Due to heavy rains for the past month and the development of some wonderful plant growth, this secret little wildlife-friendly enclave to the south of Sainsbury’s carpark was flooding and making the footpath from Myers Croft to Gay Lane impassible.
OIB had been very much part of developing this little space so we put on the wellies and dug out the blockage on Remembrance Sunday. Hopefully, this will help drain out the local yards.
We last cleaned up this area in May 2013.
Bremner Street corner was tidied up again this weekend. The condition of the corner was pretty good. Not too much litter (thanks, Otley), only about a bin bag full.
The majority of the work was to clear the name of the road, weed at the front of the corner and trim back those bushes which were growing onto the pavement. Behind the front bushes there was a bit of scrubbing up of small plants and a discussion on what to do with the laurels in the midst and the opportunity to plant another fine tree at the rear.
Lovely weather with small birds singing their hearts out. Thanks to everyone for turning up and helping.
We put out new bird boxes in the winter and that is one of the reasons the birds were singing.
Bremner Street corner last got a tidy-up in July 2017.
To celebrate the latest Tour de Yorkshire we thought we should replace the willow bikes, that had survived for 5 years, with some re-cycled ones. Six of us tidied up …
we tried the three bikes in different positions …
the fire station gave us a cuppa …
we planted up the bike baskets …
and we managed to do all this and keep dry.
Otley in Bloom met to tidy up the space in front of the advertising hordings by Springfield Place on Sunday 24th of March. It was a beautiful sunny day and around 12 of us cleared all the litter that had accumulated of the past few years, dug out the massive weeds, planted a line of small Box plants, planted a young tree inside a wooden frame and prepared the space for further planting. To protect the area from cars and vans parking on the space we then set large stones into the earth, leveled the surface, sprinkled grass seed on the unplanted spaces and gravel around the Box plants.
The objective is to provide a low maintenance area and the design tries to control weeds and simplify grass cutting while offering security from traffic.
It was a great morning out and the cake was fantastic!
We’ve been out cleaning and replacing our bird boxes, removing damaged ones and adding a few more. The great news is that every box had a nest in it. We have started using this new style with a metal sheet around the hole to prevent predation and a hinged lid so you can get inside them easily to clean them. Who wants to raise their young in a dirty nest?
Your job for the week is to clean out any bird boxes in your garden ready for the new season. Removing old nests and giving them a wash prevents the build-up of pests and diseases.
Otley in Bloom 