Sunday, 10 February 2008

St Saviour’s Parish in Bloom: “Park”ing a priority

A WILD wood with squirrels and nesting birds is developing in hidden parkland tucked away below St Saviour’s Parish Hall. Work began on this peaceful haven between Government House and busy St Saviour’s Hill last February when the area’s overgrown trees and undergrowth were thinned, bird boxes put up and paths made to allow access.
The Parish has been greatly helped in doing this by Mike Stentiford and his team of volunteers, but they now have plenty to do as part of the National Trust and we must make our own effrt to make this little wildernness attractive and accessible. Now it is time to continue the project before the birds begin to nest again and I am calling for volunteers to meet outside the Parish Hall on Saturday 16 February at 10 am to go down to the area and work for a couple of hours or so on creating an idyllic woodland park where the community can enjoy the area’s burgeoning wildlife.
It’s a wonderful area that is both wild and accessible and we think it provides an opportunity for people, especially youngsters, to feel that it is a really valuable part of their parish, to come and help the site develop and to encourage wild life to come down and live and nest in the woods. As many people as possible are invited to help and no gardening skills are needed, just strong shoes and a pair of gloves are recommended to bring a forgotten area of the parish to life and create an outside classroom for youngsters in our parish.”
The scheme is ambitious and aims to develop three separate areas, each progressively wilder, and help is needed to clear the remaining logs and branches. “We’d like as many parishioners to come as possible,” said Graham Langlois, of St Saviour’s Parish in Bloom. “We’d also like to start a volunteer group that can be called on a couple of times a year in spring and autumn when we need to tidy up the area.”
With their help, the walled woodland will make a perfect small nature reserve which could be linked by natural planting through to other wildlife areas in the parish.

No comments: