AUTUMN NEWS 

It's that time of year again when the Pumpkins and Squash are maturing nicely ready for our celebrations at the end of October.  This year they will culminate on Sunday 27th of October with our Carving Competitions, Spooky Trails and Games, Autumnal Delicacies, Tombola and a Light Show. If you want to have a go at Pumpkin Carving, please let us know, as we will be having several carving workshops leading up to the event.

We will also be holding a Harvest Supper for Volunteers and Workers on Tuesday 8th October at the site.  So if you have volunteered in the past, but are unable to at the moment, please come and join us and bring food to share.

Make A Difference Awards

We were entered into the BBC's Make a Difference Awards this year.  Someone visited the site and interviewed Tracey and photographed us working. The video was shown to the judges and we were shortlisted for the Green Award.  Mary, Bryn and myself attended the presentation at Nottingham College and were well fed and watered by the college catering students.  There were four groups in our category, The Beeston Bike Shop, The Hucknall Wildlife Group and Kathryn Cooper from Sneinton who runs a group called Mini Growers which is aimed at helping pre-school children connect with nature.  Kathryn won the award, I'm sure because the children were so endearing! We do run sessions at Windmill for this age group with Small Steps Big Changes and they are proving very popular.  We were Highly Commended.

Bryn, Mary and Rosie at the awards with the BBC Regional News Deputy Editor.

Bio Blitz and Butterflies

Friday 2^nd August, we had a Bioblitz at Windmill Community Gardens. Families and volunteers at the gardens took part in both a bioblitz activity, and the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme 'Big Butterfly Count'

Dr Linda Birkin was on hand to lead the activity, help with identification, and discuss what was found. All observations were recorded and uploaded to the ongoing Windmill Wildlife (1) project, using the iNaturalist app.

Everything was identified as best as possible on the day, from group of wildlife (e.g. 'bumblebee') down to specific species (e.g. 'Garden spider').

What did we find?

124 Species

We recorded 238 observations, covering 86 different species / groups. This included 16 species of butterflies / moths, 5 species of beetle and 8 species of hoverflies.  This brings the current (August 2024) total number of species recorded at Windmill Gardens up to 124!  This is dominated by insects and plants, so there's still plenty out there to find.  Please add your casual records to the projects as well as ones with photos/evidence: www.inaturalist.org/projects/windmill-wildlife

Unfortunately I can't copy all the documents that Linda sent us as they are in a difficult format, but if you are interested, please get in touch and I'm sure we can send you a copy: wcgnottingham@gmail.com

Below is a list of the bug species found:

Species list from Windmill Community Garden Bioblitz August 2024                                             22 spot ladybird Common wasp Loosestrifes Slug 7-Spot Ladybird Dandelions Lygus Bugs Small white butterfly Apple tree Eurasian Smoothwing Marbled white Soapwort Apricot tree Evening promrose Marmalade Hover Fly Spear thistle Asparagus Beetle Garden Snail Masked Bees Speckled Wood Batman Hoverfly Garden spider Meadow brown Spider Bindweed Gatekeeper Meadow Crane's-BilI Stitch wort Bird's-foot Trefoils Globe thistle Melanostoma Syrphid hoverfly Black ant Globetails Mint Moth Th istle Blackberry Grasshopper Nasturtium Violets Brown lipped snail Green veined white Peacock Wheat Bumblebee Green bottle Plantain White Bryony Bumblebee (carder) Harlequin ladybird Plum Wild Carrot Bumblebee (red tailed) Holly blue Pussy Willow Woodlouse Bumblebee (white tailed) Hollyhock Ragwort Worm Cabbage Bug Honeybee Raspberry Yarrow Calendula Housefly Red Admiral Yellow Meadow Ant Cinnabar Moth Hypericum Red ants   Coltsfoot Large red slug Red Soldier Beetle Comma Large white butterfly Ringlet   Common Blue butterfly Lavender Robin   Common Globetail Leafcutter bee Sawflies   Common Mugwort Lesser Hornet Hoverfly Silver Y

Rosie  Jarrett 19.09.2024