Making new signs

This month we were sign-making at Galleywall. Unfortunately no photos (watch this space...) but we drew and decorated two big sheets of plywood with GALLEYWALL NATURE RESERVE in nice big letters, surrounded by flowers, minibeasts, and vines.

We also planted some climbing beans around the bean wigwam, and a sharp-eyed young visitor spotted that some bees seem to have set up home in one of our nesting boxes. They didn't look like honeybees, and apparently bumblebees like bird boxes as nests. So it looks like we have a little bumblebee nest! The bees we saw flying around the entrance are apparently male bees waiting for the queen to come out. Bumblebee nests are much smaller than honeybee nests, with only 400 or so bees at most -- the queen, lots of workers, and the eggs. It's great to know that we are providing habitat for such an important insect!

Many thanks to everyone who came along to help out. We hope to get the signs varnished in the next few weeks and put them up on Open Gardens Day in June.

We'll next be open on June 1st (1:30-3:30) for the Big Lunch 2014. Bring along a picnic and enjoy the lovely peace and greenery of the reserve.