December 2014

As noted in our previous news, the new Information Room has been erected – but now it has information sheets for you to look at. All the photographs have been taken on site, either by volunteers or by Ellen Willmott. Richard has also made a couple of frames and included some examples of plant labels found on the site dating back to Ellen Willmott's time or, in the case of one item, possibly even further back. Do let us know what you think, and include any suggestions for improvements.

 

A photographer from the Gazette came to take details and some photographs after the opening and these may appear in the Christmas edition of the local paper.

 

Although a lot of work has been done to keep the paths safe we are aware that some areas are still slippery in the wet, so we are looking at ways of making them safer. Meanwhile, please do take care.

 

The cows have now gone, but evidence of their visit still exists so take care there too in case you tread in one. We would hate to find a cow-pat footprint in our nice new Information Room, and you wouldn't like one in your car!

 

Little green shoots are already popping up all over the place, mostly snowdrops, so we are looking forward to a good show this spring.

 

John C

November 2014

As visitors will no doubt have noticed, our new Information Room has been erected, although not yet fitted out with information. It will have large A1 sized framed posters with pictures of Warley Place as it was in Ellen Willmott's time and also information about what you can see now. This will all be done well before the open weekends in spring next year, possibly 'trial' information sheets first to see how they look. The whole project has been carried out through a kind and generous donation.

 

The area round the sycamore by the inner gate has been sealed off from rabbits and cattle, and strimmed ready for the emerging crocuses. We will be looking very carefully at how these measures affect the growth of the flowers.

 

In my last news I said that the mapping had been taken over by Brian Dawson. Sorry Bob, Brian was an old friend of mine from the past. It's Bob Dawson who is doing this work.

 

I also reported the loss of my camera. Well it's been retrieved, so I can go on photographing volunteers at work. It was used to take some of the pictures you will see in the information room, and will now take many more.

 

 Although the wet weather makes work difficult at times, we have been continuing to pull up bamboo, which sprouts all over the place, and Japanese Knotweed which appears in very few places now. We have also been cutting and splitting logs for sale, and those of us transporting them to be stored have been very thankful for the cart's change to mechanised rather than human propulsion. Even so, on soft ground a lot of pushing and grunting takes one back to those years ago when that's all we had.

 

We had some very sad news recently. Paul Carter, the owner of Warley Place, has passed away. He was a great friend to all of us and was ready to help whenever we needed it. He used to man the gate at open weekends and you would never know the place belonged to him. We will miss him very much indeed.

September 2014

We received planning permission to go ahead with our new information room recently and you may have noticed the flattened area in one corner of the Walled Garden.  Several layers of a permeable membrane have been laid and ballast spread over that, so it's all ready for the erection of the room, which should be carried out in October.

 

We will soon be closing off the fenced area round the sycamore just by the inner gate.  This will be the first spring before which the area will have been totally rabbit-proof from the time the crocuses start to sprout and we are hoping it will have made a big difference to their number. There has been a slight hiccup with the removable gate in that it was left leaning on the fence. The cows rubbed against it and knocked it over. They then proceeded to walk over it, so it's going to need some attention!

 

The so-called horse pond just to the south of the Walled Garden and next to the Nursery Beds was drained and cleared out.  Much muck and rubble was removed to reveal a flat concrete bottom in good condition. We don't know how long it will take to fill naturally but if necessary we can use water from the adjacent reservoir.

 

As I believe I have said before, we do have this continuing conflict between maintaining the reserve as a historic garden or as a nature reserve. Many of the trees or large shrubs that are removed are dead or dying, but occasionally they are cut down to provide light or space for other plants. We do secrete away much of the wood for habitat but there is far too much so we also burn some of it.

 

Some time ago I mentioned the mapping project for the reserve, an accurate digitised map being produced with the aim of showing all the hard features as well as plants. This would enable volunteers to keep track of and to protect the more unusual species when carrying out other work in the area. After the outline map was produced the addition of plants proceeded very slowly but this task has now been taken over by volunteer Brian Dawson and things have started to move much more quickly.

 

Finally a plea. I have lost the camera that I use to document the activities at Warley Place. I can't honestly say whether I dropped it at Warley Place on Monday (22 Sept) or someone else, but when I looked for it on Tuesday it had gone. If you find a Panasonic compact camera in a soft case I would be most grateful if you could call me (01277 217236).

 

John C

Information Room

As an addition to our my normal blog about things in general I thought you'd like to know more about a proposed new information room that our warden, Richard Barklem, would like to provide at Warley Place.  Here is his article about it.....

NEW  INFORMATION  ROOM  AT  WARLEY  PLACE

 For some considerable time, the information room roof has been leaking down the back wall and damaging some of our displays. These have to be reprinted quite often and put back into their original frames. On inspecting the top of the wall, last year, I discovered that the first course of half round bricks was loose and the lime mortar was falling apart. Over a lengthy period of time lime mortar gradually begins to disintegrate and eventually crumbles away. The only way to fix the wall is to dismantle the top section and rebuild it with new lime mortar. Sadly since Len Dewell is no longer with us, we do not have an expert able to carry out this task. I'm sure many of you will know that Len, with the help of volunteers, rebuilt a lot of the walls that you see today, including the terrace wall from the ground up. Also, with the lime mortar in such a poor condition, once you start dismantling the wall the next course of bricks then becomes loose, and before you know it, you're at ground level. Therefore this is not an option with the current information room. We also use it as a "tea room" when we have a break during work party days. In the spring this can cause a conflict, if visitors want to look at the displays and it's full of volunteers! The only solution I could come up with was that we ought to have a new information room, bigger than the original, so we can display more of the history of Warley Place.

We had several lengthy discussions as to how we could go about this and where we should site it. It was decided to put it in the walled garden not too far from the current one. At around this time John Cannell received a call from a gentleman in Romford, a Mr Johnson, who asked if he could make a donation in memory of his wife who had sadly passed away, as they had both loved Warley Place. John told him about the possibility of us having a new information room, and he said he would be more than happy to pay for it.

The whole of Warley Place is a conservation area, so I contacted the council to see if we could erect a new wooden structure in the walled garden, and was told that it was likely going to need planning permission. I arranged a meeting with the conservation officer and the Arboriculturalist from Brentwood Council. They didn't have any issues with my proposal, providing I didn't dig down and disturb the roots from an adjacent oak tree. At the time of writing this (at the beginning of June), a planning application has just been submitted to Brentwood Council. I'm hopeful that this should only be a formality and we will be able to progress with this project and have it installed by September, depending on how long it takes for it to be constructed.

I can't thank Mr Johnson enough for his very kind and generous donation to Essex Wildlife Trust. The majority of the money was for Warley Place, and some allocated to a project at Fingringhoe. Not only will it pay for our new information room, but we will have some for other projects or equipment. He also paid for 10 tons of the granular sub-base we put down in the car park during the wet winter months.

A simple plaque, along the lines of the ones on the bird hides, will be put on the information room in memory of his wife, and once we have the building installed I'm hoping Mr Johnson can come and formally open it for us.

It is due to people like him that The Trust can carry out these projects to enhance the visitor experience of the countryside and wildlife. Thank you, once again.

Richard Barklem

June 2014

Well what a superb series of open weekends we had this year. Thanks to you, our visitors, we made a significant amount of money for Essex Wildlife Trust and had an interesting time chatting with you too. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

 

The new information room has been delayed by the dreaded planning permission process which is taking longer than we had envisaged, but it will be worth the wait. It will be built as a result of a very generous donation by a visitor, Mr Johnson, in memory of his dear wife.

 

I stood down as chairman of the Warley Place Management Committee at the May meeting, after six years in the position. I have been succeeded by Mick Hedges and with Richard Barklem continuing as warden Warley Place is in very safe hands.

 

Interesting that the foxgloves haven't been up to their usual standard this year. Actually there are a lot of them about, but they are scattered rather than in impressive swathes. I suppose it's something to do with them being biennial plants. I rather like taking pictures of insects and they seem in short supply so far this year. Well the interesting ones are.  The ones that bite seem to be as numerous as ever.

 

Digging up the bamboo, which was spreading rather in the boating lake, has been a tiring job but a necessary one. I suppose it's a shame there is never any water in the lake, even in the heaviest rain, but there's no chance of us trying to make it watertight again.

 

What with the bamboo, and the docks in the turning circle and walled garden, to contend with there have been a few sore backs amongst the volunteers during the past few weeks.

 

The cattle will be joining us again soon and they have a lot of work to do in getting the grass down. With their coming presence in mind Richard went round checking the fence posts and found that a lot of them, 18 I think, needed replacing because they had rotted.  The original posts haven't lasted at all well so Richard stands new ones in a barrel of creosote for a week before using them, which should alleviate the problem.

 

John C

March 2014

'This really has been a wet and windy couple of months.'  That's what we said last year at about this time.  What a difference – so far.  After a slightly uncertain start the weekends have been great and the coming one (including Mothering Sunday) promises to be the warmest yet.

 

Snowdrops and crocuses have put on a good show, and the daffodils are at their peak, although apart from late flowering varieties they will start going over now.  The purple toothwort is coming out early too, so visitors in April will be able to see it from the bridge or from the path leading to the south hide.  There is plenty of colour around in the next few months, with the bluebells, foxgloves and rhododendrons to name just three of the plants that regularly put on a great display.

 

Our current project is for a new information room to replace the old house wc/cloakroom, which does get rather damp.  We have applied for planning permission to erect a wooden structure with an open front overlooking the walled garden, so it will also act as a shelter with a great view.

 

We have noticed at the open weekends so far this year that a number of visitors are wandering off the paths.  We do ask the public to stay on them for their own safety as well as for the protection of the flowers.  Also we'd like to thank those dog owners who are no doubt very responsible and would keep their pets on a lead, but who are not allowed to bring them on the reserve.  The great majority of such owners understand and leave their dogs in the car or come back later without them.  The problem we have is that the few irresponsible owners spoil it for the rest, and we want to protect the wildlife and the flowers – and we don't want to have to clear up their dogs' mess, either.

 

We also appreciate visitors forbearance with the car parking arrangements.  The car park is adequate for most of the year, but during warm spring weekends it is too small and some visitors end up having to use the overflow car park which the cricket club kindly let us use at this time of the year.

 

If you'd like to know a bit more about Warley Place why not join our guided tour which takes place at 1030 each Saturday morning during the open weekends, i.e. until Easter weekend.

 

John C

February 2014

This really has been a wet and windy couple of months. We seem to have done nothing but make paths safe for visitors by resurfacing them (the paths, not the visitors) and disposing of trees or branches blown down by the wind. Some of the wood is left for habitat, some chopped up for logs which we sell, and the brash mostly burnt.

 

You may think that the material which we use for the paths is not in keeping with the natural feel of the reserve. However we believe that it will gradually blend in with the surroundings and, more to the point, will make the paths much safer to walk on.

 

We did manage to complete the rabbit-proof fence round the sycamore, and the first crocuses are showing well. It was probably finished a little late to have its full effect, but next year we hope for a bumper crop.

 

The snowdrops are at their best now and will be for a couple of weeks, with the pretty blue scilla looking lovely amongst them. Crocuses and daffodils are both showing too, so in the next few weeks, weather permitting, the reserve will look beautiful.

 

We have made a start on digging up the bamboo in the boating lake. Well when I said 'we' perhaps I should admit that I had something else to do on the reserve that morning! It's a difficult task at the best of times, but in these damp conditions working in the bottom of an old lake is not an enviable task.

 

Open weekends start on 1^st March and carry on until Easter Monday, 21^st April. I hope the weather is better this year. It's bad enough for visitors when it is wet and cold, but you can imagine what it's like for volunteers manning the gazebo and carrying out car parking duties. We are continuing with our guided tours on Saturday mornings at 10.30.

 

If the weather is good then we hope you will bear with us with using the overflow car park when necessary.  We have considered all sorts of ways of increasing car parking space on the reserve itself but none so far have been acceptable. The only way of getting a significant increase would be to use more of the meadow for parking, but that has been ruled out at least for the moment.

John

January 2014

The entrance area to Warley Place is getting to be rather dangerous.  You may remember in our last blog I noted that the old oak tree had been felled by a car?  Well later in October, during the high winds, trees and large branches were blown down all over the reserve – including one right across the drive just inside the gate. Then, would you believe it, on Christmas Eve another large branch came away from the old oak tree and again blocked the drive. Three intrepid volunteers came out and, armed with bow saws and loppers, cut it back so that cars could pass through, as it was far too big to pull to one side. The rest was all cleared away in the first week after Christmas.

 

Fortunately flooding is not one of our problems as we are on one of the highest points in Essex. It's interesting to see how high the ponds get, though.

 

Last year there were many snowdrops out by now, and a single daffodil on the daffodil bank. I haven't seen any at all so far this year. Perhaps it hasn't been cold enough yet.

 

We were a bit disappointed that, for various reasons, we were unable to complete the rabbit-proof fence round the sycamore by the inner gate. We needed to creosote the lower part of the posts, as experience had shown that they rotted in just a few years unless we did this. Richard managed to acquire some – which isn't easy – and stood some posts in a dustbin of creosote so that it would soak in. However the next load of posts were wet and the preservative would not soak in unless they were dry, so we just had to wait. Still, the job is a long way forward and will be finished, complete with chicken wire, within the next month or so – depending on the weather. It will include a large gate, donated by one of my neighbours who had no further use for it, to enable the area to be opened up to cattle so that they can cut the grass for us in the summer.

 

You may have noticed a new bird feeding station by the information room. This suggestion was made by Dave Cornwell, who volunteers elsewhere but comes to our reserve to photograph his avian friends. He and Richard erected it and it was almost immediately covered with birds of all sorts. Several of Dave's excellent pictures are on the website and more will undoubtedly follow. The light there is far better for photography than at the other hides, although they are likely to be quieter than the new one in the busy summer months.

 

We noticed the other day that bamboo is spreading in the old boating lake, so it looks as though digging that up will be one of our tasks for 2014.

 

Working in the boating lake often uncovers a smooth creamy clay, that covers our boots. Presumably this is the puddled clay that used to enable the lake to retain its water, but it was perforated by tree roots. We have no plans to cut back the trees and bushes and to re-puddle the clay bottom...... it would be interesting though, so see whether it would fill with water. We have noticed that the old bog garden, between the lake and the daffodil bank, is often filled with water even though it is about a metre higher than the boating lake.

 

Well, a happy new year to you all.

 

 

John