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www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk
June 2018
t: 01454 300 400
News
Bradley Stoke in Bloom: Ducklings & carrots!
Credit: Chloe Messenger
By Sara Messenger of Bradley Stoke in Bloom (BSiB)
The Common (East) – We are parents!
We were delighted to receive a message that we had ducklings on The Common (East) pond! We had, for a while, seen Millicent on the pond, but Maurice was nowhere to be seen. Then, to our relief, he finally appeared, oblivious to all our concerns, of course. We did what we could to encourage them to stay, but they seemed to disappear again, so we thought they had moved on – but now we know they were just nesting somewhere out of sight. Millicent managed to hatch ten ducklings and proudly revealed them to quite a large adoring crowd. While they were being given a hearty meal of porridge oats and grain by the primary school children, one young lad
busily made them their own duckling-sized nest which I’m sure they appreciated. They are incredibly cute, whizzing around like small clockwork toys and taking tiny leaps to catch the lowflying insects. Please can we ask if you come to see them you bring some healthy food with you? Porridge oats, grain, unfrozen peas and shredded vegetable peelings should ensure that they grow up healthy and strong and that the water remains clear. Bread has very little nutritional value and pollutes the water, and mouldy bread can give the birds a fatal lung disease. Thank you to Adrienne Wheeler who designed a poster for the Three Brooks lake, which we’ve borrowed again for the pond.
Ducklings rest in grass beside the pond at The Common (East), Bradley Stoke
Apologies to whoever left the half dozen alcohol security tags on the island, we’ve returned them to the store and the bottles of wine went in the bin. (Although it was done with a very heavy heart as it was a wine I’m rather partial to.) You may notice in the ‘insect hotels’ bowls of water with marbles in. Please don’t take them! These are bee or insect waterers – the marbles give the insects a safe place to land so they can drink without drowning. They are a huge help to our struggling wildlife and are very easy for your children to make, so we’re hoping every garden in Bradley Stoke will soon boast its own bee waterer.
Rabbit Roundabout
You know you’re a proper Bradley Stoke resident when you refer to the Great Stoke Roundabout on the Winterbourne Road as ‘Rabbit Roundabout’, and are able to reminisce about the times when it rather resembled the Teletubbies’ garden! (Although our bunnies were normal sized not the Flemish giants they have.) Sadly there are no more bunnies, and although there were many theories as to where they went, I think their disappearance had much to do with the vixen and her three cubs who also took up residence in the roundabout undergrowth. We had hoped to clear the bramble that untidily sprawls across the corner and
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