Nature Blog by Jenny Bourne

Measuring has been taking place on plots for our annual Autumn Show Tallest Sunflower competition, this year open to all ages.

With over 80% of UK butterfly species in decline, this year’s Big Butterfly Count could be more important than ever. Last summer, following the results from Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count ‘the wildlife charity declared a Butterfly Emergency

Look what popped up in David’s pond! He says: ‘I put a small pond in my plot in the new year, put some oxygenating aquatic plants in and waited to see what would happen.

Our ‘Pollinator Patch’ flower bed at the entrance to the site hosts examples of flowering plants with different flower shapes that attract a range of pollinators. Marc Carlton (Marc Carlton The Pollinator Garden: www.foxleas.com) has provided a detailed and accessible information on flower shapes and insects

The RPA Pump Team, led by Ray can offer advice on watering in drought conditions, in addition to their ‘day jobs’ of fixing broken pumps around the site and installing new ones. Information has been produced by Ray and others with general advice on watering during drought conditions; plotholders will have their own strategies for dealing with drought conditions