Out and About at Gorse Hill

Apple Weekend

Over the weekend we had nearly 350visitors – thank you all for coming to support us.  Our Cabin Café started the weekend well stocked with cakes but by close on Sunday we just had a couple of slices left!  The orchard tours were well supported and Jonathan was on hand to offer advice about the trees and pruning tips.  Here are a few photos from the weekend:

(2.10.23)

 

Our National Garden Scheme (NGS) Sunday, Moth & Newt Night and a gallery of lovely images taken by our recent visitors D & H Holt for you to enjoy.

In previous years our wildflower meadow has looked stunning for our NGS Open Day and we have always had sunshine, sometimes it has been too hot!  This year, the day started out looking quite promising with the meadow full of rich purples, pinks and yellows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However by the time we opened at 11 am it was overcast and then came the rain; heavy showers, sometimes torrential as some of our visitors can testify to!  It became a day of dodging the showers.

 

 

 

 

We had 95 visitors at Gorse Hill and we wish to thank them all for turning out on such a wet day.  We were one of 3 gardens that opened together and overall we raised a wonderful total of £2340 for NGS.

The weather was better for our rearranged Moth and Newt Night on 1 July.  Our original planned evening was on 10 June but thunderstorms forced us to postpone.  Some moths trapped the night before were in pots in the Cabin labelled for our visitors to look at, these were later safely released.  Once dark we went through Cabin Wood up to the pond where we could go onto the boardwalk with powerful torches to look down into the water.  Some large newts did come to the surface for air but there were numerous juvenile newts (efts) still with their gills.

Two moth traps were running, one by the pond and one deeper into the woodland.  Visitors were enthusiastic in netting and potting moths flying and landing around the light traps as well as potting those that ventured inside the traps.  In all we caught 24 species of moth (36 individuals) in around 1½ hours! Just some species we trapped:

 

The star of the evening had to be a first capture on the Reserve of:

A very successful evening and a big thank you to all our visitors for making it a very enjoyable one too.

As promised here are some images taken very recently by our visitors:

 

 

(12.7.23)

 

Snowdrop Sunday 12 February.

We actually opened earlier than planned as someone left the gate open! Visitors arrived early but were happy to go for a walk to see the woodland and snowdrops while we boiled the water for tea.

 

 

The weather stayed dry although not sunny.   The snowdrops put on a wonderful display and some of our regular snowdrop visitors remarked how the snowdrops had increased.  As soon as they begin to ‘go over’ we lift and divide the larger clumps to transplant ‘in the green’.

We had over 200 visitors and the Café was so popular we actually sold out of cake – the first time this has happened!

 

Thank you everyone who came to visit and also thank to you all our volunteers who came and helped on the day.

 

We look forward to seeing you at our next event which is Bluebells and Blossom on 30th April.

(7.3.23)