Please click on the link below to open the minutes of the November 2009 Trustee meeting.  Adobe Acrobat Reader required.

FOAC_November_2009_Meeting_minutes

Hannah Lily set out a special brunch invitation to the Friends of Arnold Circus to visit the New Contemporaries exhibition on Saturday 12 December 2009.

The Director of New Contemporaries apologises profusely, and hopes to set up an alternative on another date.

The London  Plane tree clad with ivy on Arnold circus is about to lose its seasonal visitors of blackbirds, Wrens, Robins, Great Tits, Blue  Tits, Coal Tits, Greenfinches and  Chaffinches together with spiders and insects like butterflies, moths  and bees. This mature tree and attached ivy has provided spring nesting places, a natural food source for creatures throughout the year, winter hibernation for bees, moths and butterflies  and winter roosting and shelter for small birds. The Friends would prefer that the ivy could be cut back from the branches using a cherry picker and be regularly maintained to prevent it from becoming top heavy. With the renovation works about to start the tree will lose the ivy in the new plans for the garden.

The following is taken from Tower Hamlets own Biodiversity Action Plan:

Grounds and Gardens, which includes grounds of schools and other education providers, businesses, communal gardens on housing estates, allotments, community and private gardens, all provide a variety of different habitats for native plants and animals such as ponds, hedges, log piles, wildflower meadows and trees. Their distribution is widespread and together makes up about 28% of the total land use in the Borough, a significant coverage when compared to the 10.9 % of area offered by our official parks and open spaces. Many of these areas are of low habitat value but with active public involvement they can become a rich network of green corridors for biodiversity to expand and flourish. Animals can move easily from one to another and seeds can be spread forming potentially rich and important habitats for wildlife.

http://www.towerhabitats.org/wild-things-wild-places.htm

Comments from Kenneth Greenway – Cemetery Park Liaison Officer

Firstly, here at the Cemetery Park we have quite an aggressive attitude towards Ivy, but that is because it has for many years been the Status Quo. Saying this we are open minded and in some cases we allow Ivy to persist on a tree.

Right, onto positive arguments for Ivy.  Assuming you have a strong tree with a well developed trunk and crown Ivy will offer it’s highest wildlife value when in contact with direct sunlight.  During Sept and Oct it flowers in these aspects and offers a wonderful nectar/pollen resource to many invertebrates such as a number of butterfly species like the Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Brimstone, along with a large number of hoverfly species, and spiders, etc.  This in turn creates an opportunity for birds.  During late winter before spring Ivy then offers a wealth of new food opportunities as the Ivy ripens it berries which are then devoured by birds.  During the rest of the year it is a wonderful resource for nesting birds and if dense can be a roosting opportunity for bats.

Ivy of course can be a negative thing, especially if it grows on a weak, spindly tree.  Ivy is not parasitic and if you look carefully it will not grow across branches of a particular thickness. It does create dense, dark cover that will allow little else to thrive.  If a tree is weak, or tall and spindly the sheer weight of Ivy, often assisted by the wind can cause trees to fall over and limbs to drop.

My point of view would be to have at least one tree covered in Ivy and choose the tree that gets the most sun during the day.  It’s also worth noting that the London Planes trees at AC are substantial plants in their own right and I think will quite happily cope with a cover of Ivy.

Please help to preserve this natural habitat by commenting on this blog. Thanks

Contact

abdul.j.khan@towerhamlets.gov.uk,020 7364 5816
halim.abdul@towerhamlets.gov.uk, 020 7364 2631

Thousands of spring bulbs have been planted over the past years. In a few weeks’ time, the renovation process is going to start and the ground will be ploughed up for future planting. So we are trying to retrieve as many as possible and find new homes for them – permanent or temporary – in the meantime.

Children at Virginia School have been resonsible for planting them over the years. Last week children from Year 3 came up onto the Circus to help lift them and store them.

They dug and discovered hidden bulbs, and found out – from Andy – how to tell a daffodil bulb from a crocus or a bluebell.

They transferred them to a series of tubs that will find their way into planters at different points on the Boundary Estate.

Rineys, the Council’s contractors who will be carrying out the works on Arnold Circus, will be taking some soil samples in the gardens on Monday 9th November. They will be digging two small holes to a maximum depth of 70cm in two places – one on the top tier near the perimeter railings and one in one of the lower planting beds – to confirm the soil satisfies the Council’s health and safety requirements. The holes will be covered up immediately afterwards.

LDA Design have developed detailed planting proposals based on discussions with local gardeners. Please write any comments about the plans below on the blog, or email to finnwilliams@hotmail.com. All comments will be relayed to the designers on Wednesday 18th November.

Click on the image for a higher quality version

Planting Plan

Please click on the link to view a PDF copy of the minutes for the October Trustees meeting.

October 2009 minutes

SUNDAY 11TH.  1.30-5.00  3 1/2HRS.

There will be not too much to do with the plants this autumn as  have already cut back most of the of dead flowers. The main job will be clearing the leaves when they get too much or they will smother the smaller plants.

The other big job will be removing some of plants before the renovation work starts, during which the beds will be completely dug over and most remaining plants lost. We plan to keep what plants are worth saving and can be safely moved ( and have room for storing),  for possible  replanting once the work is complete – depending on whether appropriate and there is space.  Also,  I have been collecting seeds from most plants.

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There is a wonderful carpet mosaic installed inside bandstand.

Things look pretty good, not many flowers but things looking green after recent rain. Bulbs are growing.

Cleared litter. Quite a few bottles & cans on beds. Several dogpoos on surfaces and beds but not a lot.

Then with Patrick, cleared all the masses of leaves from the paths etc. where they had built up against the railings, also sweeping up fag ends etc. as well as the leaves around the bandstand railings. (Don’t think Fountains have cleared the leaves yet this year).

 SUNDAY 18TH. 1.30-5.00  3 1/2HRS.

The carpet in bandstand still there and looking wonderful. Maybe that’s the solution to stop litter etc. in it – have it carpeted!

 The beds are looking green, especially upper S.E. where things are growing back after  all the clearing done there by the Council. Some Musk Mallow and Cyclamen are still in flower.

 I cleared litter, mainly bottles and cans from the beds, but also all the litter around the surrounding pavement. Although not gardening, it all helps to make the Circus a nice place to be.  Found just one dogturd this week – maybe an all time low.

 With Jean & Patrick and help from Peter and Robin, we moved Jean’s big tin planters into position on the estate and partially filled with rubble, sand and soil, ready for moving some plants from the Circus to, for storing during renovation.

With Patrick, cleared leaves from some areas where they have been building up covering the plants on the beds.

SUNDAY 25TH.  11.00-11.30 & 1.30-4.00  3HRS

Bagged up & brought 8 bags soil from a garden I saw was being excavated & with help from Jean & Peter put it in planters.

 The carpet gone from bandstand – that’s a pity as it brightened it up and everybody liked it.

 Jean was on the Circus collecting litter when I arrived and stayed to finish the job. I collected up dogpoos from paths & beds, also a  nasty human one from the path. Also swept up in Bandstand, broken glass etc.

 Patrick clipped  shrubs lower SE and collected some leaves, I cut back flowers & collected seeds.

Some Musk Mallow still in flower. The light can look good through the grasses and other plants at this time of year.

The twisted trunk Cotoneasters will soon be going. Things will look different after the renovation, but could look really good.

Go and take a look at the windows of 25 Calvert Avenue. We spent this morning sweeping it out and washing its windows,

and then putting up information, pictures and poems about the changes around Arnold Circus. You can trace how the area has changed from the 1700s up till now in the windows.  We’ll do our best to keep it up to date, to keep you up to date with what’s planned.

Here’s your private view of the carpet.                          

It’s due to fly away again on Sunday night.