Orchard care 25 September 2024

 Our orchard is a feature of the park and is cared for by some wonderful volunteers.

After our successful summer pruning workshop in August it was the end of September and time to show the trees some additional love. Our plan?  to remove tree guards, carefully pull up weeds, add a thick layer of wood chip mulch and then replace the guards. Eight of us were ready for action.

Why bother with the tree guards as they are not high enough to keep out animals  The guards are there to clearly mark out the tree space, to avoid mower damage. 

With guards removed and set to one side it was easy to remove weeds- mainly couch grass, some brambles and wood avens (Latin name Geum urbanum)   

Why bother to remove the weeds or unwanted plants?  Surely they are not harming the trees? These  plants, growing in the tree pits, compete with the trees for water and nutrients. We are happy to leave them to grow elsewhere in the orchard.

comfrey growing in our orchard (May 2024)

We intentionally planted comfrey, (Symphytum 'Bocking') as a mineral accumulator, and this plant stays in the soil .This variety is non-invasive. Comfrey's deep tap roots  absorb minerals and store these nutrients in their leaves. The theory is, if we chop up the comfrey leaves and drop them back on the ground, as the leaves die these nutrients return back to the top soil and  to the roots of the trees. We refer to this as 'chop and drop'.                             

Here are a few photos from our afternoon's work:

One of the plum trees: Photos show tree pit full of weeds, guard removed and weeds removed, tree pit cleared, guard replaced.

Weeding in progress

tree pit full of 'weeds'

Finished

Next our very vigorous Jupiter apple tree

received plenty of mulch

And finally Lizzy with a barrow load of mulch

We finished the session with refreshments (apple juice and Worcester apples) with thanks to Lizzy.

September 2024 dog show

 So lucky this morning. Too much rain has fallen over the past few weeks- would we be able to hold this event? But Sunday 8th September was dry and warm.

Setting up: At 9 a.m the Glendale staff arrived to set up the 'ring' for the dog show, next to the tennis courts. Our team of volunteers were greeted with smiles.

The gazebo was set up and table prepared by some FOMP volunteers.

Table set up ready

 Our poster: There were various categories and dog owners could register their dog for more than one category - see this poster. 

                                                                      

Registration: People arrived to register their dogs                                                                                         

Our helpers: Helpers wore our very own Friends of Mayow Park hi-viz tabards. One helper was particularly hard working: Can you spot them in the following photos?

                                                 

Let the show begin: Show time. So many wonderful dogs.

Our judge had a tough time deciding some of the winners.

This was the second year of the Friends of Mayow Park dog show. We've had requests for another show next year. Photos with thanks to Robert and to Pippa.

Bat walk 6th September 2024

Friends of Mayow Park (FOMP) have learned over the years to limit our publicity for our bat walks.  so we can limit numbers up to a maximum of 50 people. We put posters on the four gates into Mayow Park and send an email to our mailing list. No social media publicity needed.

For our recent bat walk, we closed our bookings at 50 but we could easily have had many more. Maybe we should hold a extra bat walks in future - even if our expert 'bat man' can't lead them?

The weather on 6th September was true to forecast - rain and more rain. Bats don't like heavy rain! But it was warm so there should be plenty of flying insects for them to eat! Fortunately around 7.30 pm the rain stopped, just in time.

Iain introduced the walk with his usual humorous descriptions of bats, their behaviour and the echolocation sounds they make to help them navigate towards their food.

Iain explains bat habits and behaviour 

Iain lent out his bat detectors to groups of people and explained how to use them. First turn on the device, then set it to a frequency of around 50 kHz which would tune in to the sound of the local pipistrelle bats. When they are nearby we should hear a sound similar to a sloppy wet kiss - that's the sound of the bats. Look out for their fast and erratic flight, changing direction very quickly 

Quite a few children came on the walk, with torches at the ready and very good at handling their bat detectors. What delighted excitement when they heard AND saw the bats. 

Despite the light drizzle, there were plenty of insects to feed these amazing flying mammals. It was a magical evening.

Our participants were very generous with cash donations to Friends of Mayow Park and we raised £60 which will be split between FOMP and the Bat Conservation Trust:  https://www.bats.org.uk