Upton Nature Garden is many things for man people: a haven for local wild plants and animals;
an adventure for kids to discover, a sanctuary for reflection under the trees; a picnic spot; a visual
feast through the seasons; an opportunity to burn off those calories (or eat cake) at the working
group meet-ups. All are welcome to explore, rest or just walk through on their way to the play park.
After three years the nature garden is maturing nicely. To date the Upton Nature Group has been
successfully holding ad hoc working parties to carry out the relatively low amount of maintenance
required to keep nature in balance and broaden the range of habitats and local native species that
live there. We encourage people to pop in and work on the garden at their own convenience. We’re now
proposing three new initiatives:
1. A regular schedule (weather permitting) for working parties at which all are welcome on the
3nd Sunday of the month April – Oct to do regular “garden exercise”. We hope this will help
volunteers new and old to plan ahead;
2. A quarterly program of family-focused nature activities to seed the new generation;
3. Contacting local schools and community groups to tell them about the Upton Nature
Garden.
There were two volunteer working sessions and a family nature activity during April. The Easter
family nature activity included ” bird spotting on your phone” using Merlin (the Cornell University
bird song recognition app). This helped us to identify a wide range of birds active within the
garden on Easter Sunday: robin, wren, great tit, blue tit, blackcap, goldfinch, dunnock, wood
pigeon, chiffchaff and possibly a black redstart, though the latter being unusual in the UK would
have needed a visual confirmation to be sure.
We also cleared the bark chipping pile from outside the Nature Garden andused some of it to renew
the paths through the woodland and to mulch under the edible hedge. The remainder was moved next
to the nut tree bank ready for the May Green Gym session. Through April we’ve seen a great display of snakes head fritillary in the meadow – over 50 were counted in mid April – big clumps of cowslips and widespread native English bluebells.
The mulching of the woodland near the mound done last year to reduce competition from grass has really
paid off this spring with the numerous English bluebells flowering in this area now. The wild flower meadow perennials made a great showing last year and their leaves are looking strong again this year despite the very dry March; we’ve sown new poopy and corn marigold annuals to enrich the colour mix this
summer. Pray for some April showers to help them germinate and grow!
We’d love to hear from groups interested in making use of the nature garden – al fresco wine tasting, forest bathing, or an outdoor classroom venue are a few ideas. Contact either Kathryn o Francoise for more information.
All of this has been provided at no cost to the parish, as all the creation and maintenance has been funded by grants and local donations. We encourage the use of the nature garden by all – walk through, explore, enjoy.