Things are buzzing.......!

This last weekend got off to a good start with a new bee species identified in the garden. It was a mining bee and one of the earliest to emerge in the Spring.  It is called Andrena clerkella and is seen usually around sallow which is flowering now in the garden at the outside classroom. 

The black facial hairs help with the identification of this species.  An attractive bee of which we shall probably see more of over the next week or so.  A second record for the garden of Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum) was made as it fed in one of the Daffodil flowers.  By the size of the insect it was a queen.  Also a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee was seen resting on the grass.

Tree Bumblebee

Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee

In the pond lots of water boatmen were enjoying the fine weather and a couple of pond skaters.  The net was removed as the winter has hopefully passed and the huge amount of frog spawn was clearly visible.  Already the 'full stops' are becoming 'commas'. 

Masses of frog spawn on the pond edge

The tadpoles are developing already

The daffodils are hanging on in the fine weather and the crocuses are probably at their best now.  They will soon be gone!  The bees are enjoying them though while they are still there

Work continued in the greenhouse and hopefully during the week the first load of brick rubble can be broken up and put into the base of the Jurassic garden.

The ever present Herring Gulls - now paired up and looking for nesting sites kept a close eye on us.

Intelligence is endowed, but wisdom learned

During the week whilst the weather stayed fine the last sheets of polycarbonate were fitted to the greenhouse.  With a new lease of life the greenhouse should now see us good for several years.  The brittle glass has gone and safer polycarbonate replaced it.  From first impressions it seems that the new sheets might be more  efficient. More later!

The refurbished greenhouse

Many of the daffodils are still flowering including the smaller varieties.

Over the weekend many queen buff-tailed bumblebees were seen as they flew around nest prospecting.  They are often drawn to crocus flowers which present a bit of a problem for them as they have to dive in deep to get at the pollen

The Borage has started flowering early- favoured by bees

A pollen loaded crocus flower

The petal pattern almost leads the bees to the centre of the flower

On Saturday the garden group spruced up the greenhouse staging and then replaced the plants which had been put in the summer house for the past two weeks.

The paving slabs are repositioned

The plants are back in their new home

What is the weather station reading at the end showing?

Yes just before 14.00hrs it was +31C  in the greenhouse.  It was very warm in there and time to get out!

Whilst dropping off some materials today a unusual sight welcomed. Has anybody lost a black chicken?  It was wandering about and took a liking to the willow classroom.

The next jobs lined up are to sort through the compost bins and dig in what we can, following this work on the Jurassic Garden will continue.

POST NOTE;  The chicken has been claimed and is now safely back in the chicken run in nearby Marina Gardens.

A very busy weekend

"never try to catch two frogs in one hand"

An old Chinese proverb.

With that in mind this weekend saw a lot of activity in the school pond.  On Saturday evening over 17 frogs were seen splashing about at the shallow end of the pond.  On Sunday morning there was a lot of frog spawn there and the frogs were still paired up and splashing about and resting on the sides.  After three years the pond has now matured enough to attract plenty of frogs.

Away from the pond area the greenhouse has over the past few days been dismantled and rebuilt and secured on a bed of concrete blocks.  The glass was removed and recycled and is being replaced with polycarbonate sheets

Once dismantled the site was cleaned and made ready for the concrete blocks

After repositioning the greenhouse the new polycarbonate sheets had to be measured and fitted to the greenhouse.

By the end of Sunday the roof had been re-glazed with the polycarbonate sheets and also one side.  By the end of the forthcoming week the greenhouse should be completely refurbished and we can move the exhibits and staging back inside and start planting ready for 2014!

Finally our good friends at Doonans popped by on Saturday morning and delivered some brick rubble which is just what we wanted to progress with the Jurassic Garden.  It will mean that the wheelbarrows and sledge hammer will be busy next weekend! We thank them very much.

As we left the garden a very vocal Green Woodpecker made itself known and possibly another queen Buff-tailed Bumble Bee was seen flying around the Aeolian wind organ.

Catching up

"Whoso neglects learning in his youth,
Loses the past and is dead for the future".


Euripides.  from Phrixus



Following the recent spell of violent storms and torrential rain the garden group has  met on a couple of afternoons to assess the damage and make good where possible.  Most things survived but the greenhouse took the brunt of the storm on 15th Feb.  However the frame held firm and just six panes of glass succumbed to the forces of nature.  Following this damage it was decided to replace the glass with polycarbonate sheets.  The glass is now getting very old and brittle.  When Ron gave us the greenhouse four years ago it had been stood in his garden for many years.  We thank the Friends of Holy Trinity for their generous donation which made the purchase of the polycarbonate sheets possible.


The good news is that the polycarbonate has arrived and hopefully when we get a couple of calm  days we can take the greenhouse apart, re-fix onto a bed of breeze blocks and fix down again.  Once this has been done we can start the long job of reglazing.



After downloading the school weather station the strongest gust in the school garden on the night of the 15th February was 50mph (just over 22m/s).  Of interest is also the amount of rain which has fallen on the garden this month so far. From 120mm at the start of the month to 520 mm this Sunday- about 15 inches!  The storm earlier in the month 5th/6th February and again on the 12th February showed the maximum gusts to be about 38 mph. Click on the graphs to enlarge

The 50mph peak gust is clearly shown

The dramatic rise in recorded rainfall over the ten day period.

Sunday was spent giving the Willow Classroom a good haircut.  Willow grows very quickly in the Spring and it is essential to remove unwanted growth and direct it where we want it- at the base to consolidate the sides with green leaves and also to tie in the dome on the roof.

The Willow gets a trim!

A couple of butterflies and bees had stirred in the glorious sunshine and showed themselves off in the garden. A male Brimstone butterfly and a Small Tortoisehell were seen and a large (possibly a queen) Buff-tailed Bumblebee.   Bumble bees, a Drone Fly and a couple of Honey bees were also seen.

Brimstone butterfly resting on the warm ivy

Drone Fly wallowing in pollen

Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee- possibly nest hunting whilst feeding

Finally during the morning a pair of Great Tits were very active in the garden suggesting that they were looking for a nesting site.  That is exactly what they finally did but they shunned the bird nest boxes and took a big interest in one of the bat boxes! The female made a couple of inspection visits and then flew off over the fence. Birds are not unknown to nest in bat boxes.  We will watch to see how things develop!

The Jurassic Garden- first phase

There is an old saying that it is perhaps shameful that the birds should always be awake before we are.  With this in mind the garden group met fairly early last Saturday morning - shamefully after the birds -to kick start the work on the Jurassic Garden

The fence panel was removed and the ground cleared ready for the arrival of the first of two loads of ready-mix which would be used to make the retaining wall to create the ammonite shaped path.  The ready mix was put in bags which were laid almost brick like to slowly build up to the working level of the garden.

The required circular shape on the ground was marked using the traditional method of a rope and a stick.  Then a white spray paint line was laid down which gave us a working line to go by.  Shortly afterwards our good friends from Doonans arrived with the ready mix

A second load was delivered yesterday and the retaining wall is now complete and ready for the next stage which is the infilling of the half circle and general leveling of the site.

Away from the Jurassic garden area things are stirring in the mild weather.  The Hazel bush is showing off with a fine display of catkins

Tucked away in the sheltered side of the garden the Daffodils have grown rapidly and it looks as if by next weekend some of them will be in flower. 

Over the past few weeks we have observed butterflies and bumble bees on the wing.  The Blue Tits are exploring the nest box again and both the male Great Tit and Goldfinch are singing from the highest perchs in the garden. We can only hope that the fine weather has not tricked them.  With news that frogs are croaking in garden ponds in Dorchester we must keep a regular watch in the pond.