At Five Acres there is a wildlife garden and a nature trail through mainly deciduous woodland which is accessible from the car park. At the other end there is a small pond, covered at the moment by that alien pondweed parrot's feather, which Janis - my enabler - and I will try to remove and replace with native plants. There is also a boggy surround which we hope to plant with native species like yellow flag iris and lesser spearwort.
In the nature trail through the wood we have noted in autumn several species of fungi, mostly saprophytic. Most commonly, growing on deciduous tree stumps, is sulphur tuft, in small trooping clumps. Near the car park end of the trail you can see a mature specimen of Gunnera manicata. We would like to plant more native species in the wood, such as nettle-leaved bellflower and ground ivy.
When we began, at the end of September, Janis pointed out to me a large brown caterpillar - it had eye-spots on its thoracic segments. It was, of course, the larva of the elephant hawk moth Deilephila elpenor, which feeds on willowherb. The mature caterpillar had obviously finished feeding and was about to pupate in the soil. However, I didn't see a great deal of the food plant so, with Janis' help, I planted some of the great willowherb Epilobium hirsutum, which spreads by means of stolons.
A few weeks later, nearby, Janis uncovered a pure white Cyclamen hederifolium. They often flower before the ivy-like variegated leaves come, and, when fertilised, the flower stalks coil and bury the fruit head! We will allow it to spread as I don't think they take kindly to being transplanted to a more viewable position.
We also noted strawberry trees Arbutus unedo. The specific name is unusual and refers to the fruit - "one will do"! We also noted a hybrid Arbutus that is autumn-flowering - the "lily-of-the-valley" flowers are a late source of nectar for bumble-bees and other insects.
Outside the office building at Five Acres is a large heather bed with quite magnificent drifts of winter-flowering heathers plus a few of the summer-flowering kind, which is a variety of ling Calluna vulgaris. The other species, flowering from about November to April, are varieties of Erica erigena (formerly mediterranea), growing to about two metres, and Erica herbacea (formerly carnea), a dwarf shrub reaching to about 25 centimetres.
On the opposite side of the drive there is a slightly raised wildflower bed with herbs like mints, marjoram and thymes. Wild flowers, mainly biennials like teasel, hogweed and evening primrose, set their seeds; on the other side of a wall with an archway, there is a higher raised bed. This is ideal for me since I can work standing up. Here I have found growing such nectar plants as knapweed, sow-thistle and foxglove (I actually saw one in full bloom the third week in October). Here I have also planted, after extensive weeding, short perennials - heath speedwell Veronica officinalis, heath bedstraw Galium saxatile and bird's-foot trefoil Lotus corniculatus, the food plant of the common blue. Also here I noted some stinging nettles Urtica dioica, the food plant of many nymphalid butterflies - this was a good site in which to encourage egg-laying since it was in full sun; I will plant another nettle here.
There is also a lawn enclosed by deciduous and evergreen shrubs, with many dog violets creeping into the grass from the shrub borders.
I do hope the visitor to Five Acres will, if he or she has the time and interest, explore some of these mini-habitats - I certainly find them very interesting.
Michael Bradford
Sadly, the funding from Social Services for Michael's enabler has dried up and hence he is no longer able to tend our gardens. We are very grateful to Michael and Janis for their help and hope they will be regular visitors in the future.
