet peas also make perfect cut flowers, and the more you cut them the more blooms they'll reward you with. At their feet, we've sown (and transplanted) a wealth of annuals whose bright colours will draw the eye and thrill the senses over the summer months.

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A few more pictures of the people behind the magic happening in the walled garden at the moment:

Shaun Murray, top turfer

2 tonne forklift & driver

 

members of the CSA team

 

John, garden volunteer

Fox cubs

Fox cubs born in late winter are well grown now.  In undisturbed areas they are often active in daylight hours exploring the areas around the vicinity of their sett (earth) or as seen in the video below in bouts of playful fighting, 

Apple-tree Tuesday ...

It's over 250 years since George Bowes established his new kitchen garden, at sometime in the late 1730s, within the walled garden at Gibside. Part of his project included planting a row of fruit trees running parallel across the length of the garden. Just a few short weeks ago we excavated the 18th century planting plates that designated the sites of these original trees (more details in this post), and after carefully marking the centre of each plate, we replaced the soil and allowed it a month to settle. Since then, of course, visitors to the walled garden will know that this bare earth has been transformed by turf, and wooden stakes have patiently marked the spots for the proposed trees.

Last week, on a typically overcast English Tuesday, the next stage of our project sprung into action as we invited visiting families to join us in becoming a part of the garden's history, by planting an apple tree. For a few hours, the walled garden was a flurry of activity, as 22 families became impromptu members of our team for digging, planting, filling in, raking, staking and watering. Here are some of the fantastic finished results:

Although we can't be sure of the exact varieties that were planted in George Bowes' kitchen garden, we have sourced apple varieties that would have been contemporary at the time, or were known to have been used in other Bowes properties (particularly Streatlam). Varieties include cooking apples like 'Keswick Codlin', an early 19th century introduction from the Lake District, and the ancient 'Catshead', from the early 1600s, named for the way its triangular shape resembles a feline face when floating in water. In dessert apples, we've used the very old French variety, 'Court Pendu Plat', which was introduced in 1613; though the one I'm quite excited about is 'Devonshire Quarrenden', which originated in the south-west, found its way into cultivation in the 17th century, and is especially noted for its strawberry-like flavour. Sounds delicious!

The trees that we've planted are all a year old, known in the trade as maidens. The reason for this is twofold: firstly because apple trees are notoriously difficult to transplant as they age; and secondly because we need to start pruning them--using the pyramidal technique expounded by Thomas Rivers in his 1866 book The Miniature Fruit Garden--while they are still very young for the best results. Over the next few years, just as in George Bowes' time, these maidens will mature to form a grand avenue once more.

Many thanks to all the families who came and planted trees with us--it was lovely to meet so many young gardeners in the making! We really hope you enjoyed the experience and that you'll come back often to check up on the progress of your trees. Thanks also to all the volunteers, especially Val, Sharron and Angela, who helped to make this such a great day.