Archive for the 'Environmental' Category

March
23rd 2010
Management plan and wildlife sightings

Posted under Environmental & Flora & Fauna & Management & Infrastructure

Snow at the orchard

It’s been a cold winter at the orchard. We’re all enjoying the milder spring weather though, and soon the orchard will burst back into life.

There have been a couple of changes to the website, firstly, there is a new section called “In the Orchard” which as well as the Orchard guide, which lists our trees, now includes the comprehensive Orchard Management Plan, provided by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. It’s a very comprehensive document, based on two very thorough site visits from the Trust - it makes fascinating reading, and will be a useful reference for the coming years.

Also, we would like to encourage you to get involved on this page, by recording any wildlife sightings in the comments at the bottom of the page. If anyone sends pictures, we will try and make a photo gallery on this page too.

And don’t forget to keep looking at our Gallery, especially Pat Stanway’s photograph albums, which are frequently updated.

No Comments »

September
8th 2009
Orchard Management Plan

Posted under Documents & Environmental & Flora & Fauna & Management & Infrastructure

Ladybird on Discovery Apple Tree

Thanks to the Derbyshire Wildlife trust, we now have the New Mills Community Orchard Management Plan 2010 – 2015 (large PDF)for maintaining the diversity of the wildlife in the orchard, while hoping to keep the orchard as productive and pleasant for visitors as possible. It contains a wealth of information regarding the biodiversity of the site, and gives practical pointers for the future.

No Comments »

January
22nd 2008
Traditional Orchards Project

Posted under Environmental & Fruit & Orchards


The People’s Trust for Endangered Species has a project that aims to support Orchard groups, with the intention of increasing biodiversity in the countryside. More info here.

No Comments »

October
20th 2007
Botanical Survey

Posted under Documents & Environmental & Flora & Fauna & Management & Infrastructure

Back in July, local botanist John Hawksford kindly agreed to perform a botanical survey on the orchard site. Here is his report: Botanical Survey (900kb PDF file)

In summary, it seems that the planting so far hasn’t damaged the flora, and there are some interesting rare examples among the 63 different species on the site.

Following are some examples to look out for:

Meadow Vetchling Field Forget-me-not Oxeye daisy Yellow-rattle

Many thanks to John for his time on this - I’m sure it will be a valuable educational resource for us in the future.

No Comments »