Welcome to the Beech Rd Wilderhood Watch page! We’re keen to involve more people in looking after our neighbourhood wildlife.
We had a fantastic time at our Beech rd/Firbank rd stall on Sunday October 8, 2022. Not only were our seed and plant giveaways, as well as our custom made cards, very popular, but we gained some lovely new recruits to help us with our street projects!
Another wonderful addition to Beech Rd’s Toad Road!
The native hedges we planted in our gardens are developing nicely. It’s looking like most of the bare root varieties in this hedge have taken well with shoots and leaves appearing on the vast majority of stems within 6 weeks of planting in early February.
As you can see, this Beech rd pond is developing well with the addition of some native bog/marsh plants and marginals including fritillary melegris, marsh marigold, water forget-me-not and water mint, some Dutch rush and carex, as well as oxygenators such as water Crowfoot. There’s no frogspawn this first year, but we’re hopeful for year 2!
Our projects so far:
On Beech Rd we’ve just completed our 6th litter pick. We’ve been going out regularly since July last year (so almost monthly!), clearing our verges and taking care of the Wilderhood Watch Buzz stops. Hopefully residents can see our commitment to caring for our wilder green spaces…which doesn’t mean uncared for. We even had two new volunteers joining us this month!
Here on Beech Road several residents have planted up hedges. Inspired by the Plant a Hedge project, this recent example in a back garden on Beech Road shows bare root planting of a native mixed hedge. This one is made up of blackthorn, hawthorn, wild cherry, spindle and wild privet with guilder rose and red dogwood for added interest. This is a fabulous addition to a bird and wildlife friendly garden.
We’re joining in with the Wilderhood Watch Toad Road project and encouraging neighbours to dig ponds in their gardens. Creating a pond is one of the best ways to increase biodiversity in your garden, and to ensure that all the animals have a reliable water source.
The result of our most recent litter pick (Jan ’22)
Our Litter Picking project has involved tidying up Beech Rd by regularly picking up rubbish along our street. Litter is not only unsightly but positively dangerous for animals including hedgehogs, other small mammals and birds. If you’d like to join in, please contact Jo Brown or nadia@wilderhoodwatch.org
Since our first litter pick, our team has now expanded to include some of the youngest residents on our street!
