Nature Blog by Jenny Bourne

Happy, Peaceful and Productive New Year to all! A morning of heavy frost and bright sun got me up early for snaps, after what felt like several weeks of a mild, dull, wet and rather dismal December.

The mistletoe in our old apple tree is now abundantly festooned with pearly white berries, some branches destined for sale at our Christmas Café this Sunday and the rest left for the birds. I haven’t yet seen a mistle thrush foraging in it,

Over the past years RPA volunteers have worked on in several natural ‘green’ resources projects that benefit both plotholders and site biodiversity. Some serve dual functions eg the native deciduous hedge – a visual and physical barrier between the site and Church Grove Passage that also provides food and shelter for wildlife. Here’s a brief summary

A mild, overcast and damp day for Hallowe’en; some of this season’s pumpkins and squashes will be being carved into scary faces, with a (well supervised!) tea light glowing inside for later this evening. Meanwhile I’ve been harvesting the last of the dried beans

A prolonged spell of mild and intermittently very wet weather and it’s still not feeling very autumnal, apart from a bright Hunter’s Moon last week and cobwebs shimmering in early morning light.