We managed to clear another section of the new path being created along the edge of the park next to the public path helping with sight lines and hopefully helping residents to feel happier when accessing Sudbury Hill.

After we finished work on the path, we moved on to rescuing the hazels that were planted at the start of the year. This spring has been amazing for cow parsley, nettles, brambles and cleavers. So good that they had grown to 5ft and were smothering the hazels. We managed to clear the area and thanks to our bamboo poles located the young trees. Sadly, we have lost 15 plants for various reasons; not being planted deep enough, the ground too hard/ dry (i.e. no other plants managed to grow in these areas) or smothered. Thankfully 21 have survived though. These were cleared sufficiently to allow the hazels a chance to grow, watered and mulch was placed around them. We’ll keep an eye on them over the next few months.

We haven’t reported recently about the status of the Dutch elm resistant tree that we planted last year. It has grown a 2 feet since last year so exceeding expectations. We’ll be keeping an eye on it over the summer too.

Friends of Grove Farm are also able to say that we are happy caretakers for a family of woodpeckers that have chosen to nest next to the ephemeral pond. When Nigel came through for our photography session during wood anemone season, we observed the male creating a nest (i.e. hammering a hole into one of the willows).

With regards to the slow worms, we are constantly seeing two adults and two juveniles in our main monitoring area. We have also found small groups (usually a single adult and two to three juveniles) in our other monitoring areas on the slopes facing the Kellogg’s tower.

Thanks again to all our volunteers Bharti, Versha, Martine, Olena and Good Gym (Kash, Madhan, Penny and Sevan) you can see their report here.