Friends of Wollaton ParkBlog of volunteer conservation activities in the park.
The new Friday conservation sessions continued into December with a session on December 1. The small group cut back an invasive Rhododedenron along the lake bank. This allows space for the marginal plants in the lake to grow, providing a healthy and balanced habitat.
The Ha-Ha between the “Splendour” field and the lake was designed to allow excess water to drain into the lake, but has been silted up – until now…
25 VW employees came to the park today to volunteer. They worked on the 508 memorial, Lodge 1, restoring memorial benches and tidying up around the lake.
Between the Lake and the Duck Decoy is a dam, used to retain the water in the Lake and prevent flooding of the area around the Duck Decoy. It holds water above its natural level, so it falls under the Reservoir Act of 1975, requiring regular inspection and maintenance. Part of the maintenance plan requires […]
A dedicated team gave up their valuable time on a bank holiday weekend to care for the snake sculpture in Wollaton Park, and several other carvings too. By painting them with preservatives, the team helped to:
It was great to see new volunteers join us today for a dead hedging session on Digby Avenue. The community of Saturday supporters is steadily growing, over 25 different people have now attended at least one conservation session. Having learnt a lot from our first attempt at a dead hedge in June, this time our […]
Wollaton Park is surrounded by 7 miles of wall. Most (all?) of it is a Grade 2 listed structure. Over time weeds and seedlings grow in the wall, damaging the face of the bricks and the mortar holding it together. The Saturday Conservation Volunteer group carefully cleared the growth from outside of the front wall […]
A part of Digby Woods is used by the park staff as a compost pile, collecting brash from around the park as part of general maintenance. Once fully rotted, the compost is used in places such as the Long Border in the Formal Garden and the Walled Garden. To prevent the compost pile from spreading […]
There are no scheduled dates for Saturday conservation tasks during the summer. The programme should recommence in the autumn. We may run ad-hoc tasks if the opportunity arises, they will be announced here and on Facebook. Thank you to everyone that has supported us thus far, and look forward to reconvening in the autumn.
As new trees are planted, they need to be protected from the deer, who would otherwise feast on the new strong leaf growth. We had hoped to fence three trees, but the roots of the replaced trees were too much of an obstacle on the third, so have temporarily left it while we consider options.
Eight volunteers braved the cold, in what turned out to be a lovely morning in the park. The ranger-led task was to clear the Rhododendrons from the conservation area by the Red Phone box. Why did we remove Rhododendrons… “Where conditions are suitable, Rhododendrons will out-compete most native plants. It will grow to many times […]
Volunteers clearing invasive, non-native Rhododendrons from the conservation area in Thompson’s Wood.
Clearing non-native Arum Italicum for the conservation area by Parkside.
The Deer in Wollaton Park are herbivores and eat most things. This includes tree saplings. When new trees are planted, they are often protected from the Deer by wire guards. As the trees mature, the guards need to be removed.
Over 100 self-set Hawthorns were transplanted from Digby Avenue into Formal Garden, to make a hedge to keep the deer out.
On Saturday 19th November, 10 hardy volunteers repaired large sections of chestnut fencing in the Cambridge Road field. Also hundreds of daffodils were planted around the memorial benches ready for spring.