Making Space for Nature

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• Busy for Nature in Bodmin

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  With Making Space for Nature schemes at three sites in Bodmin now in full swing, Project Advisor, Charlotte Evans, has been leading activities, with the week commencing 1^st November seeing two community events in the town.

  The Burgage Plots to the west of Fore Street car park are a series of long narrow plots extending from the backs of the properties that front Fore Street.

  On Thursday 4^th November, with bright orange hat and hi-vis jacket, Project Advisor, Charlotte Evans led a team of volunteers, armed with 648 bulbs of Bluebells, Lily of the Valley, Winter Aconite, Wood Anemone and Wild Garlic, to plant along either side of the path running from the car park to Meadow Place. The bulbs will bejewel the walkway with spring colour, whilst also offering a nectar source to the early pollinators.

  As the scheme continues, expect to see access improvements, with a glade being created from the carpark and a set of sets improving the informal access from Meadow Place. Some hedges will be managed through coppicing to promote robust growth, whilst planting a mix of native Holly, Hazel, Spindle, Blackthorn and others will provide a more diverse woodland understorey, building the habitat’s resilience to disease and climate change.

  

  Image: Busy volunteers at the Burgage Plots.

  On 7^th November children from the Kinsman Estate and Treningle View built a hibernaculum on the small paly area – a cosy place for many types of animals including insects, toads, lizards that seek refuge over the winter. This activity followed an earlier community meadow making on 10^th October, where families planted an array of wildflowers including blue Viper’s Bugloss, yellow Bird's foot Trefoil and bright pink Knapweed, that will be a welcoming display for both people and wildlife come next summer.

  Look out for the unique signage created by children of the estate for the habitat that has recently been planted across the site, who have also vowed to keep an eye on the hibernaculum whilst remembering not to disturb any residents that may make it their home as they snuggle away for winter.

  

  Image: New Hibernaculum at Kinsman/Treningle.

• Get set to get creative and festive at Glasney College

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  EVENT CANCELATION NOTICE - posted 26/11/2021

  Due to the poor weather forecast the decision has been made to cancel the 2021 Craft Carousel. This decision places everyone's health, safety and wellbeing first. We plan to run a crafts activity event at the site in the Easter period instead and hope that everyone who was looking forward to this event will join us then!

  The site remains open as a public open space and anyone who visits can explore the outline of the College walls, see the Grade 2 Listed abutment wall and view information about the site's rich history.

  The QR code challenge remains available for download from the documents bar of this site, as an independent site-based activity.

  *******

  Making Space for Nature is pleased to be working in partnership with an exciting Penryn-based creative lead to bring together arts and nature in Penryn. Saturday 4th December sees our first collaboration, when we will be jointly running a Christmas Craft Carousel at Glasney College.

  Make, Do and Mend supports people's wellbeing, mental health and confidence for those with hidden challenges (and that's all of us!) through nature based creative activities. By reducing, reusing and recycling materials to support our green ethos with a strong core of mending individuals, the community and our beautiful planet.

  The craft carousel at Glasney College is an opportunity for all the family to find out about the fascinating history of the site as well as experience making Christmas craft from natural materials and have a great time doing a heritage themed treasure hunt.

  

  
  

• St Austell Brownies help to Make Space for Nature

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  Girls from 1^st St Austell Brownies have been thanked for their contribution to a special place for nature and the community, as earlier this month they constructed a bee hotel and decorated bird boxes that will be installed as habitat features at The Meadows.

  The Meadows near Trenoweth Road, St Austell, is a public green space that has been enhanced with investment through Green Infrastructure for Growth 2, creating diverse habitat, including meadows and wetland areas, along with patches of young woodland. Paths and accessible furniture also provide opportunities for leisure and relaxation throughout the site.

  Following the successful activity, Project Lead, Melissa Ralph said: ‘A big thank you to all at 1^st St Austell Brownies - It was brilliant to meet all the girls and hear your fabulous wildlife knowledge and enthusiasm for nature. You all concentrated so well and worked together really well as a group. We now have a fantastic bee hotel and two beautiful bird boxes to add to The Meadows”.

  The characterful bee hotel and colourful bird boxes will be special features at the site, offering both community interest and important wildlife value.

  By the end of the session girls were able to contribute to top tips for helping bees and other pollinators in your own gardens/or spaces however small they might be, including:

  • Try and make sure you have year-round flowers for hungry bees
  • Leave some areas a little bit wild – for nesting, wildflowers (dandelions are good!)
  • Leave some bare ground (for ground nesting solitary bees)
  • Choose pollinator friendly plants and seeds

  
  

  Free Half-Term Wildlife Day at The Meadows

  If you are also interested in helping at The Meadows, please join us on Friday 29^th October we are holding a garden spruce up day and FREE half term children’s wildlife activities! Drop-in any time from 10am to 3pm, postcode PL25 3DT

  There is no need to register for the event, however if you are interested in finding out more please contact, Becky, Cormac’s Urban Ranger via volunteers@cormacltd.co.uk or 07796 996351.

  

  Piece of writing by one of the Brownies at the habitat making session reads; ‘We need nature because bees make honey and worms make soil digging for our flowers and grasshoppers make no sound and crickets make soothing music.’

  

  Making 'Bee Rooms'.

  

  
  

  The finished items.

• Glasney College tower re-envisioned through Community Planting

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  A massive thanks to all the volunteers that turned out to help make space for nature at the site of the former Glasney College in Penryn.

  The site, which is part of a larger Scheduled Monument, is a public open space well-loved by the community as a dog walking and games spot, whilst little remains for the former mediaeval church that paralleled Exeter Cathedral in grandeur and supported a colligate community that was of huge significance for Cornish culture.

  Investment through Green Infrastructure for Growth 2 (Making Space for Nature) is building on previous enhancements to showcase the heritage value of the site, which included inlaying of granite to outline the former walls in 2019. Today (12th October 2021) volunteers helped to plant a sensory mix of perennial herbs and flowers in newly installed raised beds designed to evoke a scene of the previous structure, whilst echoing the plants found in mediaeval monastery gardens. Swathes of wildflower meadow were also oversown, all using minimally intrusive techniques in order to preserve any potential underground archaeology.

  The improvements will help towards future protection of the site, as well as provided a nature-rich space for people to enjoy and reflect on the fascinating history of our very special places.

  There will be regular volunteer opportunities at this space and others, please check here and site posters for future details.

  

  Meadow sowing: Cornwall Councillor Tamsyn Widdon joins CORMAC and volunteers to make space for nature at Glasney College, Penryn.

• Community Meadow for Kinsman Estate

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  Families enjoyed the autumn sunshine whilst making a community meadow at Kinsman, Bodmin on Sunday 10th October.

  The area at the entrance to the estate is being enhanced for biodiversity through the Green Infrastructure for Growth 2 programme, 'making Space for Nature', and the meadow has been created on a large grass verge, with meadows representing a much richer habitat, supporting a greater diversity and abundance of species compared to traditionally mown grass. Though iconic in the British landscape, the twentieth century saw a 98% decrease in the variety of wildflowers in the UK countryside.

  The wildflowers being planted and sown have been selected for their value to pollinating insects, like bees and hoverflies among others, and will provide a colourful welcome to the area for everyone to enjoy come next spring.

  

• Liskeard Unlocked enjoys Castle Park, whatever the weather

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  Making Space for nature was delighted to support Liskeard Unlocked at their traditional Tea Treat at Castle Park on Saturday 18th September.

  Members of the wider community, from the very young through all the ages, enjoyed the festivities, which included a magic show, teddy bears's picnic, the silver band and Cornish dancing, as well as a nature trail and bulb planting provided by Making Space for nature.

  Volunteer's from the regular green gardening group established at the site through this project also attended to encourage others to join the 'task force'.

  "Castle Park had become little used and sadly neglected. It is now becoming much more frequently used and is an asset to our town. Moreover it really is providing a space for nature. The beds are buzzing with wildlife. " Lynda Fletcher, Castle Park Green Gardening Group

  If you are keen to gain hands-on gardening experience and wildlife friendly place-keeping knowledge, please do just contact Becky, Cormac's Urban Ranger to find out more, or join one of the sessions at Castle Park on the second Thursday of every month throughout 2021.

  Contact: Becky, Cormac’s Urban Ranger

  Email: volunteers@cormacltd.co.uk

  Mobile: 07796996351

  
  

• Making Space for Nature enhancements begin at site of medieval Cornish colligate church

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  A new phase of enhancements at Glasney College, Penryn, aiming to better reflect the site’s heritage significance, has begun.

  This green space is the site of a great church, which was built around 1265 and dismantled around 300 years later. One of the wonders of medieval Cornwall, the church was comparable in grandeur to Exeter Cathedral and the community of clergy who lived there wrote the Ordinalia plays in the Cornish language, which are still performed today.

  In 2019, Cornwall Council carried out works to improve public access and the presentation of the site. Granite was laid to show the position of the tower and the course of the south front of the church. The site was also given a new entrance.

  This autumn, funding through the Green Infrastructure for Growth 2 project: Making Space for Nature, is enabling continued enhancements that will further evoke the rich heritage of the site and create a calm inviting space for contemplation.

  The latest works are designed to provide improved habitat value, while ensuring the site, which has been designated as a Scheduled Monument by Historic England, is not disturbed.

  A new garden will be created at the former focal point of the church - the location of the tower. The garden will include raised flower beds with pollinator-friendly plant species inspired by the flowers and herbs found in medieval abbey gardens.

  A sculpture which has been inspired by some of the master mason’s designs that have been discovered in the ruins of the church will also be installed.

  With the project enhancing both natural diversity and heritage interest, it is hoped that more of the rich environment of ancient Glasney will be evoked for visitors to enjoy.

  The plans were developed in consultation with Historic England and the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, which will be assisting the Making Space for Nature team and analysing any finds that are uncovered during the works.

  Councillor Martyn Alvey, portfolio holder for Environment and Climate Change at Cornwall Council, said: “It is vitally important that we preserve this wonderful site which has so much history.

  “This project will benefit both nature as well as the residents and visitors who use the space and I’m delighted to see these works are now underway.”

  If you would like to be involved in volunteering opportunities at this site or others being enhanced by Making Space for Nature, please email volunteers@cormacltd.co.uk or call Becky, Cormac’s urban ranger, on 07796996351.

  The Making Space for Nature project (Green Infrastructure for Growth 2) is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with Cornwall Council and University of Exeter providing match funding.

  

  The team from Cornwall Archaeological Unit and Cormac will be delivering the Making Space for Nature led scheme on-site in coming weeks. Part of the project is to carefully re-expose the remaining wall of the medieval church, visible in the image above.

  From Left: Cathy Parkes (Cornwall Archaeological Unit), Jacqui Owen, Howard Burns, Gary Beazley and Mike Hadfield (Cormac).

• Successful scything workshop at Beacon Park, Falmouth

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  On 8th September volunteers and members of the CORMAC landscape maintenance team attended a successful meadow scything workshop at Beacon Park Falmouth, led by specialists from Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

  Scything is a traditional method of mowing, with many environmental benefits including being low carbon and reducing damage to soil structure compared to the use of mechanical mowers.

  This event also demonstrated that getting together to scythe away is an enjoyable social activity - despite the weather!

  Many thanks to Cornwall Wildlife Trust and to everyone that attended.

  We hope to run future similar events in the future. To find out more, please do contact us at spacefornature@cornwall.gov.uk

  

• Great work at Windmill Hill Park

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  A big well done to the volunteer group at Launceston for their work at Windmill Hill park.

  The work makes up part of the Making Space for Nature project, which aims to improve biodiversity and green spaces for communities in Cornwall.

  Cormac Urban Ranger, Becky, and the team have been working hard weeding new pollinator beds, alongside a general tidy-up of the park entrance off Windmill Hill road.

  Cormac supported the team throughout via the Cormac Volunteer programme, providing both practical and behind the scenes support. Currently there are monthly groups in Falmouth, St Austell, Liskeard and Launceston.

  To find out how you could get involved in similar community projects, you can contact volunteers@cormacltd.co.uk

  

• Film captures essence of Making Space for Nature

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  Using Beacon Park as an example of some of the work that is taking place, this short film encapsulates the vision for the project;

  Making Space for Nature - Falmouth Beacon (vimeo.com)