We've been seed bombed!

Last week, Hackney Wick and Fish Island's very own cultural archive, The Wick Curiosity Shop popped up on Felstead Street. As well as a place to collect and share The Wick's fascinating stories, it was also the launching point for a series of walks around the area. And one of them, The Sunflower Avenue Walk, took in our very own Mabley Meadow.

The walkers were loaded up with seed bombs made in a special press, and filled with red sunflower seeds. AND, the group saved the last one to put at the base of the sign on the meadow. So keep your eyes peeled for some spectacular blooms in a few months.

A new wing for Beetle Mansions

Despite the cold and rain, a valiant group of Stag Beetle lovers turned up over the weekend to add a huge extension to the beetles' home in the meadow.

Stag Beetles start life underground as a larvae, and munch their way through rotting logs for seven years or so before emerging as an adult beetle. So when you make a loggery, the first step is to dig a hole...

Then tip your logs in and fill in the gaps with soil...

Then stand back and feel smug and accomplished for a while...

Then go get a cup of tea.

Thanks again to Skanska and the London 2012 Biodiversity Team for the logs. And an extra-special thanks to Helen, Stuart, Gareth, Suzanna and Russell for the mammoth digging effort!

Our first flowers of the year!

This just in: our crocuses are flowering! These beautiful purple blooms opened up over the weekend, and there are new shoots coming up all over the meadow too. Watch this space for more pics soon...

Beetle habitat building - Saturday 19th February

Thanks to Richard Hirst and his team from Skanska (who've been working on the Olympic Park), we now have a fresh pile of logs on the meadow. So on Saturday 19th February, we'll be using them to add a new wing onto the Stag Beetle mansion we built last autumn.

If you'd like to give these rare beetles a bigger and better home, come to the meadow from 11am - 2.30pm and get digging! Tools and gloves will be provided, and it'd be a good idea to wear sturdy shoes.

In the meantime, here's a pic of industrious log-stackers Chloe and Danny who helped get the pile ready for the big event on the 19th.

Spring is springing!

It's been a long and cold winter this year. But while we were all rugged up inside, eating roasts and drinking hot toddies, the bulbs we planted in autumn were quietly getting ready for their first spring in Mabley Green.

And with the weather warming up, some of them have started sending up new shoots, and adding a little green to the meadow. Which is a welcome sight for our winter-weary eyes. Better still, pretty soon those green shoots will will turn into bright yellows, vivid purples and deep blues as our bulbs burst into flower. Bring on March!

Some sad news from our sponsor

One of the unsung heroes of 2010's wildflower explosion was our sponsor, EFG (the company across the road from the meadow). Despite 2010 being a hard year for almost every UK business, Michale Spinks at EFG kindly donated the budget we needed to get the meadow going.

But sadly, although EFG would have liked to sponsor the meadow again this year, they've had to pull out. So I'd like to bid a fond farewell to them, and say a big THANK YOU to Michael Spinks and the folks at EFG. We couldn't have done it without you!

There's good news too though - the bulbs we planted last autumn are all naturalising species. So they should start multiplying on their own, without us having to buy more. And many of the annual plants will have self-seeded already. So we won't need quite as much seed as before.

That all means that right now, not having a sponsor isn't really a problem. But to keep doing good stuff, we'll need some ongoing support in the future. So if you know any other local businesses with an philanthropic itch to scratch, send them our way!

Mabley Meadow Spring Guide

Thanks to the mammoth effort of our bulb planters in Autumn, it shouldn't be too long before we start seeing some spring shoots. So here's what to look out for, and when:

Crocus
Flowers: February - March

There are loads of different types of Crocuses, they grow quite low to the ground so you might not spot them until the flower. The ones we planted will bloom in early spring - so they'll be the perfect meal for hungry bees waking up after winter.



Daffodil (Narcissus)
Flowers: March-May

When the crocuses finish flowers, it'll be time for the daffodils to take over. We planted a few different varieties in the meadow - so who knows what will come up. There'll be plenty growing next to the path, and quite a few more deeper in the meadow too.



Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa)
Flowers: March-April

This plant loves cold weather, and when it grows on mountainsides, its bright green shoots peep straight out of the snow at the very start of spring. Which is where the name comes from. Then as the snow melts, it produces bright blue flowers to let you know winter is officially over.


Native Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
Flowers: April-June

When the conditions are right, bluebells will gradually spread all over a forest floor - carpeting it in blue flowers. We only planted a few as a test, but if they like it in our meadow, one day, we might have our very own bluebell wood in Hackney!



Snakeshead Lily (Fritillaria Meleagris)
Flowers: May-June

These flowers look a bit like a lantern covered in pink and purple checkers. They don't grow very tall though, so you might have to look hard among the grass to see one.




Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum)
Flowers: May-June

The leaves of this plant look a bit like grass. But it blooms, it's spectacular - growing a long cluster of white, star-shaped flowers.



If you see any of our new bulbs in bloom, take a pic and send it to mableymeadow@gmail.com so we can put it on the blog and share it with everyone!