Hi everyone,
This blog is definitely about gardens, but not quite grenades. Sorry to disappoint.
I was lucky enough to spend part of Monday afternoon having a meeting in the wildlife garden. I was amazed at the variety of wildlife that has moved in. Bumblebees meandered from flower to flower and a migrant hawker dragonfly whizzed past, both of them in search of what may be one of their last meal. A group of enterprising greenfinches were making the most of the dead sunflower heads, performing wobbly balancing acts as they tried to extract the seeds. There was a moment of excitement as a blue tit took a fancy to one of the nest boxes and popped inside to check it out. Fingers crossed it'll roost in there over the winter.
Although they'll be doing some tidying up, Saltholme's team of garden volunteers will be leaving certain areas of the wildlife garden untouched over the winter. Standing stems, crusty flower heads and mounds of dead foliage will make perfect hideaways for all sorts of creepy crawlies when the weather's chilly. These hiding holes may well become rich foraging spots for shrews during the winter. I've got my fingers crossed that ladybirds will hibernate in some of the cracked bark of the upside down trees. Yes, we've got upside down trees.
Now onto those grenades. Earlier on Monday morning, four of us had a wander down to the ammunition store. Never fear, we don't store any ammunition at Saltholme, it's the old World War Two building by the main entrance. All traces of grenades and shells are long gone - the unassuming concrete building protects wildlife nowadays. During the summer, it's home to breeding swallows. Over the winter, very different residents move in, with some of them already making themselves feel quite at home. Small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies use the ammunition store as a hibernation spot. There were around 15 of them in there on Monday.
Bye for now,
Ben.