BTCV Woodland Management Course

Dead Hedges

BTCV Woodland Management Course Colleagues

Hello all

A lot has happened since my last blog. We have finished planting the wilderness for now.

The school has been spending more time in the wilderness with the children, and some children and parents were even invited to a Wilderness Adventure! All in all it seems like everyone had fun. I unfortunately missed it as I was at work!

BUT now, to work again on the Wilderness.

I need to write a management plan for the wilderness so that if I wasn't around that there would be a plan of works for the Wilderness that anyone could follow, and to do this I needed a little bit of help.

Which the school and BTCV provided in the form of a Woodland Management Course. What a brilliant two days!

So I now have a document which details how much intervention we will want in the Wilderness and all the projects that we would like to complete.

And I think I can now ID a leaf from a Hornbeam against a Beech and a Elm against a Hazel; Serrated, soft and smooth, rough like a cats tongue and fatter and shaggier.

And an Ash from an Elder and a Rowan; 9 leaflets, 5 leaflets 15 leaflets.

And a pedunculate oak; leaves are not on stalks, as opposed to a sessile oak, leaves are on stalks. Pheweee!

Clif and Jim running the course were fountains of knowledge and expertise and the others on the course including Petra who helped me with my ID's, BTCV Rob with his many jobs and stories, Isle of Man Greya and STAGS Jenny, Latin Tom, multi lingual Phil and everyone else( Gary, Justin, Tom 2, John and Neil), helped me to write the document but also made it really enjoyable and a valuable experience.

Hope you are all able to come down to the Wilderness (and volunteer) and see our teeny patch and enjoy it as much as we do.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Ferns and Grasses!

Well we have a limited budget and I wanted to get some amazing plants ... how to do this? Well ask the right people and they come in and do you favours for a good cause.

The world famous authority on grasses Neil Lucas at Knoll Gardens in Dorset is sending us his best grasses and Eupatoriums for the Wilderness. I can't wait to see them on site and for the lovely pink umbels to light up and anchor the pond with their soft pink hue. The grasses are going to add texture and height and a haze through which the pond will glisten.

And I had no end of trouble trying to source some Polystichum aculeatums (evergreen native hardy shield fern) as they were all sold out and my tight budget was now non-existant after being fairly invoiced by Knoll. But Mark Straver at Crocus did us a magnificent deal and I have been able to almost buy everything on my list for the wilderness. The ferns were picked up by me and are now having a little holiday in my back garden. WooHOO!!!!

See you next Wednesday!

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Pond Planting and Volunteers!

Jake setting his teeny newts free!

Children from Rainforest Class

Bats Class throwing oxygenators into the pond

Hello to all my 5 regular readers!

So the pond has been planted up with the below:

Key:

Butomus umbellatus x 20

Caltha palustris x 20

Iris pseudoacorus x 30

Myriophyllum spicatum x 25

Potomogeton crispa x 25

Veronica beccabunga x 20

Myosotis scirpiodes x 20

Aponogeton distachyos x 6

Callitriche palustris x 25

Ceratophyllum demersum x 25

These took some getting. We had a few false starts trying to get these as there were some miscommunications to do with invoicing for them.

Anyway eventually they were all paid for and delivered ready for our next big volunteer day on the 3rd of March. However the volunteers did not come! Oh NO I hear you say!!

I think it was too close to half term and people had just forgotten. But the plants were there and the water was cold so I called in my lovely husband to come and help me (and get in the water whilst I directed from the dry and warmer side)

The children came in to help us by throwing in/delicately planting the oxygenators into the pond (as you can see above).

Jake came into school with a tub of baby smooth newts that had been found and needed rehousing and he let them swim off into the Wilderness pond. He was brilliant at this and let them jump off his hands into the water.

It was a very successful day and much was achieved. Please put the next planting day, Wednesday March 23rd, in your diary!

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Logs, Logs Glorious Logs (and Mud)

Designed with nature in mind

Beautiful detailing, well done KEN!!!!

Look at that curve!!

Half made logstack

Now I know I am a wilderness bore but the logstacks are going to look so amazing once completed. The first one is in and thanks to Matthew Morey and his team at Aerzen who put together the frames for the stacks to sit in and also to our lovely regular landscape artist, Ken Daly. Andy Goldsworthy has nothing on him!! Well... apart from the millions of pounds.

Ken has worked so hard and did an extra two days over his allotted time to get the first stack finished. I cannot thanks him enough for bringing my plans to life so successfully.

He will be doing a demonstration session on the 1st of December when we have our big tree planting day in the wilderness, so if you want to have a go, please come along.

As well as the logstacks coming along, we had another brush with fame when the Richmond and Twickenham Times came in again to see the kids planting bluebells and pond dipping, even though there was nothing in the pond to dip at the moment (minor details!).

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Community Bluebell Planting and yes it was the whole community!!!

BCTV Volunteers

HSBC Volunteers

Keep Digging Reverend!!

First injury of the Day, Katie with a nettle sting

There are so many people in our school that have the ability and the drive to make things happen. Peter Greenwood is one of them. He is a dad who happens to work at HSBC and because of him the richmond HSBC managers came on a team building day (so much better than the SPA day they had intended to go on!) in the wilderness to help us to prepare the area for planting of bluebells (English Bluebells, Hyacinthoidies non-scripta of course).

BUT not only did we have 11 of the best of the HSBC (Peter, Mick, Ali, Mark, Catherine, Andy, Harpreet, Katie, Liz, Joy and Simon) , but we also had another 14 of the BCTV (British Conservation Trust Volunteers: Dan, Laura, Steve, Simon, Anna, Iain, Heather, John, Kevin, Aneel, Nick, Dans, Richard and Keith.) who not only volunteered but we had 3 of them leading the exercise with myself and also making available all their tools.

We also had The Rev Graham and Jerry and their friend Jane and the many parents that turned up including, Lucy (Great with a wheelbarrow), Alison, Lindsay, Suzy, Liska (hope I have spelt it correctly), Liz, Anne and Kate, as well as all my family including children, husband and not least my mum.

It was a truly community effort and we had the most beautiful November day that actually felt like Spring.

We managed to prepare the ground and plant 1500 bulbs.

Today the job was finished off by the pupils of the school who all came in class by class and managed to plant the rest of the 3000 bulbs we had for our Bluebell carpet.

The Richmond and Twickenham Times came in to document this and to make sure that the rest of the community also know what we are doing and trying to achieve.

Phase 2.1 is complete! Apart from the few bulbs that were left over for the children who were ill today and called in to the school in tears as they were missing their chance to plant bulbs and be part of the wilderness. What a lovely thing that they care so much!

Tree planting day will be Wed Dec 1st!! Keep the day free, Please!

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

The Hiatus is over

Bluebells to be planted here

The Pond with beach and the deck taking shape

Jeff the Carpenter

Phewweee I have managed to get back to blogging. There are too many passwords in my head and for a few days they all eluded me. Anyway now back on track and so is the wilderness.

The wilderness, from a whirlwind of activity, ended up a couple of days ago with no one on site. But our lovely contractors have managed to pull it back a little and will be finished by this weekend. It's on record now so lets see if it happens Ken!

The beach is forming and the deck is going down so my mind has been working on ordering English bluebells for the front of the site. There is a wilderness action day at the beginning of Nov , just after half term, to plant these, so I have to get them ordered for delivery by then.

And we have tree planting week at the beginning of December so I also have to get the trees ordered for that with all the accoutrements and making sure it all fits into the agreement set out by the Tree Council as they had promised us a grant. There is a lot of red tape and a great deal of juggling with money to make sure we come in on budget.

Wish me luck!

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Decks away!

It was a wet, wet wet day at the wilderness today. The rain started and kept coming, as I went down to meet Jeff the carpenter and his uncle Merv. The balustrading oak turned up whilst I was there and we set out the sub structure of the deck on site.

We are onto stage 2 of the build and it is all looking great. The actual recycled deck boards also turned up today after a few phone calls and some shenanigans with the suppliers. So I guess I'll be in tomorrow to make sure it is all good.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Sunday 19/09/2010 - Is the pond full part 2!!

Is the pond full!! Yes it is. Woohoo! The pond is full of water but we have to finish buildi g the beach for the children to able to walk into the water so that they can pond dip. The first 10cm of water is where most of the fauna are found so hopefully once the pond is all finished and planted the children will be able to find newts and all sorts on their trips into the Wilderness.

www.redscapedesign.com

Saturday 18/09/2010 - Is the pond full yet?

So the Ikram Clan went down with myself to the wilderness on Saturday morning to make sure the pond was filling up and not overflowing. Well I can say that the pond and the wilderness have been a huge hit with my boys and hopefully the rest of the school community will like it as much.

The pond however was not quite full. Can we come back tomorrow, please?

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Friday 17th Sept 2010 - The liner goes in!

The pond was contoured and the first layer of sand went down over old carpets as the ground underneath had revealed many treasures including marble posts and a big mound of concrete foundations. The carpet was laid as an extra measure to make sure that the pond liner does not get a puncture. Next layer sand; then a geotextile layer, then the Firestone EPDM liner, then the next geotextile layer. This was then topped with overturned turf in the centre of the pond and then buckets and buckets and buckets of pea gravel over the rest of the pond. Phewweee the guys have definitely worked their socks off today.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Wed Am - River Stones At Adrian Hall

River stones were discussed and Ken the contractor thought they might be a good way to differentiate between the shallow beach area and the deeper parts of the pond.

They look Great! They are in.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Contouring of the pond

Now before I go any further i have to apologise to Ken for making him a Dale instead of a Daly. He is, and has always been a Daly and as a new Numaira (as of this week in the Richmond and Twickenham Times) in the paper i know how annoying it can be to have your identity changed.

Also NSP Landscapes have been contracted to work on site but Ken has his own company which goes under the name of Healing Landscapes. So please come to www.redscapedesign.co.uk for me to design your garden and then we can get Ken at Healing Landscapes to build it.

Lovely. So, down to business, today was a big day, as they all seem to be. Kevin our Newts expert came and looked at the contouring of the pond and told us all that the shelves in the pond must not be too steep otherwise the newts spawn will fall down the slopes and never be seen again. So more a little fine tuning took place and an extra pair of hands were found on site in the form of Cameron. The pond liner also turned up this afternoon.

Jeff the Carpenter came down and we discussed at length if I had made the right choice in picking a new recycled decking product. We have had a few miscommunications with the suppliers and well frankly it was all getting a bit much. It is, I think all sorted now and we will have deck boards and carpenter on site at the same time next week.

And lastly I had to make a mad dash to Adrian Hall and Wickes to pick my favourite gravel (I know!?). I had one in mind and had been carrying round a sample from Bushy Park, which one of the gardeners there had let me have. Even the man who works in Adrian Hall looked at me in a funny way as I brought out my nappy sack full of genuine Bushy Park gravel to find a match.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

The Diggers have been in!!!

Ken and Jimmy, Keep digging!! Timetabling Meeting with Jan Kuhn, Simon Hawkins (BCTV) and Anna Doeser (Hounslow Project Officer BCTV ) and Me, Humaira Ikram.

Well the diggers have been in! The contouring has taken place and is looking good.

Here above are Ken and Jimmy checking the levels of the new pond and making adjustments.

It is looking great, well I thought it was until my child came in and said "Oh mum, you've ruined it!!" Lets hope it looks better soon.

The other thing that happened today was a meeting with the British Conservation Trust Volunteers (BCTV) to discuss a timetable for the future. Which includes; when we will be planting bluebells, planting hedging, the planting up the pond, and the new trees. As well as all the ongoing maintenance and bringing the place back to what it was and more.

It was a great meeting with people who can help us get the most out of the Wilderness.

Shingle has been bought today and hedging has been discussed at length with the hedging company too.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Newts Moving Day

Kids and Newts

So today was a bit of a rush. Yesterday we had the idea that children from the school should be involved in the newts move and then we thought that maybe the local press would be interested.

So of course, this then had to be co-ordinated and somehow it worked!

all of the above came along at the same time. The kids, newts, toads and journalist from the Richmond and Twickenham Times all were together. The kids had a great time looking at the wildlife and we adults (thank you Lindsay for helping and holding and catching newts) remembered why we were involved in the hours and hours of work that it has taken to get even to this stage.

So the pond has been drained, the newts and toads have been moved to their temporary accomodation. Marking out should happen tomorrow with diggers on site Friday/Mon to contour the pond.

All in all a very successful if hectic day.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Work has Started!!

Contractors readying the site by breaking and removing old concrete around the pond

So the Wilderness is going full steam ahead.

Since the beginning of the summer there have been many meetings with school governor Matt Morey and the contractors, NSP Landscapes, including a 9am meeting to discuss the works on Bank Holiday Monday!!! Yes Really!!

Here is a picture of Ken Dale from NSP Landscapes below.

The deconstruction of the pond started on Tuesday 31st of August and will be going on all this week.

Picture of Ken Dale, the contractor

The newts will be moved to their new temporary home in the next few days and then the new pond will be created next week.

I had a bit of a moral dilemma with the decking to go around the pond. Should we go for hardwood that takes a long time to grow and is taking resources or should we go for new fangled but recycled deck boards made out of plastics and ash from factories (using really unusable waste)?!! Would they look as good?

I liked the recycled boards and so did Ken the contractor and Jeff the Carpenter. It is supposed to be not as slippery as wood and easily maintained. Lets hope it's all true!

The other exciting thing i did today was ride into Bushy Park to look at the pea shingle they have in the streams in the woodland gardens. I spoke to a gardener called Michael Sales who was very interesting. He had worked in the city and given up trading in exotic places like Singapore and Tokyo to become a gardener in Bushy Park. And he managed to tell me where I could source some pea shingle in exactly the right colour.

Do you think I need to get out more?

Spoke to Simon from the BCTV about living hedges, Jeff about deck delivery dates, Matt about what deck to order and Ken about finding a man with a digger.

All in all a very productive day for the wilderness.