May Madness!
Spring has sprung, if a little late here in Newtownabbey, thankfully the sun has arrived, especially for the Moths, Bees and Butterflies.
Every Friday i have been making my way to Ballysillan Alotments with Mary and Susans team at Beech House (N.I TCV Headquarters) to complete an NVQ in Amenity Horticulture. This has included the preparation and planning of the Ballysillan alotments, whether thats planting veg, weeding or shifting pavestones and compost.
The sundial effect raised beds were designed and constructed by my predecessor! Natural Community Trainee Michael.
Here is a willow dome constructed by our Conservation Action Team.
Towards the back of the site i helped to create some log piles for invertebrates as well as filling, linning, seeding and planting out the raised beds.
Finished product! 🙂 This picture was taken at 5am as i was closing my moth trap for the day before we had our open day on the 25th May. No moths caught, but we had an excellent turn out and some amazing food by the local alotment holders 🙂 Yum! Veg fresh from their own patches 🙂 It was amazing to look at the pictures of when they started the work there over 17 months ago, some of the long term volunteers and alotment holders got special regognition on the day from TCV for all their dedicated help and commitment to the site.
Also i got to meet my fellow Natural Community trainee in Portglenone! Becky 🙂 Now its my turn to go to Portglenone!
Earlier in that week it was International Biodiversity Day on the 22nd May.
I didnt dress up as a giant bee this time, but i did attempt to keep the marine theme going with a visit to Loughshore Park and a shore search with Thornhill Primary School. We started the day with a litter pick and a talk about marine life, then we used some identification cards and had a rock pool search for crabs, shells, etc.
Then we made the word BIODIVERSITY out of seaweed, drift wood, shells, etc we found on the beach and then took part in a nature quiz trail around the park. Three lucky kids finished the trail with the correct answer the quickest, but everyone went home with a smile and an ice cream from the shop! 🙂
To end the May madness, we had a Spring Family Fun day at the Mill with face paints, traditional games and crafts and i took some more keen dippers out to the pond! Check out the baby sticklebacks in the top left corner! 🙂
Other news, i did my first week of my Breeding Bird Survey square out in the Holywood hills (County Down) and the butterflies are loving the sun on my weekly transect 🙂