Friends of Wollaton ParkBlog of volunteer conservation activities in the park.
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.
In 2021/2022 over 5000 daffodils were planted in the park.
This Saturday’s volunteering task was to repair the chestnut fencing in the field by Cambridge road.
Painting the wood carvings with preservatives.
Thanks to our new “weekend” Volunteer crew who turned up today and helped remove and cut back the small self-set trees by the lake. A lot of conservation / environmental management is destructive but these little ones in the long term would impact the boggy edge habitat so it’s important they are removed.
During the dry summer of 2022, the lake level dropped in the dry weather making it easy to access the edges and clear debris.