We have seen frog spawn in the wildlife garden pond! We know we have newts but it’s been a while since we’ve seen any frog spawn. Hopefully there will soon be little tadpoles swimming around.
The Freshwater Habitats Trust are asking for help collecting data on the whereabouts of frog and toad spawn across the country by taking part in their PondNet Spawn Survey 2021.
If you seen any frog spawn in your pond then please upload the sighting. Your survey findings will be fed into their WaterNet database that is freely available for Government bodies, NGOs and local people to download to feed into local wildlife plans and other surveys.
Thank you to all members who have contributed to our Community Spruce initiative over the past year. Here’s what we’ve achieved together:
Tidied the site, removing two skip loads of rubbish.
Refurbished the toilets, including replacing the broken toilet seat in the ladies loo, painting the walls and doors and putting new lino down.
Clive’s kitchen has been cleaned and a new fridge, kettle and microwave installed for members’ use.
The communal polytunnel has been cleared and cleaned ready for growing plants for open day.
The bonfire area has been cleared and new compost bins made.
The grass has been cut throughout the year.
The hedging has been pruned and overgrown areas cut back.
The office has been cleared.
We’ve planted new wildflower verges and hedging around our perimeter and planted wildflower seeds in the wildlife garden. This work is part of our re-wilding initiative, which will increase the biodiversity on our site and help support our fellow plant and animal communities which are now seriously threatened by climate change and loss of habitat.
We have been helped by teams of corporate volunteers, a great new initiative set up by Linda, which brings donations to the site and gets work done quickly. The 19th Bromley Scout Group also helped plant new hedging and seed bombed the wildlife garden.
There will be more opportunities to join in Community Spruce activities in 2020 as we continue to work to make our allotment site a peaceful, wildlife haven and an important community asset.
In July we put up a whiteboard for members and visitors to the site to record the wildlife they have seen. So far sightings include:
cinebar moth catepillers
peacock butterfly catepillers
grasshopper
newt in the wildlife garden pond
tadpole in a pond
fish in the river
slow worm
large copper butterfly
jersey tiger moth
The whiteboard is outside the Clubhouse – if you see anything please note it down. If you take a photograph email it to thecommittee@dorsetroadallotments.org.uk and we will add it to the website!
