Friday, January 14, 2005

Hedera hit in high wind

A work task required cutting back a large Ivy (Hedera helix)that had until recently festooned a high wall and a 6ft (2mtre) brick pillar.It had grown vertically from the top another 3ft and formed into a domed mound of evergreen foliage.
In recent gales the force of a gust had brought the Ivy and top of the pillar to the ground.
I felt it rather a shame that this has occured as it represents a loss of a foodplant and habitat for many invertebrates and birds.
Surprisingly perhaps I found only a single bird's nest in the debris that filled three of the large sacks that builders merchants use for 1 tonne loads of aggregates.
When I exposed the broken pillar a few woodlice and a spider scurried away for cover.
On the day that the sun blazed like springtime for a couple of hours the brickwork of the remaining pillar warmed sufficiently to awaken the inhabitants of a Black Ant nest within cracks in the mortar.
As I progressed with the tidy-up a buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen showed interest in the fallen Ivy as a possible new home perhaps.

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