back garden No. 18-21 and No. 7: Goldfinches and long tailed tits

Sorry for the long break.
Good news from the back gardens. Last week I spotted 3 long tailed tits in our garden and 11 goldfinches in the back garden of 18-21.

gardening group - flower bed maintenance

With the help of A we weeded the flowerbed today. Neating it up and tieing daffodil leaves in knots.

Gardening group - flower bed problems

The good news is that most of the plants we have put in are thriving in the shady flower bed and have made it through some dry spells. However there are some problems:
- The main one is the dog poo throughout the bed
- Dogs have also flattened or broken quite a few of the taller plants
- We had a further go at ridding the bed of milkweed
- There is no water supply in the Square.

Gardening group - weeding session

Come and help us weed the flowerbed. 2 - 4pm on Sunday 6th June. Tea and cake for all gardeners big and small.

gardening group - flower bed grasses and foxgloves

We have been battling to keep the bed free of milkweed. The grasses and foxgloves are growing nicely. Unfortunately dogs have been running through the bed and have flattened some plants.

Gardening group - flower bed Daffodils

These are from a month or so ago

Bird Feeder update - refilled

We refilled both of the feeders this morning. Good to see the tits and robins still active in Wilmington Square.

Spotted two goldfinch in the Square this week. And a jay was spotted in our back garden yesterday. Our back garden feeder is still attracting tits.

Gardening group - flower bed starting to settle in

On a more cheeful note, the gardening groups flower bed is settling in well and some little bluebells are blooming around the plane tree. I am one of the few people who was pleased that it rained last week.

I spotted a jay in the square today. The two robins and a pair of great tits are continuing to feed from the bird feeder in the Square.

Planting on hold during consultation period

Following the meeting in the Square Greenspace posted letters to residents to update them on plans, clarify some questions and ask for comments on the proposed planting. The plans are now on hold and being reviewed in light of the feedback. I hope that the work resumes very soon and isn't forced into being left at this low point.

These are photos of the cleared spaces.

Meeting in the Square re. new planting, Sat 13th March at 3pm

There is a meeting in the Square at 3pm on Saturday so that Greenspace rangers can answer questions about the new planting. This is intended to address some of the questions and concerns which have followed this weeks removal of shrubbery from the northern border. Everyone is welcome to come along.

The new planting plan has real strenghts including increasing plant diversity and tolerance to conditions.

Back garden No. 18-21 - pheasant and goldfinches

AM has reported 4 goldfinches feeding from the nyger bird feeder in the back garden of No. 18 - 21 and a surprise visitor, a pheasant. Here is photographic evidence.

Spring Planting

We filled our Flower bed with plants on Sunday the 7th of March 2010. Thanks to all the neibours who helped and special thanks to Chris Ingram who organised the event and helped us plant and also Greenspace, who provided the plants. We are sorry that we got too carried away and barely left any plants by 2pm ^_^. Here are some pictures and again many thanks.

New gardening posters

Here are J and O's new posters for the planting session on Sunday.

Join us to plant out the locals' flower bed in Wilmington Square

We will be planting new plants in the locally tended flowerbed in the Square on Sunday 7th March from 2-4pm. Please come along and join in even if you can only stay briefly. All ages welcome. There will be some refreshments at the end of the day. We look forward to seeing some of you then.

Gardening group - Pruning session

Chris started by giving us some pruning advice:

- You need a reason to prune: aesthetic, plant health, etc. Our reason was to improve sight lines and clear pathways of overhanging shrubs.

- Plant should be in a dormant state so Autumn or late winter best.
- Cut back to where something is already branching out
- The centre of the tree should not be too dense, sometimes needs thinning out
- Crossing branches should go - work out which is the weakest branch and prune this
- Step cut branches for more control - ie. cut a third of the way through on one side and then from the opposite side a little further along
- Cuts potentially weaken tree so leave as little surface area cut as possible
- With shrubs cut back to new bud growth with a slanting cut

We pruned the straggly pyrocantha (firethorn), cut back saplings where they had already been pruned and cut back the mahonia (oregon grape) where it overhung the path. These will be pruned back further after they have finished flowering.

Thank you Chris, and to everyone who came along.

Fat balls from school

JPE made a fat ball at school. Here is a great tit eating from it in our back garden.

Wilmington Square bird feeder update - It is being used

On 4/2/10 around 2.30pm I saw two great tits followed by 2 robins eating from the bird feeder in Wilmington Square. This is great news as it means the birds are finally using the feeder repeatedly. Here is some evidence:

Next gardening group session coming up on Sunday 7th 2 - 4pm

The next monthly gardening session in the Square will be on this Sunday from 2 - 4pm. It would be great if anyone can come along and join in.

Chris Ingram from Islington Greenspace will be there to help and lend tools. We are going to do some winter maintenance including starting to prune some of the shrubbery around the edges of the Square. We can also admire the shoots, appearing at last, in the flowerbed.

Hope to see you then.

Big Garden Birdwatch weekend

Four of us overlapped to watch the birds in Wilmington Square, the back gardens at 18 - 21, and in Spa Fields as part of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. It was frosty cold with frozen ground.

Saturday 30th Jan
12 - 1pm
Wilmington Square: OKE and AM birdwatching
Blackbird 1
Dunnock 2
Great tit 4
Robin 1
Rock Dove 19

Saturday 30th Jan
3.30 - 4.30pm
Spa Fields: OKE and LE
Blackbird 7
Blue tit 4
Chaffinch 1
Dunnock 1
Great tit 2
Robin 1
Woodpigeon 1
Rock doves 4
Rook 2
Redwing 1

Sunday 31st Jan
11am - 12 noon
Back garden 18 - 21 Wilmington Square: BH and OKE
Blackbird 1
Blue tit 2
Great tit 3
Green finch 1
Starling 1
Wood pigeon 3

NB. although this was outside the timeframe BH saw 7 Goldfinches at 8.30am and AM saw a long-tailed tit around 12.35pm.

If anyone else was birdwatching in the neighbourhood and would like to send us their results we would love to hear from you.

Wilmington Square's squirrel-proof bird feeder

Yesterday we finally saw birds using the squirrel-proof bird feeder in Wilmington Square, the first time since the holes were opened. There were two Dunnocks, a great tit, a blue tit and a robin. The tits were feeding on the lard ball and the Dunnocks and the robin were feeding on seeds scattered on the floor of the feeder. Nothing touched the seeds in the actual feeder, as they had been there for four wet months. This is all good news as our feeder may become as popular as the one in Spa Fields.

Notes on the gardening meeting re. new planting plan for Wilmington Square 24 Jan '10

Present: 2 Members of Greenspace, the garden designer and 6 local residents.

Chris gave and overview of the proposed works. The central section will keep the two curved beds but these will be recut to run parallel with the path. They will continue to have annual bedding. The spruce will have a crown lift to increase light underneath and improve sight lines. The roses will be removed and the bed turfed over.

The water fountain next to the hut will be reconnected so that it works. Greenspace are looking into the costs and funding for restoring the fountain on the southern side.

The other borders will be pruned to improve sight lines and make the Square feel lighter.

The budget of £500 has been approved to supply plants for the gardening groups flower bed. These will be ordered by Mick and supplied by the planting date of 7th March.

Mick then described the proposed treatment for the northern border. This will be turned into a woodland garden. The overgrown shrubs, saplings and copses will be removed including the portugese laurels. The elms are highly likely to develop disease and will be removed excepting one test tree. The border will be filled with approx 1,200 new plants. These are all under 1m heigh excepting a couple of magnolias and decorative acers. The aim is to create a garden which has "shape, form colour and berries". It will have some plants flowering from spring to September. After the new plants have settled and developed there will be the chance to split plants and spread them out around other parts of the Square. There could be an educational aspect to this phase which can include those who would like to participate and hopefully Islington's apprentice scheme. The plants are diverse, appropriate to the situation and wildlife friendly.

The date for the works to begin has not been set but the works are scheduled for early spring.

Luci has a copy of the plant list which will be put on the blog.

Back garden No. 7 - mouse proof bird feeder

We finally seem to have been able to place the bird feeder somewhere where the resourceful and athletic mice can't reach it. I'm delighted that the great tits were the first back to enjoy the repositioned feeder.

Gardening meeting Mon 25th - proposals for planting scheme

There will be a meeting at 10am on Monday 25th January held by Islington Greenspace when they will be putting forward their proposals for the new garden designs and planting plans. Everyone is welcome to come along to find out more about the proposals and give feedback. The meeting will be in the Square. I hope that some of you can make it and look forward to seeing you then to discuss the proposals.

RSPB Census - Big Garden Birdwatch coming up 30/31 Jan

RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch will be on the weekend of 30/31 January. It only takes an hour to look out for and identify birds, either in the square or in a garden if you have one, or overlook one. It would be great for a few of us to join in and to compare results so let me know if you can.

Happy new year,
Luci