20130505 Bird Box Restoration and Light Maintenance

Last November with Julian we retrieved some of the bird boxes that we put in the Memorial Garden the previous year . Lots of works in the area last autumn made sense that we should take them down before they would be thrown away by well meaning but not knowing contractors.

Besides some had needed some maintenance and repair. Julian that built them in the first place did a super job in gluing them together again and learning from experience, use better materials.

The boxes were used extensively by the local bird population so it all was quite rewarding.

Julian earlier in the morning he was there equipped and ready for action! He was eager to place them because after such a cold spring he thought all the business of spring would have been compressed in a shorter time.

The profusion of flower and the exuberance of the greenery bore him right. In a short time red-flowering currant ,forsythia were blooming, accompanied by the pansies and forget-me-not we had planted the previous spring day celebration.

Without any further ado Julian sprang into action. Climbing up the trees on his ladder and securing the boxed with stainless steel screws (the other time the ones we used turned out to be rusting and twisting).

All the activity must have attracted the attention of a new arrival, a couple of chaffinch that were busy singing and jumping around the top-high branches looking for a suitable place to set up home. Julian could not resist taking some pictures while we were treated to their very melodious calls.

After the bird-box business we could not resist a spot of light maintenance. This is a misnomer as it involves taking water (from Julian place, he does that regularly and too few people ever thank him for all the trouble he goes through), transporting it in a wheelbarrow and going the round of the park including the WildLife Area.

We watered and looked after some of the more vulnerable resident of our beloved park and I was particularly happy to attend the oak (our sapling has suffered somehow in the two season it has been transplanted in the park and Julian had saved some wood shredding from previous park works to limit the growth around the sapling base).

The wild hedge that Julian so lovingly cared for and indeed managed to establish was next but all of Surrey Square Park always need some attention. The results for his effort are some delightful recurrent greenery like the lesser burdock, the hawthorn flowering and the red champions.

One of the expanding section of the park would be the path along the Aladura Church. Here there is some potential for development and the Friends have in many occasions discussed its development potential.

At the moment Julian has planted lots of windflowers and in the past we put in place some ferns in the shadowy wood embankments opposite. It is of course a long time project as the alley is used a lot and consequently some trial and error approached should be used.

Julian is aso very keen of using all the available spaces and in Surrey Square opposite the primary School enclosures around the trees (I think they were built at the time of the first tranche of the Open Spaces works but I may be wrong though...) are underused and could be transformed in resplendent flower boxes, giving a tone to southern approach to the park.

Still the joy of breathing in the good sunshine day amongst the flowers and verdure that one knows has contributed even just a little (Julian as done a lot!!) is a wonderful tonic for any city blues.