We have been very fortunate to be able to work with two of our participants in their garden in Sully . We started by working on the Nectar Cafe planting nectar rich plants to try and encourage pollinators to the garden and surrounding area. There had been a lack of butterflies, bees and other insects which was a cause for concern for both. Raised beds were built and nectar rich plants such as lavender , buddleia and sunflowers were planted in them.
Flowers planted they were conscious that we were running out of time to get some vegetables in and so they planted some tomatoes, chillies , courgettes, sweetcorn , radishes and an aubergine. Some grew very well such as the tomatoes , chillies and radishes , the others not so well but they did have a few baby courgettes and sweetcorn . The aubergind did not survive !
What was great is that both looked after the plants and took great joy in smelling their freshness and taking that first bite out of the fresh tomatoes . This encouraged both to start cooking fresh meals at home.
The work on the compost bin continues as does the building of further raised beds.
Daffodils and some tulips have been planted and the rest will be planted in the next week with the crocuses – flowers that both chose for their colour and for helping the pollinators in the early Spring.
Work still needs to be done on tidying up the lawn , the grass seeds have already been bought.
The Nectar cafe will now be followed by the Bird Cafe with a variety of bird feeders being placed around the garden with different nuts, seeds and mealworms. The two will also learn how to make their own feed balls and cakes.
Finally and certainly not least plenty of water will be put out for the birds to drink and bathe.
Who knows by next Spring there could also be a garden pond so that they can learn about pond creatures and all the other insects and dragonflies that will be attracted to their little nature paradise.
Thank you Mark and Vince for all of your hard work so far.
Our zoom sessions continue with a variety of topics from super senses to a further Murder Mystery . On this occasion we wanted to see what our participants knew about seagulls and how they have had to adapt to survive now that their natural habitats have been over fished and polluted. Nobody actually worked out that the perpetrators on this occasion were humans. What we did learn was that nobody were very fond of seagulls at the beginning of the session but by the end most had changed their minds and said that they would like to be able to learn more about them and did now appreciate their beauty when flying high in their natural surroundings. Even our participant who still couldn’t bring herself to like them wanted the perpetrators punished harshly and even asked for some photographs.
Our final session was on bird spotting in our gardens. We were able to discuss in some detail the 12 most common visitors and listen to their beautiful songs. As with Mark and Vince we will be providing bird feeders and food so that our participants can watch the different birds . It will be wonderful to see some photos and to her their stories about new discoveries this Autumn and Winter.
Boosting Nature 