Wellesbourne Community Gardening

27/12/2025

💛One for the garden to brighten up Spring 💛

Jasminum nudiflorum 'winter jasmine' brightens up gardens during the colder months. Here's everything you need to know about it:

💛 Unlike most jasmines, it’s unscented and flowers in the depths of winter (December–March)

💛 Nudiflorum means 'naked flower' in Latin, referring to its flowers appearing on bare stems before leaves emerge

💛 It grows in well-drained soil in a sheltered position in sun or partial shade and is best pruned after flowering to encourage new shoots for next year’s blooms

💛 It's a deciduous shrub with long, arching green stems that can be trained as a climber or left as a sprawling groundcover. It also provides early nectar for winter-active insects

💛 It was introduced to Europe in 1844 by Robert Fortune, a Scottish plant hunter and botanist who collected specimens in China

Find out more about growing Jasminum nudiflorum 'winter jasmine': https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/9452/jasminum-nudiflorum/details

25/10/2025

Did you know, fallen leaves are essential for wildlife. 🍂 They shelter insects, frogs, and hedgehogs through winter.

Let’s keep the leaves litter-free to protect these crucial ecosystems. 💚

25/10/2025

Take a walk…
See how many you can spot!
Share your pictures with us Wellesbourne Community Gardening
Leave it untouched for someone else to spot.
🥰

Take nothing but pictures and memories, leave nothing but footprints and calm 💚

25/10/2025

October Foraging! For those interested in learning more about nuts and fruits…

And with this year being a ‘Mast’ year! Which happens every few years where some species of trees and shrubs produce a bumper crop of their fruits or nuts..The collective term for these fruits and nuts is 'mast'…means that there is enough for the squirrels and humans this year! 😅

15/05/2025

Love a clematis? Read on….

19/04/2025

💛 people of Wellesbourne if you see a blackbird in your garden? Help BTO British Trust for Ornithology by registering the sighting online via the link below 👍🏻

Share in the comments below ways you are already helping your encourage birds into your garden to inspire others ways people can help.

Supporting Wellesbourne Wildlife

⚠️ Blackbirds are in trouble & we need your help! Threatened by the Usutu virus, we need you to submit your garden Blackbird sightings so scientists can better understand the virus’ spread & potential impacts on these songbirds. Sign up ➡️ www.bto.org/blackbirds

So what’s happening to our Blackbirds? 🤔
A decline in Blackbirds was noticed in gardens, especially in the Greater London area since 2020. This population fall was linked to the recent appearance of the mosquito-borne Usutu virus in England.

How can a survey help? 📝
Launched in 2024, this pioneering survey aims to map the rate of decline in Blackbirds. Results so far show Blackbirds are struggling most in London, but faring better in northern England, Scotland and Wales.

We need more records this year, especially from in and around towns and cities, to help BTO scientists better understand the spread of Usutu virus and what the potential impacts might be on the UK’s Blackbirds.

Have a garden? Sign up to help on our website ➡️ www.bto.org/blackbirds Thank you!

This BTO survey is part of a wider partnership project involving the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The project, Vector-Borne RADAR, is funded by UK Research and Innovation and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to understand the emergence and transmission of mosquito-borne viruses of wild birds in the UK.

22/03/2025

20/03/2025

Love hedgehogs? 🦔

Hedgehog monitors needed! 🦔

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has joined the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme to help understand where and why hedgehogs are struggling. The project will use large-scale surveying to monitor hedgehogs in the local area, in parks, gardens and the countryside.

To support this project we are recruiting volunteers to help with setting and retrieving camera traps, administrating surveys and identifying mammals recorded by the cameras.

The roles only require a few hours of your time per week and would be an excellent way to gain new skills whilst helping hedgehogs.

Find out more and get in touch at https://ow.ly/eAk750VkSji

20/03/2025

The latest wildlife news from ...
If you'd like more wildlife inspiration sign up to their monthly Wild About Gardens newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/510C4DB7EEF995F4

The latest wildlife news from ...

🪰 Join us this year in championing the humble hoverfly and learn how we can help them in our gardens: https://www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk/

🐦 Take part in BTO British Trust for Ornithology's Garden Birdwatch: https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw

📚 Learn how to apply nature-based landscaping design principles to achieve real wins for nature and people in this course run by the RHS and the Bat Conservation Trust: https://www.bats.org.uk/events/landscaping-for-nature-and-people

🐝 Dandelions are one of the target flowers used by the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, attractive to bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies and pollen beetles. Spot them from March through to October: https://ukpoms.org.uk/delightful-dandelions

🦔 Sign up to a 3km walk this spring (31 March – 13 April) to fundraise for hedgehogs and other wildlife: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/hedgehog-walk

🦇 Spend an hour round sunset April – October to survey for bats from the comfort of your own garden: https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-monitoring-programme/getting-started/sunset-survey

If you'd like more wildlife inspiration like this, sign up to our monthly Wild About Gardens newsletter: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/510C4DB7EEF995F4

16/03/2025

Shinrin-yoku, the Japanese practise of forest bathing, benefits both the body and soul. With spring on the way it might be the perfect time to discover the benefits for yourself. 🌼

Listen to our new podcast to find out how forest bathing and other mindful activities could help you reduce stress and be more present.

🎧 https://ow.ly/YWk250VgiKZ