A pile of rubbish?

No its a des res fit for insects and hedgehogs. Today, Mothering Sunday, was also a voluntary work day for Friends of Hailey Park.

We've been tidying up the entrance that leads on to the meadow - apart from the bottles and cans that people have thrown in from the road there was lots of dead wood around.

So the rubbish has been picked up and the dead wood has been turned into a couple of habitat piles. Eventually the area will also be planted with bulbs to add a splash of colour, but that will have to wait till next year.

Reptiles anyone

Yes we have reptiles in and around the meadow - no doubt taking advantage of better habitats in some areas. However, as with most things on the meadow its up to us to find out who's living where. Cardiff Council's ecology team have come up with a lovely idea of training local people or those who also spend time on Hailey Park to learn how to survey them - the training session is on Sunday 29 March from 10am (meet-up place to be confirmed). We have a few places left if anyone wants to go on the training and help us in our mission to survey the reptile population here. Any takes please contact fohp@hotmail.co.uk

Its becoming quite apparent that there is at least one young family of foxes in and around the meadow at the moment. I haven't worked out how many cubs they have yet but they most certainly are making thier prescence known - in the early hours of the morning when the air is still you can hear the wonderful sounds of cubs playing for all its worth.
The other day I also found what I look like kestrel feathers, so many that I think they may also have lost their life along with them - kestrels do frequent the meadow area as do sparrowhawks and the odd buzzard.