News and Events

October brings cooler weather conditions, welcome rainfall to replenish our water butts and those lovely misty mornings, all signalling that it is now the time to start tidying up and preparing for winter, whilst still enjoying the harvest and the golden Autumn sunshine.

Harvesting

If you have apple or pear trees, now is the time to pick the fruit.

Protecting from early frosts

Move any tender plants, including houseplants, into a conservatory or greenhouse and check to see if your greenhouse heater is working properly.

Outdoor pots and containers

Remove any drip trays from under planted up containers and raise terracotta patio pots with bricks or special pot feet so they don’t sit in water over winter and crack when it freezes.

This is also the time to stop all feeding, as your container plants are slowing down for the winter.

Lawns

Mow when you can, but is you wish to remove any moss in your lawn, treat with a  combination moss killer and fertiliser then scarify to remove the dead moss. If your lawn is in good condition it will still benefit from a granular or liquid Autumn feed which will “green it up” and sustain the grass through the winter months.

Perennials – splitting and moving

While you can still identify the various clumps of perennials in your flowerbeds, dig up and divide any which may be getting too big and transplant any which you think are in the wrong place. Transplanting at this time of year gives them a chance to settle in over the Winter and gives them a strong start for next year.

Planting bulbs, trees and shrubs

Continue planting your spring bulbs, but delay planting your tulip bulbs until November. This is a good time to plant shrubs and trees but avoid very wet or frosty days.

Tidying up

Continue collecting leaves as they fall, putting them in a separate compost bin or in black bin liners to rot down into leaf mulch to be used nest Autumn to condition your soil.

Enjoy it!

If you can, take time out to enjoy the lovely peaceful misty mornings and Autumnal views of your garden in the low October sunlight.

The Yelverton village sign has been returned, completely rebuilt by the gentlemen at the Poringland Men’s Shed.

Though initially it was planned to have the original sign refurbished when taken down but on closer inspection, it was found to have too much rotten wood for this to be feasible.

Special thanks

A team at the Men’s Shed agreed to undertake the project and we, the Parish Council would like to pay special thanks to the following members for all their hard work.  

Tim Mayhew for the wood carving and John Mallot who completed most of the painting with the help of Henry Gowman. 

Jeff Hall assisted with the heavy work of collecting, returning and erecting the sign and David Aldis (of Aldis Farm) used his fork lift tractor to take the sign down and put it up again.

The wedges currently in place are temporary and will be replaced by smaller ones, painted black which will be scarcely noticeable.

The plaque giving the history of the sign is now ready and will be fixed to the stone base shortly.

The sign will be reviewed annually and maintained as needed, it has been built to withstand the elements!! 

From the positive feedback received from local residents all are glad to have it back and looking so good as it is an important part of Yelverton village

Many thanks again to Henry Gowman and the Poringland Men’s Shed team

If you’re curious how quickly cars drive through the village, we have a report for August generated from the speed camera which was on Framingham Earl Road near the pond.

As a summary, the majority of vehicles were under the limit, but over 10% of vehicles were going over 30mph, and there were a couple over 55mph.

For more detail see the pdf report below.

This and future reports will be added to our parish council’s page.

Are you interested in improving your local environment?

We are looking to put together a group of volunteers to tackle various environmental projects in Alpington and Yelverton over the coming months.

The first project is tidying up the margins of Yelverton Pond now that the digging out of the mud and reeds and rushes that were choking the Pond has been completed and the Pond is dry. 

We would like to complete this work over the next few weeks before the weather becomes wet, so if you could spare a few hours to help please contact us.  It would also be useful if you could bring your own equipment such as gardening gloves, loppers, pruning saws, hedge trimmers or strimmers.

We would aim to work in small groups to ensure an adequate distance is kept.

We also have a project to undertake at the “Millennium Wood” in the Garrick Field in November, coppicing some hazel trees and cutting down dead trees.  Again we would like to bring together a group of volunteers to tackle this project.

If you would like to get involved please contact Sue on 491185 or Louise on 492599.

On behalf of Alpington with Yelverton Parish Council

As Autumn approaches, September can be a time of relative peace for gardeners. The pace slows slightly from the sense of urgency which dominated the Spring and Summer months. There is actually a little bit less to do this month as we enjoy the last of the Summer days in the garden.

Seed collecting

If you wish to, collect seeds from summer-flowering plants, storing them in labelled paper envelopes or small paper bags. 

Water features

If you have a water feature or pond, cover it with netting to prevent leaves collecting and clogging the water in Autumn. 

Lawns

Mow when the grass is dry enough and apply a general lawn feed which will green up your grass if needed. If you have dead patches or thatch in your lawn this can be scarified or raked out and you can spike the lawn with a garden fork to let more air to the roots of the grass. Regular mowing will also help collect the early Autumnal leaf fall.

Harvesting

Continue to enjoy the rewards of your hard work, pick your vegetables and late-fruiting raspberries and blackberries. Dig up any remaining potatoes, otherwise they will be destroyed by slugs. 

Bulb Planting

While the soil is damp and warm, now is the time to plant up your spring bulbs (except tulips, which should be planted in November). 

Roses

Continue to dead-head as flowers fade and tie in new shoots on climbers.

Tidying up

Fallen leaves are an important organic resource, so try not to put them all in your brown bin. You can put them in black bin bags or create a separate pile next to the compost heap to make leaf mould ready which is perfect for soil conditioning next October. 

The Village Pond Restoration Project was kicked off in October 2017 when long-standing resident of Yelverton, the late Ted Cullum, applied for a grant from the Community Benefit Fund.

Ted was concerned that within a few years, if no action was taken, the Village Pond would become nothing more than “a soggy depression, devoid of water and covered in reeds, rushes, saplings and scrub”. Ted illustrated his application with watercolour sketches he had made of the Pond showing how it used to appear.

The Parish Council agreed that the Pond was an important amenity for the Villages, and took on the restoration project.

The intent is to restore the Pond to health and beauty by cutting back trees and scrub that have become overgrown, thus increasing light to the pond surface and cutting down on leaf litter accumulating below the surface.

In addition the bulk of the reeds and rushes will be removed, and the sludgy mud that has built up dug out to the original Pond bottom.

Following advice from the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Project was broken down into stages, dealing with the two halves of the pond in consecutive years during Autumn and Winter to reduce the impact on wildlife.

• Stage 1 October 2018 – the trees forming the field hedge line on the half of the Pond bordering Slade Lane were cut back to hedge height, saplings and reeds encroaching the banks were cleared, the willow tree pollarded and the ash tree removed as it was diseased. In addition, volunteers repainted the bollards and rails on the road edge.
• Stage 2 October 2019 – the trees bordering the other half of the Pond were cut back to just below hedge height. Dead and diseased trees were also removed. Some of the cut wood was placed on the banks to provide refuges for bugs.
• Stage 3 – the digging out of the sludge from the Pond is scheduled for September 2020. In addition the overgrown bull rushes will be removed. The Parish Council have a contractor appointed to carry out this work and the owners of Hill House have kindly agreed to allow this mud to be spread on the neighbouring field.
• Stage 4 – tidying up and stabilising the banks. Options to improve accessibility for visitors and sanctuary areas for the wildfowl are being considered.

Going forward we will regularly review the condition of the pond so that it does not get too overgrown with bull rushes and other vegetation in the future.

Would you like to help?

We’d like a team to plan, develop and look after the planting biodiversity around the pond, as we would like it to become a natural and attractive asset for the community to enjoy. If you are interested in volunteering please let a member of the Parish Council know. Contact us through the website, or email clerk.alpington@gmail.com

Got any good trips planned next month? Some of our birds have!

Swallows

By the end of September most of the swallows in Alpington and Yelverton will have begun their huge migration, all the way to the far south of Africa. So there’s only a few weeks left to see them in the village, before we lose them again for another year.

We’ve noticed them often on the telegraph wires and flying around above Cherrywood, but they also zip around above the church’s trees, and you might see a few above your head as you walk near the pond, as we think a few nested in the barn down dranes lane.

Typically they’ll start flocking together at this time of year in larger groups, perched on telegraph wires and branches before taking off together on their epic voyage.

They’re fast and powerful in flight, quite “flappy” as they’re flying, quick wing beats, and they change direction a lot, catching their food in mid air, hoovering up insects like mosquitos for example.

They’ve got long thin tail streamers trailing behind them, and a red chin that you’ll spot if they’re close enough.

They can drink in flight as well, quenching their thirst by skimming over the water and opening their beak. Not sure where they do this in our village though, I’ve not seen the technique in action over the pond or anywhere else. Have you?

House martins

Have you noticed the house martins flying around the village as well?

They’ve been nesting up under the eaves of a few lucky houses! We noticed one nest on the side of a house on church road this year for example. We’ve noticed them often in the skies around church meadow, and church road towards the school.

To me, compared to the swallows, they seem less “flappy” when they’re flying, but still fluttery with quick wing beats. They’re a bit more steady, more prone than a swallow to glide on straight wings for short periods, and they’ve got a shorter forked tail with no streamers.

If they turn their back to you in flight, you may notice they’ve got a distinctive white patch on their bum. And in contrast to the swallows’ red throat they have white instead.

Nesting

You can see from the pictures above, if you see a nest on the side of a house, it’ll likely be a house martin’s, a quarter-sphere shape with a closed top. Apparently swallows don’t nest in eaves, and their nests have an open top instead.

You may have a nest on your property, and depending on your point of view you’ll think that’s lucky or unlucky! Did you know that these birds like to reuse nests that they’ve built? They’ll often find the same nest they built in our village after returning all the way from Africa. And empty nests get reused by different birds. It makes sense, it takes an awful lot of energy to construct one, about a 1000 trips back and forth carrying material.

I guess if I spent each winter abroad and then had to rebuild my house each time I came back home, I’d also try to find the house I built last year!

Aug/Sep edition of Eleven Says, the Newspaper of the Bramerton Group of Churches covering 11 Parishes.