PEP tangles - my Zentangle Inspired Art blog

Wednesday 10 April 2013

Woodland Management Part 1

As some of you know my husband & I live in a bungalow built into the hillside overlooking Brecon. The hill is actually an old hill fort - Slwch Tump - which is now mostly woodland & grazing for sheep accessed via a Public Footpath which runs along the topmost perimeter of our garden. Our garden, as you can see from the photographs, consists of both woodland & lawn. We keep the woodland in a semi-managed state allowing access to a gate which opens onto the Footpath but at the same time encouraging wildlife. I recently saw a Redwing & over the weekend my husband was surprised to find a Buzzard settling onto a branch about 15 feet above his head as he was gathering the tools for repairing our wooden steps.


The photo on the left was taken with my back towards our perimeter fence looking down onto the bungalow. I reversed the positions & took the photo to the right with my back against the window visible in the first photo looking up over 3 tiers of terracing into the woodland where I was standing for the first photo.


During some earlier dry & snow-free weather my husband managed to clear all the brambles etc... which had grown over the handrail & wooden steps leading up to the gate. The steps & the rail itself were in need of repair so that is what we have been working on now that the snow has thawed. We started with the steps leading into the woodland from the lawn but had to evict a couple of dozen lodgers who had made nests between the bank & rotting wood.

WARNING
 THE FOLLOWING SMALL PHOTOS SHOULD ONLY BE ENLARGED IF YOU ARE USED TO DEALING WITH GARDEN CREATURES

one of the rotten wood uprights removed



to the left is the sight that met us as we removed the wooden upright & to the right is a close-up of some of the inhabitants




a new upright cut, sealed with preservative & screwed into
posts dug in at either side AFTER evicting the slugs
the completed steps after painting with wood stain
In my next post I'll show some photos taken after we'd finished repairing the top section of steps leading to our gate which opens onto the Public Footpath.

11 comments:

craftimamma said...

Wow Paula, that's some garden. Absolutely beautiful but at my age (and more importantly OH's, lol!) I'm glad it's not ours. Fabulous job made of repairing those steps. I wouldn't have liked to find all those slugs. I once was emptying some old compost from plant pots only to put my hand into something revolting, lol! It was only afterwards I realised they were 'eggs', Bleurgh!!! I nearly took the skin off scrubbing my hands afterwards. I just couldn't get rid of the 'feeling' if you know what I mean ;D. Thanks for sharing your photos.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Paper Creations by Shirley said...

Hi Paula, it appears you a beautiful piece of property. I love to garden and have TONS of them, a lot to manage but love the nature around us. I'm not too keen about snakes... eeks ! Enjoy! Shirleyx ps.. .congrats on winning at Brenda's Blog Celebration

Aquarius said...

The step building looks impressive and you've done a grand job. I didn't realise slugs made nests but certainly wouldn't like to have come across what looks like a horrid slimey mess.

Sandra said...

Gosh Paula, what a difference you have made in just a few weeks! The steps look great and so in keeping with the woodland.
Sandra

Pink Dandelion said...

Wow what a great transformation you've made. It looks fab but I wouldn't have liked to find those squidgy slugs yeeuch!! What a great area to live in. We only have a small garden but still get lots of small garden birds on our feeders. Take care Debs xx

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

Your place looks amazing, Paula! I love to take nature walks, because they're so inspirational. You always find interesting things to photograph and sketch. You are blessed to live in such a place. Have fun with your project!

alexandra s.m. said...

I have enjoyed your post and the pictures of your work tremendously Paula! It looks like a lot of of work too! I love the steps with the stained finish! Way to go to the both of you! I can't wait to see more...

Thank you~

Heather said...

What fabulous photographs Paula, it looks like a lot of work but worth it!!! We have 2 buzzards around here (3 - one a baby) last summer. They visit the duck pond searching for baby ducklings for food - sad, but that is life!!! As for the creepy crawlies I have a house for them to live in - different holes and shapes for various them to hide and live in.
We had hornets once - I'd rather they didn't!!!
I look forward to seeing on the next step!!1
hugs
Heather xx

Annie said...

a truly beautiful place to live, creepy crawlies and all!
hugs, annie x

Sally H said...

What a beautiful garden you have Paula! Just the right balance for nature to thrive, including the slugs! Wow, they were big! We tried growing lupins once and found about 20 that size could eat a fully grown lupin in two nights!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous place, I love that you're so close to a wild area, must be wonderful to have so much wildlife around. Except for the slugs of course.