Spring is here!

The blue bells are spreading year on year and the ones which required transplanting (due to the location of paths) have also taken and in full bloom. For those of you who may have peered into the wood over the past week you will have noticed that there are 10 bright red tulips in full bloom. The bulbs must have been mixed in with a load of top soil which Steve Catterall donated from his garden in Kirkham. Also in the soil was some old bits of pottery which looks like Roman..........since Kirkham was a originally a Roman settlement then this would be no surprise! No Roman coins found as yet though! However what I have found is a 1900 silver sixpence which Mr T H Miller must have dropped on his way to church. The coin has a star shaped punch mark in it....?? any ideas.

Singleton Dumbreck Trust have donated some money so that the surface for the paths can be purchased and so I am currently sourcing material for this purpose.

John Highton has been working with some of the children from Singleton School on making some bird boxes for the wood. The Children will also be involved in siting the boxes (obviously not climbing the ladders though).

Singleton Parish Council have kindly agreed to purchase an information board for the entrance to the wood which is great. First thoughts are to include a brief history of the wood along with birdlife that can be observed.

In the next month or so the entrance will hopefully be finished off by laying some flags down. In addition the pond will be designed and hopefully started to be dug out. The soil can then be used to build up around the edges of the path.

Latest progress

As the undergrowth has now died off sufficiently there has been some work carried out on the paths that are winding their way round the wood!

However for once I haven't laid a finger. Some of the inmates of HMP Kirkham worked in the wood one day last week and have done an excellent job so many thanks to them.

They have agreed to return next week where 8 tonnes of hard core and 100m of 8x1 wood planks await them. This will hopefully finish off phase 1 of the paths.

Over the past couple of weeks I have done a lot of general tidying throughout the wood. Due to the recent high winds many dead branches have been blown down and so have now been added to the brash stacks.

The snow drops, daffodils and blue bells have all shot up over the past 2 weeks and I am expecting an early bloom this year.

This afternoon I decided to trim the hedging at the front of the wood and whilst doing so I came across an empty cat food tin. Upon picking it up I observed another one and then another. In all I picked up 78 empty cat food tins!! We did experience this problem early last year and also found blocks of cat food strategically placed. We thought it may be someone perhaps feeding hedgehogs and then discarding the tins by throwing them in the wood. Well the phantom cat food tin person has certainly returned with out a doubt! The police were informed last time it kept happening and promised to take appropriate action if the culprit was caught. If anyone observes this person throwing litter in the wood please get their car registration number if they are in a car (which I suspect that this person is) and let either me or the local police know. The following photo shows the empty tins plus some additional rubbish!

Bird life

Local bird watcher Jonny Scragg from Poulton-le-Fylde has recently taken a couple of great photographs of the birds which frequent Puzzle Wood and agreed for me to post them on the Blog. The first is superb and one that I'm sure the whole of Miller Crescent has heard but rarely seen! What a great photo of the tawny owl, as I say we all hear them especially during darkness but rarely see during the day.

The second photograph is a little more common. Several bird boxes have been installed and it would be nice to think that this blue tit has used one of the boxes for breeding or is indeed a result of a breeding pair!

Hopefully Jonny will be a regular visitor to the wood and take some more great photographs of our wildlife. Watch this space!

Title Photograph

As you can see I have inserted a photograph on the title page of the blog of how Puzzle Wood looked in its hey day. It was taken from the same position as the 'Back to Front photograph I inserted in yesterdays post! What a difference to the way the wood presents today! Unsure of year taken but definitely prior to 1946.

Latest Photographs of Puzzle Wood

This evening I have taken several photographs of Puzzle Wood to show the natural beauty of the woodland. Obviously there is much work to be done but some of the improvements are clearly demonstrated in these photographs.

Puzzle Wood entrance in the evening sunshine

This photograph shows the gate with the wood in full leaf. You can just make out the new gates and the hedging in the foreground.

The new gates!

Originally the entrance consisted of a single gate that spanned the whole width of the entrance. However we decided on installing a pair of gates due to the fixings being more secure. The design matches the original gate and also matches the gates to the church!

Closer view of the new hedge

The hedge to the left of the gate has taken very well as can be seen in this photograph. Some of the hedging to the right of the gate is struggling a little and so I will be taking further advice on this matter. The hedge plants are all native to the UK.

One of the brash stacks

The stacks have been constructed from the trees that have been removed as part of the thinning out of the wood. We have replaced some of these by planting some different varieties of native trees such as rowan, silver birch and holly.

The rowan 2 years on!

As displayed in the earlier post this rowan donated by Maxine Chew has taken very well and is displaying bright red berries that will be a valuable food source for some of our bird life this year! Also noticeable is how the surrounding area has become full of different species of trees and plant life. As you can see I spent a few hours making a clearing as a couple of the new trees including the rowan was in danger of being choked! 

Back to front!

This is the view from the back of the wood towards the Puzzle Wood entrance and Singleton Church. From the position that this photograph was taken was where a 'kissing gate' once stood that T. H. Miller would have walked through every Sunday on his walk from Singleton Hall to the church. 

I will dedicate a post on the history of the wood when I have 'commissioned' the local history group to provide me with the information!! 

Puzzle Wood: THE FIRST POST

Puzzle Wood: THE FIRST POST: Today (20th August 2011) I have decided to commence a blog of the development of Puzzle Wood. Its a little late considering the restorati...

THE FIRST POST

Today (20th August 2011) I have decided to commence a blog of the development of Puzzle Wood. Its a little late considering the restoration started 2 years ago! For starters I have just placed just a few photographs selected from the last 2 years. As time goes on I will update this site in chronological order as the wood progresses and include any interesting stories that crop up.

The project has been made possible by the support of the Singleton Dumbreck Trust, Singleton Parish Council and the hard work of various volunteers who will be identified at various stages of the project!

Over the months to come I will provide the history of 'Puzzle Gardens' and the future plans for the wood. Any suggestions would be welcome. So far the work carried out includes:

• Installation of several bird boxes
• Planting of new hedging
• Clearance of rubbish
• Several hundred samplings removed
• Snowberry removed
• New gates installed
• Phase 1 of new woodland paths commenced
• Replanting of several native trees
• Construction of brash stacks and log piles

Prior to the work on the wood commencing I consulted with the 'Tree Man', Tim Scarles, from Fylde Borough Council who has advised on replanting and removal of already established trees (essential due to Singleton being situated in a conservation area!)  and Steve Edwards, Countryside Officer, also from Fylde Borough Council who advised on all other aspects of woodland management. 

So this is how it all started...................................

The grand entrance 2009!

This was how the gate looked in 2009. New gates have now been installed and photographs of these will be posted shortly and its an amazing transformation!

On the left of the photograph are some of the bare rooted hedging that was purchased from monies kindly donated by Singleton Parish Council. This was planted by several volunteers over a day! Following the planting of the hedge 2 tonnes of quality horse muck was used to top dress the roots!

A skip in the wood!

This 8 tonne skip was delivered during 2009 to enable the removal of all the rubbish that has been dumped into the wood over the years. This job took several volunteers a whole day and by the end of it the skip was overflowing!

The 1st tree planted as part of the redevelopment!

(Rowen donated by Maxine Chew, 2010)

This particular tree has taken to its surroundings very well and in the next few days I will include a photograph of what the rowen looks like now!

 A view into the wood on a summers evening

From the clearing made by the removal of several diseased trees in 2010.

Three young helpers clearing 5 tonnes of hardcore!!!

The hardcore was used to provide a base for the 1st phase of woodland paths in 2010. The 5 ton load of road planings were delivered by a 10 ton wagon that blocked Church Road for nearly 10 minutes (headline news at the time!). 

The photograph shows the remnants of the delivery after these 3 well known local youngsters had been working for more than 4 hours, on a purely voluntary basis of course!

The evening I burnt all the hairs off my arms!

Following the removal of all the dreaded snowberry (which took several people a full day), and after letting it die off for a few months I decided to burn it on one fine evening! What a great idea that was (not!!). The Great Fire of London came to mind at the time! 

This non native and aggressive shrub had taken over a large area of the wood and spreads very quickly. We decided to dig all the snowberry up instead of using a 'chemical' alternative to eradicate this species!