Friends of Brinton at Work

On 11th November, Seán, Andrew, and local residents, Stuart and Martyn, spent a couple of hours working at the Nine Holes site just outside Brinton.

While Martyn set about digging up a rogue sycamore sapling which had colonised the wild flower area, the rest of us scythed, mowed and raked the patch which was seeded last winter.  A good range of wild flowers grew this year and, hopefully, provided pollen and nectar for a variety of insects.

Now that the wild flowers had set their seeds, and died back, the time had come to remove the remains from the site.  If simply left to rot, they would decompose, adding nutrients to the soil and encouraging the growth of grasses which would outcompete the wild flowers.

At Nine Holes, we have put up ten nest boxes for small woodland birds.  In the first year, 40% of these were occupied by Blue Tits, a figure which rose to 60% this year.  The absence of Great Tit nests is due to all the entrance holes being too small to allow this species to gain entry.  To rectify this, Andrew drilled larger entrance holes in five of the ten boxes.  Hopefully, some of these will be occupied by Great Tits or other woodland birds next year. 

Seán Dempster

November 11th 2024