Wildlife Weekend – wet and wild, the results are rolling in!

Despite periods of torrential rain, we, with our partners and volunteers, got out across the allotment site, finding as many species as possible.

We found…

 

16 species of butterflies:

including the Essex skipper, notable for the region.  This picture is the common blue on a poppy, photographed beautifully by our volunteer Wayne Jones.

5 species of bumble bee,

over 70 species of moths

2 species of which are listed as of conservation concern.  There were also many of the impressive swallow tailed moth, which are here in good numbers!

20 bird species

none of which stayed still enough for us to get a picture, but we enjoyed looking!

a spread of pond life,

including dragonfly nymphs, various water insects, and masses of baby newts (efts)!

220 plus plant species!

and 2 types of bat (one of which is a new species record for the site)

This bat was bought along to the bat walk – she is a rescue pipistrelle, who is being looked after by Lynn, our speaker.

Thank you to everyone who helped us:

STAA Volunteers

Mark Woods, county botanical recorder

Simon from East Midlands Butterfly Conservation

Lynn from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and South Notts Bat Group

Pete, member of Nottinghamshire Beekeepers Association

Phil Bych and Tom Shields, local volunteers

Giselle and Chris from the RSPB local group

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s on at St Anns Allotments

 

There’s a lot for allotment holders to get involved in over the coming weeks…

 

You may have seen posters around site and lots of activity on Facebook leading up to our Wildlife Weekend, which is kicking off this evening with a bat walk. The bat walk is fully booked, but take a look at what’s on over the weekend, there are plenty of activities to join in with! You don’t have to be a plot holder to come along, so feel free to spread the word!

Also coming up we are inviting St Anns Allotment holders to enter one of our annual allotment competitions! There are four categories to choose from, judging will take place during National Allotment Week and prizes will be presented at our Harvest Celebration event in September. Please get in touch if you would like to enter.

Next week the neighborhood policing team will be holding an allotment beat surgery at the Visitor Centre. If you would like to discuss security on site or need some advice, this is a great opportunity. Please see below for details.

With the holidays coming up, we’ve got lots going on at the Community Orchard. The activities are free, fun and your kids will love them!

After the success of our last pruning and grafting workshops, we have decided to hold two summer pruning and apple tree budding workshops in August. Please get in touch if you would like to book. For details and prices, please look at the poster below.

If that’s not enough to be getting on with, we are still running our heritage walks on the last Wednesday of every month (until September). The tours start at 1:30pm and we suggest a donation of £2. Booking is essential, as places are limited. There will also be a one off ‘Heritage Open Day’ tour on Thursday 11th September at 1:30pm.

 

Wildlife Weekend

St Anns Allotments Wildlife Weekend 2014, on 19th and 20th July, promises to be full of activity.  The timetable includes bats, botany, birds, butterflies, bees, and moths…There will also be moth traps across site, and you may see the odd studious botanist or ecologist studying species across site.  We want to get as many species recorded as possible!

 

St Anns Allotment Gardeners – Help us with sightings from your plots!

To help us with this, we also appeal to STAA gardeners to let us know a bit about their own plots.  Here is a simple, quick form, to record some of the main flora and fauna we are interested in.  STAA Plot Survey

Return them to the Visitors Centre or to info@staa-allotments.org.uk.  Paper copies will be available on the weekend and from the Visitors Centre throughout the summer.

Please also bring along any recent sightings or unidentified species (please take pictures rather than picking a plant or trapping an animal!) to the ‘Visitors Centre Wildlife hub’ between 12 and 3 on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

Friday 18th July – launch event!

Bat walk, 8.30pm – approx. 10.30pm. FREE for STAA members and volunteers, £3 for others

Join Lynn from South Notts Bat group for an introduction to bats, and walk across the site with detectors to find what bats we have on St Anns Allotments! *Advanced booking required!*

Visitors Centre Wildlife Hub, 12 noon til 3pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Come and see the wildlife displays, report sightings from the site, and find out more about gardening for wildlife.

Saturday 19th July

10am – 2pm Flower Power, botanical surveying with Urban Nature

12noon – 1pm and 2pm – 3pm. Hedge Management workshops with TCV

Find out about traditional ways of managing hedges for

wildlife, perfect for your plot!

1pm—3pm. Pond dipping for everyone at the Heritage Garden

Look at what is lurking in the water! There will also be a natural history display from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

3pm—5pm. Buzzing Bees. Count the species of bees on site with Pete Wakeling, local beekeeper and NBKA member

6pm – 8pm. Evening bird walk by Urban Nature with the RSPB

Enjoy an evening stroll identifying our feathered friends.

Sunday 20th July

11am – 4pm. Crafts and Minibeasts on the Community Orchard, with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Lots of wildlife crafts and minibeast hunting as part of the

Community Orchards Activity Day

12—3 Flower Power, botanical surveying with Urban Nature

1pm-2pm (Community Orchard) and 3pm-5pm (from the Visitors Centre). Join Simon from Butterfly Conservation Trust for the Big Butterfly Count.

Spot and count the different butterflies as part of a national campaign!

All activities are free, though donations are welcome,