The Secret Garden was open on Sunday and the usual volunteers were on site to help tidy it up a bit before winter sets in.
We were joined by the Mayor and Mayoress of Hillingdon, who had already mentioned when they attended the July Open Day that they would be back to see the gardens.
We presumed they were going to pop along in their gardening clothes and get their hands dirty, but it was an unofficial 'official' visit. They both showed a real interest in the park, the Secret Garden and even my photos.
I'm not one of the regular volunteers but when I do manage to come down for a visit and occasionally join in, I'm always in awe of the regular 'gang' that give up so much of their free time to keep the Secret Garden looking so great.
The grapevine has produced another bumper crop but this year there wont be any Cranford Park wine made. We picked what we could reach however, and managed to fill a large bucket.
Whilst pruning and cutting away the buddleia in the corner, we uncovered the huge amount of damage it has done to the old brick wall. Buddleia is a lovely wild plant that attracts many different insects and butterflies, but it's not a native species and the quick growth means that many other natural wild flowers are snuffed out by the buddleias fast growing rootball, spread and height. This one has been growing unchecked on the other side of the Secret Garden wall for some years, and it's once tiny tendrils have managed to creep through the cracks in the old mortar....
Buddleias self seed readily so I personally believe that all of the old buddleia bushes in the park should be removed. We'll still get a show of fresh buddleia next year to attract the insects and butterflies, but we would also get some other native wild flowers popping up too.
Bob Barton sowed some late flowering Cosmos seeds this year, and they are now giving an additional splash of colour to the Secret Garden. They are also providing some late pollen for a few insects. On just one plant we saw a scruffy but beautifully coloured Peacock butterfly.....
a hoverfly, possibly Eristalis pertinax....
and a Common Carder bee....
and the flowering Ivy was providing much needed food for our resident Honeybees....
October really is the best month to spot fungi, as you'll know if you read my blog post from Saturday. I didn't even have to leave the Secret Garden to find any. There were several tiny species growing amongst the wild strawberries in the raised bed....
and around the wood circle I found Turkey Tail.....
and more little upright ones....
I'm not great on identifying fungi (as my blog post from Saturday will confirm) but I do find them fascinating.
There were hundreds of these amongst the undergrowth in Cranford Woods.....
and in the same spot in the woods every year, I found the below gorgeous Yellow Stagshorn......
along one of the woodland paths I found several Upright Coral fungi......
and on the same usual fallen log by the Headland area, I found King Alfred's Cake fungi....
There is another tree not far from the log, that also shows a good display each year, but again I don't know what variety they are.....
I was so busy scouring the woodland floor for fungi that I wasn't taking much notice of the birds above me. I could hear plenty of Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Parakeets, Jackadaws and Carrion Crows singing and calling but it wasn't until they all started alarm calling at the same time, that I finally glanced up and found a male Sparrowhawk perched almost directly above me. I couldn't get a good photo, but it was nice to see one of the most secretive birds of the woods.....
Emerging from the woods in to the Headland area I checked some of the bare branches for our resident Kestrels and instead found three Herons. One adult and two juveniles. The adult flew off as soon as I lifted my camera, but the two youngsters were happy to pose for photos....
It's not the first time I've seen a Heron in this particular tree, but it is the first time I've seen three at the same time. Herons nest in trees so I'm wondering if maybe next year they might attempt to nest in this one.
By the River Crane I heard a Kingfisher calling, then it shot past me in a flash of blue with no hope of grabbing a photo.
In the Memorial Garden a very young Rabbit was almost asleep in the October sunshine....
As I stood silently still, three more youngsters scuttled out from the undergrowth, and it was only the barking of a nearby dog that made them all shoot back in to cover again.
Next Saturday is Cranford Park's first Apple Day.
I'll be on duty taking the official photos and it looks to be an interesting day.....
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