Two Mile Ash Environmental Group

Bluebell Circuit Launch – 23rd April 2022

Setting a suitable date for a launch for the Bluebell Circuit has inevitably been quite a gamble. It made obvious sense that this should coincide with Bluebell time and the emergence of those splashes of blue so characteristic of certain British woodlands. But there is no certainty about when precisely this will happen. So, it was with a sigh of relief that we realised that we had probably got that date right. A comprehensive watering of the woodland floor enabled by a generous local member provided the final tuning needed to bring on the flowering that has so delighted us all.

A focal point for the Launch on the Milesmere/Thorncliffe Green – the gazebo shown above, loaned to TMAEG by MK Parks Trust – provided the base for the catering, pastries from our sponsor Brioche Pasquier, served with coffee and tea.

Our ‘master of ceremonies’ Stan Cohen introducing the Launch and presentations from the Deputy Mayor of Milton Keynes, Cllr Amanda Barlow and Frank Gill, Operations Manager of MK Parks Trust.

TMAEG Secretary Chris Gossop providing thanks to our partner and supporting organisations, also our volunteer teams. He then introduced the walk and specific features to look out for.

Upwards of sixty people attended the Saturday afternoon Launch, local residents and members of supporting organisations. After the presentations, participants began their walk along the Circuit, led by the Deputy Mayor and TMAEG’s Stan Cohen.

Emerging from the first of the two woodland paths on the Circuit, participants walk towards the green ride which runs along the western edge of Two Mile Ash.

Following this ecological corridor that connects two woodlands, we reach the new footbridge.

The Deputy Mayor cuts the tape and pronounces the Bluebell Circuit officially open.

Our many participants can now cross the bridge to enter the Bluebell Wood.

The paths are lined with newly planted trees protected by a new plastic free type of tree shelter.

The swathes of English bluebells can be viewed from many different places along the curving all-weather path.

Interspersed among the bluebells are sizeable areas of wild garlic providing a stunning combination of blue and white.  Shown above and below.

Please publish your photos of the bluebells on Facebook.

A Celebration for Two Mile Ash on the
Afternoon of Saturday 23rd April

The Two Mile Ash Bluebell Circuit is now fully open and its use is steadily increasing. Its centre-piece is that 11m footbridge but this 750m recreational way offers far more.

Working with our partner, Milton Keynes Parks Trust, TMAEG volunteers have been enhancing the Circuit, through the insertion of new sections of all-weather path, the upgrading of older paths, and tree and wildflower planting. You can download a map and read more about this project in a new section of the TMAEG website www.tmaeg.org/bluebell-circuit/

Preparing the way for a new wildflower bed on the eastern bank of the stream. The area has since been seeded with a 22 species mix appropriate to this part-shaded spot.

Five months on from the completion of the footbridge, we are now approaching Bluebell Time and the time is right to celebrate this new public amenity.

View of Circuit from the Bluebell Wood, towards the bridge and the Green Ride beyond. Also shown are some of the 65 new trees planted along the path.

Our Celebration on Saturday 23rd April will provide an opportunity for attendees to recognise fully the contributions made by our partners and our volunteers to this project, to view the bluebells at their best and to enjoy light refreshments and a get together.

Our chief guest will be the Deputy Mayor of Milton Keynes,
Cllr Amanda Marlow; she will provide an initial address and preside over the opening tape cutting ceremony.

The provisional timetable for the Celebration is as follows:

Gather at Milesmere Green – 2.15pm
Presentations begin – 2.30pm
Tour of Circuit and Opening Ceremony – from 2.45pm
Social, with light refreshments – from 3.15pm

Call for Volunteers – We are going to need more helpers, particularly
for the serving of the light refreshments.
If interested, please call Chris
[email protected] or 01908 561365

All are welcome but it would be appreciated if those interested in coming could register this with our Secretary Chris Gossop, either by email [email protected] or phone 01908 561365 so we can have some idea of likely numbers.

Please come by foot if you can as parking nearby is quite limited.

Another Eventful Morning for TMAEG.

Just six weeks ago the TMAEG Team dug over an area next to the new footbridge for later sowing with wildflower seeds. We removed a mass of ivy roots, brambles and other weeds – a painstaking task!

This latest Saturday, we returned to the site, gave it a final raking over and then sowed those seeds at a density of 3 grams per square metre – again much patience needed!
We don’t expect instant results, nature takes its time. But hopefully, some of those varieties will be in flower by this summer and the rest by their second season.

Last week we experienced a mini heat wave. Very nice for us human beings but less good for those seeds and also for the young trees we planted a little earlier. So we made sure that everything was well watered, the two sources being a very kind TMAEG member from his own tap and then the stream M169 that borders the Bluebell Wood. With this ‘Chain Gang,’ we soon got that job finished!

In February and March TMAEG volunteers enjoyed several busy mornings in our local bluebell wood completing and enhancing the new Bluebell Circuit.

Linking the paths,  two images below – Here our team is laying heavy tree stems to connect the two first sections of raised pathway, prior to the spreading of wood chips between them. The result is a continuous raised path between the entrance to the Circuit off the High Street and our new 11m footbridge.

Our next task (shown below) was some carefully planned underplanting within the bluebell wood that had recently been thinned as part of the Parks Trust’s cyclical woodland management programme.  This project enabled TMAEG to plant 65 new trees and shrubs to provide lower and medium height cover under the high canopies of the existing Norway Maples and other mature trees.

In this first phase we concentrated on planting alongside the new route to accentuate the winding line of this new woodland path.

The path passes between groups of newly planted hazels, wayfaring trees and other species (see below). It also aligns with the swathes of the soon to flower English Bluebells.

A necessary, associated task (shown above) for TMAEG was to remove the storm debris of the past winter, to enable the bluebells to be seen in their fully glory.

One of ten Yews (Taxus baccata),  shown above. These have been scattered around the woodland to add to local variety and provide winter colour. Commonly seen in English churchyards, this is one of the world’s longest-living trees.

Most of the new trees were provided for us by the Parks Trust. They included ten Wild Service trees Sorbus torminalis. Together with the other trees planted by TMAEG, this relative of the rowan will add variety to the bluebell wood, transforming this former limited species plantation into an ecologically rich, multi-species woodland.

Another Sorbus tree in place! For most of our trees, we have been using a new type of tree shelter (in place of the former plastic tubes). These are of sturdy bio-degradable materials and should protect our trees and shrubs through their early years.

A near sunset view of the new footbridge and of the Green Ride beyond.

Whenever TMAEG volunteers do an environmental project we remove and dispose of any litter. We reckon that a cleaner environment reduces the dumping of litter. But litterbugs are still around as we’ve seen at the start of 2022.

Our Ash Brook, the stream which runs through the Local Park was hit by thoughtless individuals who dumped the remains of their ready meals into this pretty, green corridor.
Here (above) is the mess as seen from the High Street.

TMAEG volunteers descended to the stream bed (shown above), helped by that blue rope and retrieved the rubbish.

Here (below) is some of it displayed on the Redway prior to despatch to the Recycling Park.

TMAEG volunteers also do litter pick-only sessions. Here, our team has just completed a morning’s work at the Clay Hill end of the Local Park.

Six Bags of Rubbish to be passed on to Milton Keynes Council. Two years back the yield would have been twice this. Progress by the two Councils and TMAEG – but still some way to go!

Want to help TMAEG?  You can help in many ways,  not just by volunteering.  Become a member for just £5 a year.  Find out more here.

The image below shows the scene on Wednesday 23rd of April after Storm Franklin toppled two mature poplars within the Milesmere/Thorncliffe Wood end of the Bluebell Circuit. One crashed onto the largest of TMAEG’s spring flower glades containing recently planted English bluebells and wood anemones.

But, just when you need them…the TMAEG volunteers are on hand!

First things first,  sizing up the problem?  Then a risk assessment – it’s quite a job and we don’t want any volunteers hurt.  Looking possible and so the mangled branches are removed first but can the team also tackle the removal of that section of the trunk which lies across the glade?

Brian saws up the trunk. A new blade for the bow saw made it a much easier task.

Simon and Brian sawing the trunk into smaller and of course, liftable sections.

The glade is now cleared and the picture shows the cut end of the poplar trunk. The woven fence can now be restored. There is a good chance that many of the bluebells will have survived.

Well done TMAEG volunteers and all done within three days of the fallen trees being found.

This is an invitation to consider offering your garden for Two Mile Ash Open Gardens 2022, which will take place over the weekend 11-12^th June, 1-5 pm.

This will be the 5^th Open Gardens and will also encompass our TMAEG projects, showcasing a rejuvenated Bee Garden and Fernery. Also, our newly-opened Bluebell Circuit, which offers new walking opportunities.

The OG2022 sub-group has already been offered several full and front gardens. These lie along the Fairways/Westcliffe/ Milesmere/Stonehill/ axis. We would welcome more in these areas.

From the visitors’ point of view, clusters are more attractive than an isolated garden at the end of a long trudge. If you’re considering opening your garden some way away from others, it would be useful to find a neighbour or two nearby! Get in touch with us, in any case.

Remember, this is not a competition. There is huge variety  in Two Mile Ash and we’d welcome gardens that reflect this, quirky or immaculate.

It is amazing what people have achieved following their own particular vision – we know that two years of virtual lockdown have provided the opportunity for transforming a dull garden into a very special place. Maybe flowers have given way to fruit and vegetables? Perhaps your garden is now a magnet for wildlife?

For the visitor, this variety is the joy of Open Gardens.

Past Open Gardeners have enjoyed the event very much and have also appreciated the opportunity to run, if they choose, a small activity – teas, or a plant stall, perhaps – to raise funds for their own favourite charity. Around 100 visitors per garden can be expected.

Alternatively, if you want to help in another way, lending a hand staffing another garden, or distributing Yellow Passports, then please get in touch.

If you go to our website www.tmaeg.org and click on Open Gardens, you may find answers to any questions you may have.

Please reply to me on [email protected] or ring 01908 561365, ideally by Friday 11^th March. I look forward to hearing from you!

Pavla Gossop

Open Gardens 2022

Daffodils at Cornhill/Stonehill Junction

Among the activities affected by the cutbacks in local services has been the environmental management of our public areas. Those difficulties have been exacerbated this year by the onset of Covid 19 which has had massive implications for our public services generally. Throughout this pandemic period, the Two Mile Ash Environmental Group (TMAEG) has sought where it can to continue its activities, recognising the considerable benefits of its gardening and landscaping work to the well-being of the local community.

One of the activities that TMAEG hasn’t been able to continue with concerns indoor gatherings; that has meant that its annual Celebration and AGM, normally held each September, could not take place this year. So instead, the Group has opted for a Virtual Annual Meeting and a written Annual Report, charting how TMAEG has fared during its ninth year to October 1st 2020, the last half of which was affected by the virus. Thus, it has made use of email, the internet, and some physical deliveries to update its many members on the progress being made, as well as to seek their feedback.

This News Item concentrates on two of TMAEG’s inputs to the Virtual Annual Meeting; its core Annual Report on Sites and Events; and a commentary by TMAEG Chairman Stanley Cohen on how the work has been pursued through these adverse times.

You can access the Virtual Annual Report here:

A highlight for TMAEG this summer was a trip to one of England’s loveliest gardens, Coton Manor near Althorp in Northamptonshire. This is a very special place, really a collection of gardens and landscapes, with something for everyone. And a learning experience for TMAEG into how to do things! A selection of photos follows; mostly taken by David Barratt, our former chairman.  Thanks Dave!

The gardens were first laid out in the 1920s by the grandparents of the present owners

With its stone terraces, the 17th Century manor house provides a central focus for the gardens

Nine of us made the trip, sharing three cars.

The holly hedge border, seen from the terrace (Chris Gossop)

Another fine border, further down the slopes (Chris Gossop)

A woodland area with rhododendron at its best

The ‘water globe’ – natural lighting?

The Old Orchards with their ‘water staircase’, and . . .

lush native plants beneath the trees.

Beautiful blue perennials in a flower border.

Everywhere, colour abounds

The unexpected – two colourful residents

‘Lord of all I survey’ – representation of a stag in the wildflower meadow

View across the lake towards the manor

For more information, visit www.cotonmanor.co.uk

By the end of this TMAEG year ending with the 8th Year Celebration & AGM on September 14th, we will have run some forty events – a mix of environmental schemes, visits, walks and socials. The need to safeguard and improve our environment is increasingly seen as vital to our planet’s future and to span all levels from the local – as here in Two Mile Ash – to the global. As a local environmental group, TMAEG seeks to do its bit both for the people who live, work and visit here and for nature and biodiversity. And in terms of the human species, we like to think that we are as much social as environmental as everything we do brings us together, providing opportunities for new friendships and contributing to our feelings of well-being.

Herewith, a small selection of the things we have been doing.

Summer planting at the Park Gateway

As part of a joint scheme with Hair Culture and the Dental Practice who own the large planters, TMAEG volunteers remove the winter pansies and daffodils and replace them with red geraniums and trailing lobelias. This happened in late May and will provide summer colour for this focal point of our village centre.

Maintenance of this big pedestrian area is a year-round task.

Earlier in the season, volunteers tamed a previously overgrown pyracantha bush.

They weeded the eye-catching  Twin Gardens created by TMAEG in the spring of 2018,

and trimmed some of the Council’s shrubs which border the Twin Gardens at the entrance to the Local Park.

The result, a more attractive place for everyone.

Working with entry year children at Ashbrook School

Every year, about half way through the autumn term, TMAEG teams up with Ashbrook School to enable first year children to plant daffodil bulbs in prepared sites close to the school.

A view of the entrance to the Local Park in March 2019 – these are the newest of our Ashbrook daffodils, planted by children entering the school in the autumn of 2018.

Year by year, as the children plant more daffodils, and as the individual groups thicken out, the result becomes ever more striking.

Nature areas and spring flowers

Wood anemones in the Milesmere/Thorncliffe Woodland. These were planted some years back by TMAEG in a newly created glade and they are now coming into their own.

Native primroses have been planted in a second glade providing a fine spring display at the point where the woodland track joins the green ride running along the western edge of TMA.

A related species, the cowslip, can also be found here . . .

. . . as can the pretty flower, stitchwort.

Visits, Talks and Walks

The Year Eight Programme included two local walks led by Stan, three visits and our second Winter Social. The Local Heritage Walk in December reminded us that while Two Mile Ash is barely 40 years old, quite close by we have the remains of a Roman villa, a medieval priory and Georgian architecture. This walk was followed in the spring by another very enjoyable one covering the historic village of Loughton and the Teardrop Lakes.

The Loughton Walking Group

The Winter Social at Holy Cross Church was attended by an audience of 25 members; our speakers were Kevin Slaymaker on local wildlife – and Chris Monk (TMAEG’s web master) on ‘IT Society and Local Memories’. A very thoughtful evening, giving rise to plenty of questions and discussion, and with refreshments provided by Lin and her team.

The Social was part of a cluster of TMAEG events held in February – see TMAEG’s flyers for the visits to the Waste Recovery Park (WRP) and the Linford Lakes Nature Reserve below. NB TMAEG’s summer visit to the Coton Manor Garden is the subject of a separate news item.

The Winter Social – plenty of ideas and interest

Bee Garden & Fernery

A walk the length of the Ashbrook Corridor – from Stonehill to Downland,  shows much variety: a seasonal pond, a stream-side area planted with primroses and native bulbs, historic hedgerow reflecting an ancient boundary, stretches with TMAEG trees ‘notched’ into earlier planting and much more. The bee garden & fernery started some 3 years ago is another ‘bead on the string’ along this important landscape feature of TMA.

This area has three main components: the bee garden with its sequence of bee attracting plants; the ferns area with its complementary planting of foxgloves and; the native plants alongside the stream including hemp agrimony and water mint. The footbridge linking Haithwaite with the main path between Stonehill and the High Street provides a fine viewpoint, with the stub of the footpath leading to the line of the former bridge another one.

The bee garden at the end of May 2019

A succession of food flowers for the bees – from the garlic mustard of February (the bare spikey stems of which remain in this May view)

to the red campion of March through to June and the Oxeye daisy of May to September

to the phacelia of May to July

The fernery bounded by its circle of coppiced hazels and foxgloves.