ENVIRONMENTAL
NEWS & ISSUES

• Chemical free zone • Native plants respected • Butterflies encouraged • Birds housed and fed • Bees in abundance • A place to sit and relax • A paradise for bats at night • A haven for nocturnal mammals The basic ethos of the garden revolves around the principle that native and wild plants are the residents and cultivated species are the invading immigrants. This seems to provide a respectable balance between wild and cultivated, tidy and random, and architectural and free. The lack of formality also increases the functionality of the spaces. The garden is a haven for wildlife, reflecting the eco-friendly farmland surrounding it. The untrimmed hedgerows surrounding the garden are wonderful habitats for butterflies and insects. Migratory butterflies appear in May and stop over for a few days before descending to the fringe of the woods. Two species of bat roost in the roof space of the farmhouse. They are pipistrelles and Brown Long-Eared bats and can be seen flying and feeding on the wing from dusk ‘til dawn in summer. Many birds visit or are resident in the garden. They are; pheasants, partridges, owls, swifts, swallows, wagtails, starlings, magpies, crows, wrens, warblers, thrushes, tits, finches, sparrows, blackcaps, robins, blackbirds, stonechats, goldcrests, collared doves and woodpigeons. On occasions you can hear the whirring sound of swans in flight as the travel from pond to pond, and in early summer the stirring call of the mating peacocks can be heard resonating from the woods. Our favourite sounds are the skylark on a summer afternoon or the echo of the woodpecker’s drumming in the valley.

 Some of the larger trees face the chop this year, but under planting has already started.

The loss of some exotic plants has changed the shape and stucture of the garden. Some changes in choise of plants for the future may be considered later in the spring.