Park Life Continues in Lockdown
In these dull days it would be easy to imagine that little was happening in Hedgemead Park. But nothing would be further from the truth; in fact, there is much good news to report.
The Friends’ bulb planting efforts in October/November 2020 are starting to pay off. The beds behind the bandstand are full of little plants pushing through, including Snowdrops and Wood Anemone. And look out for drifts of Daffodils and Crocuses throughout the park, courtesy of bulb-planters in previous years. Spring is surely on the way!
Two more new benches have been installed adjacent to the bandstand, replacing the rather ugly utilitarian ones that were there before. So, we now have two matching benches on either side. This is very pleasing, particularly as these four are the most commonly used in the park. Many thanks to the Council’s Parks Dept for finding the budget for this.
The beautiful Victorian railings in The Paragon, horribly damaged over a year ago by a falling tree, have finally been reinstated. A month ago, the broken stone footings were replaced and this week, after several days’ work, the final section of the highly ornate railings was put back. We are told that around 90% of the original wrought ironwork was reused, which is great news given its sorry state a year ago. Once the plastic barriers have been taken away it’ll look perfect again.
Finally, the Children’s Playground has been spruced up this week. The Council’s Grounds Team were hard at work removing ivy and bindweed from the wall at the back, so it looks a lot neater now. Incidentally, it’s been great to see the playground so heavily used during the current lockdown. It just shows the value of such important community assets.
Thought I saw a pair of sparrow hawks bustling around in the tall trees at the eastern end of the park.
Hi John, yes a family of four Sparrowhawks have set up home in Hedgemead Park, two adults and two juveniles (which hatched this Spring). This happens most years. They’ve been very active in the tree canopy over the last three months practicing their hunting skills and excitedly call to each other, especially when one has brought back a meal. Sadly they mostly feed on song birds and I’ve often seen them in our back garden in ambush mode. Still, it must mean the song bird population is pretty healthy, otherwise they wouldn’t come back each year!