Akebia longeracemosa

Two species of Akebia are growing in the gardens, quinata and longeracemosa. Vigorous scrambling climbers, commonly known as the Chocolate vine, they are perfect for growing over old tree stumps and along wires. You will find Akebia quinata in two places in the gardens, over the old Holm Oak stump by the lake and along wires on a wall between the orchard and The Nash Building. Flowering later than the quinata, Akebia longeracemosa can be found scrambling along wires on The Sainsbury Building platform. The flowers are long, vanilla scented and maroon-chocolate in colour, the male flowers hang beneath the female flowers. 

Male and Female Flowers of Akebia longeracemosa

Sweet Pea 'Midnight', 'Wiltshire Ripple' and 'Jilly'

This year's Sweet Pea, Lathyrus odoratus, have been hardening off in the cold frames for some time waiting for the gardeners to plant them. A good size now, Simon and Danny erected the canes to create a frame in the cut flower bed, covered with pea netting before planting the young plants, carefully tying in the longest shoots. In preparation of their planting, Callum had dug a deep trench and filled it full of organic matter from the compost heap to feed these hungry plants. The variety chosen is 'Mulberry Mixed' from Chiltern Seeds which include 'Midnight', 'Wiltshire Ripple' and 'Jilly'. a mixture of dark purple and white flowers.

First Recorded Visit Of A Reed Warbler To the College

The Reed Beds Where The Reed Warbler Was Heard

Reed Warbler (photo taken by Ali at RSPB Ottmor, Oxfordshire)

When feeding the ducks before work started this morning Ali heard a rare sound from the reeds across the way. Upon further investigation the sound was identified although not seen, the sound was of a Reed Warbler. Never heard before at Worcester College, the bird remained in amongst the reeds, singing all day, well hidden from her camera so only a 30 second piece of film was recorded with the warbler's song heard in the background (along with a Blackbird and human voices.) A small brown bird that is a summer visitor to the UK, confirmation of the song can be found at http://www.british-birdsongs.uk/reed-warbler
PS This bird remained in the reeds for one day, hasn't been heard since.

Three Rusty Iron Crates

28th April 2015

29th May 2015

The team have working on the corner border since last Friday, 29th May, clearing out all the wallflowers and lifting the tulips.

Once the winter display had been removed, wallflowers to the compost heap and the tulips placed in trays to dry out, the box balls were clipped, the border weeded, fed with the granular fertiliser Growmore, and levelled ready for planting.

1st June 2015

On Monday, 1st June, the plants were brought over from the greenhouse and cold frames ready for planting.

Once Simon and Ali had placed them out in to their planting positions the plants, grown from cuttings and seed, were planted by Ady, Graham and Danny.

This year's plants for this display are as follows; Rudbeckia hirta 'Cappucino', Antirrhinum majus 'Black Prince', Antirrhinum majus 'Royal Bride', Eupatorium capillifolium, Nicotiana langsdorffii, Tagetes tenuifolia 'Paprika', Rudbeckia hirta 'Toto', Zinnia marylandica 'Zahara Sunburst', Abutilon x hybridum 'Waltz', Alonsoa meridionalis, Panicum elegans 'Frosted Explosion', Zinnia elegans 'Envy Double', Pelargonium tomentosum and Mina lobata

Three bamboo canes were placed in the border by Simon and the team were told that something was going to be delivered in a few days, the canes marked the spot where these items were going to be placed.

4th June 2015

This morning at half past ten the mysterious items were delivered, three large rusty, but beautiful crates. The crates were carefully placed in the spaces the canes had marked, two on their ends and one on its side.

Once in situ, potted Aeonium arboreum Schwarzkopf were placed in the crates. These wonderful dark succulents are usually planted in the border amongst the other plants but soon disappear as all around them grow. This year they have pride of place and are already causing quite a stir

In the border opposite it looks like some of these succulents have managed to escape from the confines of their crates, underplanted with a black pincushion flower, Scabious 'Ace Of Spades'.

Triple Width Diagonal Lawn Pattern

The wavy stripes mowing pattern seen in April on the the quad lawn didn't last long, see blog entry for the 17th 'Creating A New Pattern On The Quad Lawn'. The replacement triple width diagonal stripes have now embedded themselves on the turf and the waves have disappeared from view.

Today Joss set about adding a further set of triple width diagonal stripes across the existing pattern. Using a guide line he mowed along it to create the first straight stripe, working off these first stripes to create the others. It is not the cylinder cutting deck that creates the stripes but the forward motion of the roller that cause the blades of grass to bend in that direction resulting in a stripe. For these wide stripes the mower is pushed in the same direction three times.

 The quad now has its new pattern for summer 2015 'triple width diagonal'.

The Swan Is Still Incubating And The Goslings Are Growing Up Fast

The pen had laid three eggs by the 17th April but had lost one by the 21st but today three eggs were spotted beneath her again. When the third egg was laid is unknown exactly but she has been seen on the nest incubating for a number of weeks now, let's hope she is successful this year.

4 Weeks Old

The two Canada Geese goslings are 4 weeks old now and are growing up fast. Wing feathers can now be seen on the wings and small black tail feathers have begun to emerge on the tail. Over the next week the flight feathers will grow and by 4th/5th July they should be able to fly, fully fledged by the 11th/12th unrecognisable from their parents.

4 Weeks Old

Great Tit V Blue Tit

Blue Tit Nest Site, The Old Apple Tree

The Great Tit's have always nested in an old, hollow apple tree in the orchard, but this year they have moved to the more modern accommodation of a new wooden nest box in the neighbouring large pear tree. However, their previous nest site didn't remain vacant for long, a pair of Blue Tit's moved straight in.

Great Tit Nest Site, New Wooden Box

Over the last few weeks Ali spent some time recording the activity for both sites comparing the visits to the nests by both pairs. With young in both nests the activity recorded as follows:

Thursday 21st May 18:10-18:40pm (30 minutes) Great Tit 17, Blue Tit 40
Friday 22nd May 13:25-13:55pm (30 minutes) Great Tit 18, Blue Tit 61
Tuesday 26th May 13:21-13:51pm (30 minutes) Great Tit nest box empty, fledged, Blue Tit 45
According to the BTO (British Trust For Ornithology) Great Tits breed slightly earlier than Blue Tits, on average about a week so the Blue Tits are expected to fledge on 2nd June!
Wednesday 27th May 13:24-13:54 (30 minutes) Blue Tit 62

Having visited their nest to feed their young brood, on average between 640-1000 times a day, the Blue Tit young finally fledged this morning on the predicted date and the hole in the tree has gone silent.

Blue Tit Visiting Their Hole In The Apple Tree