Ryhill Pits Wood

16/07/2022

Not the prettiest of photos, but a thousand or so homegrown English bluebell bulbs planted out today 😀 Hopefully, this can be an annual thing now, with a ton of various stages steadily being raised in the garden. It takes about six years from seed to flower, so lets see 🤞

27/02/2022

Last of this season's planting days. About 60 home grown alder sapplings and a few hundred plug plants of foxglove and red campion all now in the ground.
Plus a litter pick and another session to eradicate the invasive varigated yellow archangel finished just in time for night to fall (will 2022 be the year it finally gives in?). While clearing there, it was wonderful to see the wood sage and foxglove establishing nicely from a couple of years ago.

08/01/2022

150 hazel raised from nuts last year have been planted out in the wood today! Not quite a "born free" moment, but sort of 😉
Already prepping this years seeds and nuts to grow on to join them next year 🌰🌱🌳

24/07/2021

Another beautiful and productive day in the woods:
✅ Bluebell seed collected and spread
✅ Litter picked
✅ Roadside vegetation cut back
✅ Woodland path edges cut back
✅ Varigated Yellow Archangel pulled

However today was especially good because of what we did not see:
🚫 No Japanese knotweed!
🚫 No Himalayan balsam!
So after a few years of battling these thugs, and after they were a no show last year too, its looking like we have cleared them once and for all! Get in there!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🍾🥂

If we can finally beat the Varigated yellow archangel too in its last outpost (almost there????) we will have beaten all the rampaging triffids that were in the wood. We can then concentrate all of our efforts on more positive stuff. That said it was wonderful to see some of our past conservation work paying off really nicely including:
💚 bluebells spreading
💚 hazel growing well
💚 wood sorrel establishing strongly
💚 red campion seeding nicely
💚 primroses hanging on in there
💚 best foxglove seed heads to date

All good things to celebrate - oh and dont think I got bitten by a mossie either - result! 👍

20/02/2021

Today was time for planting out a load of wildflowers that we have been raising at home. So the last of the snowdrops and stitchwort are now all in.
This will make space in the back garden "nursery" for more to be raised this year. Currently 200 hazel nuts are hopefully germinating in trays. Which will join the wood anemone, wood sorrel, dog violet and primroses being bulked up.
The less "glamorous", but necessary, tree risk assessments have also been refreshed today.
Perhaps the most exciting discovery today was seeing so many bluebell seedlings, probably a year or two old. They are starting to come up where we sowed seed three or four years ago. It will still take a few more years for them to get to flowering size, but when they do, they will set seed of their own and so it goes........
Every year, the wood is getting better and better for wildlife!

11/10/2020

Yesterday was a day of planting, checking and litterpicking!
Brilliant news! It looks like after four years of persistent work we have finally beat the Japanese knotweed and Himalayan balsam!!!! Only the invasive Varigated yellow archangel limping on in just one spot to go - will 2021 be the year we beat it?
About 80 wood sage planted out raised by a special education group of young adults from seed collected in the wood (thank you Dudley College!!!!). Also added were about 50 wood sorrel carefully nurtured in my garden for a couple of years and a few hundred snowdrops. On top of this half a dozen hazel kindly donated by my dad 😁

04/07/2020

So its been a looooooong time since we've been able to get to the woods and so much has changed! Strangely what is not there is as exciting as what was!
We didn't find Himalayan balsam or Japanese knotweed (will check again in a month or two though to be sure). We only found a little bit of litter and a scattering of Variegated yellow archangel. For all this we are very grateful! The hard work of the last three years to get rid of these invasive plants is really paying off.
Indeed the only thing we did find that was new was this Fairy.
They laughed at us when we put the bird and bat boxes up - but the birds and bats soon moved in. So I suppose we shouldn't have been suprised that when my son helped us put fairy doors up that fairies turn up!
I'm pretty sure that it is this lovely creature that has been quietly looking after the wood for us while we've been away - thank you!!!!
My only problem now is how to update the species records' spreadsheet. What species of fairy is it (Godmother?) and what is its latin name?

20/10/2019

A couple of hundred more wild flowers were planted just before the beautiful orange sunset faded out over the wood today.
I've been growing on wood anemone, lesser celendine and native yellow archangel at home over the last year. I wanted to get them in before they start growing again. Fingers crossed they take to their new home and start to spread.
There is another load of plants ready to "migrate" into their new woodland home, maybe next month....... however I have a bit of free space to start growing next year's lot!
Bit by bit Ryhill Pits Wood is getting better and better!

30/07/2019

20/07/2019

One Saturday night.
Two DIY bat detectors soldered together.
One singed finger.
Almost ready for next Saturday's bat walk now!

29/06/2019

Who's up for a bat walk around the wood? Over the last few years we've had many bat species turn up so if the weather is good it should be a great night!
If you are please let me know to book your place.
Hoping to meet on Sat 27th July at 8:45pm on the pavement on Station Road opposite the wood.
Please bring a torch, suitable clothing and maybe insect repellent if you want. It will be suitable for kids if accompanied by an adult.

19/05/2019

Blooming marvellous!
Another project has come to fruition 😀
Two years ago we cleared brambles and nettles from a sunny area. We then sowed native red champion seeds. They have now got to flowering age - and just look at them!
The flowers will be great for bees, butterflies and moths. In turn the bees, butterflies and moths will be great for the birds and bats.
As if to prove their approval yesterday we saw more bumble bees and heard more birds than ever before 😀
So will collect the seed later thissummer and throw it into some of our new clearings.
Every year, better and better!