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June is the best month for wild flowers and this year, I didn't cut the grass and recorded the flowers as they grew from March. It teaches us a lesson in what nature can do if we leave it alone. This year I discovered three different wild orchids - common spotted, pyramid and bee orchids. I learnt a lot about managing a wildflower meadow from this video.
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In the last few weeks I have spent many hours walking in the woodlands near my home and taking photographs of the arrival of spring. The experience was deeply satisfying and I felt spiritually engaged. This week is 'Lets Get Creative' week in the UK and we are encouraged to get outside! Inspired by David Hockney's arrival of spring ipad paintings, I converted some of my photographs into digital art using the fantastic Lunapic free app. I used Hockney's painting "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire 2011", as a filter to give me another perspective on the beauty of the natural world around me. Since I started my blog 4 years ago, with rare exeptions, I have kept my posts to my garden. But in March 2022 I joined a group of environmental activists in my village - the climate and ecology action group, which is engaging in activities to encourage a greener, healthier village. One of the reasons for joining the group was to force myself to broaden my horizons so I have decided to expand my blog to take in the natural environment of which my garden is a part. My practical contribution to the community action plan is concerned with biodiversity and the creation of maps of habitat-types in the area around the village. I had to create a new website to support the project and this will contibue to be developed throughout my involvement with the group https://rebetchworth.weebly.com/ Spring is in full swing. Its my favourite time of the year and I wanted to immerse myself in it so I decided to make a movie to celebrate ithe signs of spring in some of the woodland areas near my home. Over three days I visited three different woodland (including our own) and photographed the plants – mainly wild flowers and trees and shrubs that were in blossom or coming into leaf. On two of my explorations I was accompanied by my youngest daughter who also loves nature and it was a delight to have her company and her knowledge – she is very interested in plants. We used the PlantNet App to help me identify the plants. I then spent another day assembling my photos using windows moviemaker and adding music and then overlaying text to name the plants. When finished I uploaded it to my biodiversity website https://rebetchworth.weebly.com/education.html By immersing myself in nature through my woodland walks – it did something to me and I tried to celebrate some of its wonder and splendour in my movie. The intention to make a movie forced me to learn as I had to identify the plants I was photographing using PlantNet and I watched several YouTube clips that explained the natural signs of ancient woodlands including the indicator plants. In this way I improved my understanding of the significance and meaning of what I was observing and my enjoyment of it. I shared my movie with my planning group. It was great to receive their positive feedback and the leader of the group shared it with the village Whats App forum with an invitation to share their photos of plants and animals that they had spotted while out walking. I felt I had made a useful contribution to our collective project. Google Earth is one of the most useful bits of free to use software available for making maps of the world. The creation tools allow you to easily create and share maps and stories. You can create a project on any subject of your choosing, drawing placemarks, lines and shapes, adding rich contextual information to your places (text, links, images, videos, 3D views and Street View), and organising your project into a narrative flow. You can share your project and collaborate with others. In presentation mode, viewers will fly from one place to the next following the narrative of your project, immersing them in the journey through Google Earth’s imagery and the custom content that you provide. To find out how to create a map visit Google Earth Tutorial I am using it to display some of the projects I have been working on aimed at creating a healthier more sustainable regenerative world. The link will take you to my project file in Google Earth. To view the interactive map please click the link below Projects for a healthier, sustainable and regenerative earth  I have to recognise that I am a major creator of waste in the garden as I cut the grass, prune trees and gather fallen leaves. But I have neglected for many years my role as an agent for recycling these wasteful products. I do collect lots of garden waste but for many years it has been heaped under the cherry tree at the back of the garden. It has grown and grown and in the last 18 months the chickens have done a fine job of distributing it over the garden. Consequently the heap measured around 20m x 7m and has become very unsightly. This week I decided to do something about it. I watched some videos on YouTube about composting and building a compost bin and set about building a bin and filling it with some of the heap layering it as best I could. After about 10 hours of digging I have now redistributed the rotting leaf mould and grass cuttings and the whole corner looks much better. I also added a closed composting bin for food scraps - hopefully it wont attract rats. In building the compost bins and restructuring the garden waste heap I feel I have achieved something useful to help the garden ecosystem and I look forwards to seeing the benefits of my work in future. The benefit to me is that I now have a tidier garden which appeals to my aesthetic sense when I look at it. Another benefit is as the compost develops I will have a useful resource for the garden. 
It has been happening for over 4.5 billion years but only recently has it dawned on me that the best, most colourful and inspiring sunrises seem to be between November and February. Meteorologist Stephen Corfidi agrees and says it has to do with the confluence of a few meteorological factors. The reds, organges and yellow colours of sunset and sunrise are created by a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. The same phenomenon makes the sky appear blue during the day. Sunlight contains all the colours of the rainbow. But not all the colours reach the ground in the same concentration. Nitrogen and oxygen molecules in our atmosphere act as little mirrors for blue and violet light, in particular. That means not as much blue or violet light reaches the ground. Instead, it bounces around in our atmosphere, creating the blue dome of sky we’re all so familiar with
At sunrise and sunset, light has to travel through a greater distance of atmosphere to reach our eyes — so even more blue light, and even some green and yellow light, gets filtered out. That leaves us with the warmer hues of the visible light, the reds and oranges, and it’s why sunrises and sunsets look like the sky is on fire.
The air is typically filled with these tiny particles called aerosols, which are produced by things like trees but also by industrial activities. Aerosols attract water vapor and enlarge, essentially filtering the light we see in the sky and scattering it. But in the winter when the air is colder and dryer, there are less of these colour-filtering aerosols in the air, meaning we see colours in all their intensity. So how many sunrises has the Earth witnessed? If we assume a 24 hour day thats 1642500000000 sunrises but this is a massive underestimate. Takanori Sasaki presents a graph relating the development of life ("though not an expert on the issue") with the length of the day through time. According to it, the first evidence of life, 3.5 billion years ago, happened when the day lasted 12 hours. The emergence of photosynthesis, 2.5 billion years ago, happened when the day lasted 18 hours. 1.7 billion years ago the day was 21 hours long and the eukaryotic cells emerged. The multicellular life began when the day lasted 23 hours, 1.2 billion years ago. The first human ancestors arose 4 million years ago, when the day was already very close to 24 hours long. Being philosphical, the Earth (and universe for that matter), have taken a lot of trouble over billions of sunrises to form me so that I can admire, experience wonder and feel uplifted at its spectacle.
My latest project is to bring ducks to our pond. So this is the first step in what I think will be a long story. We have a large pond it is the most beautiful part of our garden and the plants around the edges make it look quite natural. Its home to lots of plants, fish and insects, three coots and periodically some wild ducks (mallards). We also have a heron who visits most days and in the breeding season a pair of Canada Geese rear their chicks. In spite of all this life it often looks quite empty so I thought I would try and introduce some pairs of breeding ducks.
After some searches on the internet I discovered someone close by who wanted to sell some ducks and got in touch. She responded and came to look at the garden and pond. She was very fond of her ducks and wanted to make sure they were coming to a good home. She liked the pond and give me advice on building a fox proof shelter.
I set about building the shelter with my grandson and we were pleased with the result. The lady brought her ducks – 2 white female Cambells and a grey Swedish Blue drake. She put them in the newly constructed pen and told me to keep them in the pen for a couple of days which I did. On the third day I opened the doors and expected them to rush out and jump into the pond which was only a few metres away but they didn’t want to venture out. I didn’t want to push them out for fear that they wouldn’t want to come back so I tried leaving the doors open the next day but they refused to come out. On the fifth day I decided to coax them out with a stick and they immediately jumped in the pond and they have been there ever since. Of course they did not come back to the cosy shelter I had made full of food rather, they camped on the side of the pond where any fox could take them. I was quite troubled by this and my sense of responsibility caused me to build another wooden shelter, much smaller than the first and put it close to where the ducks had decided to camp. Much less secure than the first shelter I wrapped some netting around it with lots of dogwood branches thinking any fox is going to have to make quite a lot of noise to get to them and this might give them time to escape. My next bit of observing is to see if they will use the shelter which means trying to observe what they do after it has gone dark. I went out this evening in the dark only to find them floating on the pond. I came back a read that ducks are partly nocturnal and they are often active at night. I also read that they can sleep with one eye open and only half their brain shut down and as there are 3 of them they could sleep in such a way as to be aware of night predators which was provided a little comfort.
These ducks have been reared in a pen in a garden and have not had to forage for food consequently I assumed that they would need help to survive in the more dangerous world of the pond and its environs. But their behaviour since coming out of the pen was as if they have never been in captivity. I think they are probably better able to looking after themselves than I thought and I am heartened by the fact that they get into the water if there is any sign of danger i.e me. I think I have quite a lot of watching to do in order to learn what I have to do to help them survive and flourish. This is the first of a series of posts I will be writing prompted by Sustainable Development Goal #15 which aims to "Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss." I am experimenting with writing short vignettes or stories to describe different ways I am engaging with the SDGs in my everyday life.
In some respects it is the easiest of the 17 SDG goals for me to relate to in my everyday life as I am surrounded by 9 acres of land that I care for. I know that attending to my garden is one of the most important factors for my wellbeing. I am very conscious that I am only the custodian of this landscape and the time, effort and financial resources I put in to maintain it is also for the benefit of the people who will live here in the future and I will become one of the unknown gardeners of the past. I like to conduct experiments and usually have two or more experiments on the go. One of my experiments this year was to let the grass grow in the garden. A few years ago we let the grass grow by the pond and were rewarded by the most magnificent display of oxeye daisies. This year we decided to conduct a much bigger experiment allowing the grass to grow over a large part of the garden. Normally I cut the grass using a tractor perhaps 10 times a year. It looks neat and tidy but it eliminates the biodiversity that I know must be there if given a chance to grow. This year I let the grass grow and by early June the oxeye daisies formed a dense beautiful blanket together with many wild flowers – buttercup, dandelion, clover, cowslip, and the most beautiful magenta pyramid orchids to name but a few. Together they create not only a wonderful and uplifting spectacle but they support a thriving community of insects.   By July most of the daisies had withered and I wanted to mow the area and scatter the seeds. We’ve had a few days of hot dry weather so I took the opportunity to mow. I needed a few days of dry weather as wet cuttings are difficult to get off the ground. I was worried by the amount of time it would take me to cut and clear the dead grass and flowers. It took me about 6 hours in total which is similar to the length of time I would have spent cutting between March and July in previous years, so I have not expended more time and energy. I am continuing my experiment as I have left some areas standing to see what happens (my wife called them islands which is a pretty apt description). I am hoping to learn when it’s the best time to mow my garden meadow so that it has maximum environmental benefit. I noticed that there are patches of bare earth in the grass I had cut so I scattered wildflower seeds I have purchased together with oxeye seeds from this year’s crop so hopefully next year they will germinate and flower. I will also use the mowed cuttings as a mulch in other parts of the garden and hope that the seeds it contains will germinate next year. Reflections: Sometimes all nature needs is a helping hand. Stopping what I normally do - cutting the grass, enabled the plant life that was in the soil to flourish. In doing so I also benefitted a diverse population of insects. Presumably at some time in the past the oxeye daises were allowed to flourish and that is why they have spread so prolifically. I know that my garden was once an orchard so perhaps this was the previous ecosystem which I am seeking to restore. Only one apple tree remains adjacent to the wild flower meadow. After doing a bit of research I discovered that wild flowers were cultivated in orchards to attract insects that would then help pollinate the apple trees. Flowers were an integral part of the orchard ecosystem and once established they would sustain themselves by self-seeding. Through my experiment I had helped restore an orchard ecosystem. Our one remaining apple tree from the orchard that was once our garden  I have cut the grass on this lawn every summer for the past 15 years but this year, but this year informed by a previous experiment, I let the grass grow over large areas and the results were spectacular and inspiring for me and my family. More than this it enabled plants and animals that do not normally inhabit this space to flourish.
I have changed a habit and I will repeat and expand the experiment for as a long as we live here. I chose to do something differently at a large scale because I had experimented and experienced something at a small scale and learnt through the process. Perhaps a lot of trying to change practice in response to the SDG’s will involve small scale experiments that we learn from, followed by more significant actions when we are convinced of the value in what we are doing. One final thought, in writing this story and documenting my experience in text and photos, I have created a story. I have engaged in a creative way with my experiences of being in and being with nature. I can now see that I am as much a part of this new ecosystem as the oxeye daisies for without my help as an enabler the wildflower meadow ecosystem would not have come into existence. Not only am we connected in space and time we are connected in a necessary symbiotic way.  The 3 acre woodland is a wondrous place. In spring it is so green that it hurts your eyes. But it’s also a fearful place when the wind blows and he trees creak and branches fall. Two or three times a year when the winds are high trees either snap or are uprooted. Then we have to get a man skilled in the art of felling trees. According to the London Wildlife Trust who surveyed the wood in 1995, it is likely that it was part of a much larger ancient woodland dating back to medieval times (perhaps 14th century). The wood provides a lesson in sustainability in so far as it was managed to provide a source of wood for fuel, construction and other uses for hundreds of years. The hazel coppice or underwood was cut back to ground level when it was between 7 and 15 years old and the poles used on the land. The timber trees (mainly ash) were known as standards. They would be felled in their prime when they were between 70 and 150 years old. A substantial number of trees in the wood must be of this age. Trees identified in a 1994 survey include Ash (dominant), Field Maple, Oak and Sessile Oak, Sycamore, Wild Cherry, and Willow. Shrubs include: Hazel, Elder, Blackthorn, Dogwood, Buckthorn and Buddlieu. There are also climbers – ivy, old man’s beard, sweet byrony, bramble and woody nightshade. The herb layer contains stinging nettle, coltsfoot, forget-me-knot, gromwell, sauide, creeping buttercup, figwort, bedstraw, sedge, cuckoo pint, dogs mercury, burdock, self-heal, medick, penny royal, thistle, sorrel willow herb and bluebell. Fungi include clouded agavic, cramp apple, dryads saddle, antley and pinwheel. I maintain the pathways by putting wood chip down every few years. It’s a circular path around the edge of the woods and a diagonal path that I cut across the woods. I also collecting fallen branches and make wood piles as a habitat for insects and other small animals. A spring line rises in the top of the woods within about 5-10m of the northern boundary. When we have had a lot of rain there is surface water and it ponds near the southern edge. Sedges grow in the area that is wettest. It is this area that gave me concern. A few years ago there had been lots of iris along a channel where the water drained but it was now completely overgrown with brambles. So, after a long dry April, I decided to cut and hack my way through the brambles which I burnt. After several days of cutting I cleared a space perhaps 20x20m exposing a big clump of iris once again and a small ditch that had drained the water from the upper part of the woods. By this time it had rained and there was some water in the ditch. With my son I decided to dig a small hole to see if it would fill up with water it did so we set about enlarging it with the idea of making a pond. Over the next week the idea of making a pond, to create a new wildlife habitat and to improve the aesthetic appeal of this neglected patch, took hold. I spent and spent many hours digging in the clay and gradually what was one small pond turned into several small ponds along the ditch line. By the end of the week, after joining some of the ponds together, I had 4 small linear ponds. I lined the edges with dead, moss covered branches and trunks of fallen trees.  The next step was to raise the banks of the pond above the marshy area on each side. Soil is an important resource in any garden project and unfortunately, the only source of soil was in the compost heap by the house over 150m from the woodland pond. This entailed a 300m round trip with the wheelbarrow which I did 2 or 3 times a day for several weeks. I had just learnt the term ‘green gym’ and it seemed like a perfect explanation for what I was doing. I estimated that I must have made this trip about 40 times. Having created raised banks I then set about transplanting ferns, sedges and iris from elsewhere in the woods to create what I hoped would look like a natural feature. In this way I felt I was being true to the existing flora of the woods. But I also added some ferns and herbaceous plants which I bought from the local garden centre. I also visited a specialist pond garden centre and bought half a dozen plants for the watercourse itself – rush, sedge, foregetmenots. A bonus was discovering a common weed growing in my wife’s veggie patch which I was able to uproot and transplant by the pond so that it was no longer a weed but an integral part of the pond and margins ecosystem. Evolution of the woodland pond – from a muddy puddle to a small scale ecosystem My most recent act, nearly 8 weeks after I started, has been to sow woodland wildflower and grass seeds along the banks. According to the supplier the mix contains annuals and perennials designed for shaded areas under and around trees including Foxglove, Alyssum, Aquilegia, Balsam, Borage, Campanula, Cornflower, Forget-Me-Not, Geum, Larkspur, Lupin, Poppy, Yarrow. In these ways I am adding a little to the biodiversity of the woods. After a dry April, when I began my project, and a wet May that realised the concept of a pond, the first half of June turned out to be disappointingly hot and dry. Every day I would carry several watering cans full of water from the tap in the field to water the newly planted plants. The water in the pond slowly disappeared until all that remained was a hard dry surface with desiccation cracks. It made me realise that in order to sustain the pond as a pond I had to do more to make it hold water so I had a go at ‘puddling’ – tamping down the wet clay bottom, after watching a YouTube clip. It did help to retain the water longer but after a couple of weeks with little or no rain the water disappeared. I decided to leave nature alone and let the pond remain ephemeral. LATER It's now nearly 6 months since I started the project and the extent to which this landscape has regenerated is plain to see. Where there was once only brambles there is a diverse community of plants. I have just finished seeding the area with iris seeds collected from another pond and I am looking forward to seeing the results next spring.   |
Garden & Beyond Notes
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