Unusual Plants and Wildlife

The gardens will never again be as beautifully manicured and colourful as they were through the Edwardian era right up to the 1970's. Councils no longer have the resources or manpower at their disposal to keep the gardens as they were in this golden age for parks. The Gardeners do a superb job with what little resources they have, but over the last twenty years areas have been neglected.

However this has resulted in the rewilding of parts of the gardens and there is the potential for the area to become a wonderful wildlife refuge. We just need to find the right balance between planting for visitors to look at and admire and leaving areas for the benefit of insects, birds and mammals. 

Two years ago, we had our first orchid and this spring we saw our first hedgehog. The grey squirrel is very common but we are also visited by foxes and Roe Deer.

We have a butterfly expert among our members who has recorded the following species in the gardens - Brimstone, Comma, Green Veined White, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Peacock, Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell and Small White.

We have yet to do a bird survey but we certainly have various finches, robins, blackbirds and of course pigeons. 

The pond is home to three bad tempered geese, mallards, moorhens and coots with herons, tufted ducks and cormorants being occasional visitors.

Unusual plants include the parasitic toothwort, the Martock Lily and two types of Orchid, Pyramidal and Common Spotted Orchid.

Unfortunately we also have patches of Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed but these are being cleared as they appear.