On 29 and 30th November Malcolm started the preparation of an area on the Meadow where we’re making an effort to establish a good crop of Yellow Rattle next summer from fresh seed sown now. A bit cool working in the snow, but getting there.

Cold but not raining on Friday morning (November 24th). OK for Louise & Malcolm, Lesley, and Alan & Wendy to spend just over an hour planting more Native Bluebells, Snowdrops, Fritillaries bulbs in clumps and some more Ox-Eye daisies and other potted wildflowers. Together we planted nearly 300 more plants. Many thanks to Louise for taking the photographs.

Went back to an excellent bulb supplier we have used before for Mayfields, Abbey Country Gardens. So glad we did because the quality of the 450 native wildflower bulbs that arrived this morning (November 23rd) was absolutely superb. Malcolm and Tim managed to plant the first half within 2 hours of their arrival on the NW corner of the meadow. This batch included 50 Wild Garlic, 100 native Bluebells and 50 Fritillaries. We hope to plant the other 200 bulbs tomorrow. Many thanks to the Co-op Community fund for their support for this project.

On Saturday November 18th we purchased 25 Native daffodils for Mayfields. We planted them to grow on in pots of 5 for planting out in the new year as5 clumps with the hope it woill improve the chance of flowering in their first year.

On Wednesday 15th November Malcolm & Louise and Margaret and Mike made a thank you presentation at the Local Foxwood Co-op store. This was to thank store staff and the Co-op Community fund for their support over the next 12 months for MCT’s work on enhancing the wild flowers on Mayfields, especially on the meadow.

More work for our Co-op Community funded project on Saturday November 11. We planted180 English Bluebells in the morning to replace ones taken by squirrels. This time we tried adding a coated wire mesh barrier buried just below the surface to see if it would give them more protection.

Later we planted out about 30 Foxgloves grown from seed by the Fieldwork co-ordinator.

Too wet for mowing on November 1st but fine for Malcolm to cut up the remains of the fallen willow for composting.

Great weather for planting out well rooted wildflowers we’ve been growing on for our Co-op Community fund-supported project on 3rd November. Using fibre pots minimizes root disturbance during transplanting.