North Kelvin Meadow

Role: 

We require an expereinced Beekeeper to manage up to 3 honey bee hives but who is also community minded and child friendly. 

Where: 

In the Beedookit which is on the North Kelvin Meadow and The Children Wood at Kelbourne street, West End Glasgow. The Beedookit is the metal and wood structure which the hives are located in. The structure has a see through perspex roof on it so the beekeeper can do their work in the dry. There is also room to store beekeeping material within the structure. 

Organisation: 

The Children Wood (TCW) is a registered charity and has a 25 year lease to this land. The Beedookit, the hives, bees and equipment are the property of TCW. 

Role details:  

1. A traditional beekeeper role, where one mange’s the bees, the hives and produce jars of honey each year. 
2. A community minded role, where they help the community understand bees and nature in general. This would result in for example being part of some community events each year. For clarity in numbers its best to state we’d expect 4 events per year that the beekeeper should be involved in. We also have people interested in learning more about bees and helping the beekeeper out occasionally in manging the hives.  
3. The person should be child friendly and beable to help children learn about bees in a safe and fun manner. This may involve occasionally having children at the hives with bee suits on, watching and maybe helping the beekeeper. 

Duration: 

The role is per calendar year in duration. With the option of renewing the role for the following year and so on, should both the Beekeeper and TCW agree to that.  

Remuneration: Nil as this is a volunteering role, but you’ll get that feel good feeling of helping this community and especially the children connect, learn and benefit from the bees and the natural World. You also get the benefit and satisfaction of managing up to 3 hives. 75% of the honey goes to the beekeeper, 25% to TCW. 

A Big Thank You to our volunteers that prepared the soil under our woodland trees for the wildflower seed which has now been sowed. It was alot of work over quite some period and its actually something that very rarely gets done. Most wild flower meadow seed is sown in open sunny areas so this is a first for us and is very rare for others to do either. But we bought a special seed which will hopefully tolerate the shade. 

Don’t expect much colour next summer though , just getting some green growth will be a success – but if one doesn’t try, one never will know what’s achievable. Not that much was actually growing under these large limes as they let in so little light. These large lime trees planted in that long line along Clouston street are the only trees humans planted on the land till North Kelvin Meadow was formed in 2008 and we started planting the orchard area plus a few other trees. We have about 500 mature trees and 90% of them have come from mother nature. 

What we have done is try to rewild that area by introducing native flower seed. Hopefully we don’t get too much footfall, as too much and flowers haven’t a chance to establish themselves. That’s why these large cut branches have been positioned to “nudge” people in a different direction. 

Anyway below is a list of what we sowed and where. In total we bought and sowed 1kg of seed which cost £276.50

Pack one: Native British wildflower seed mixture for woodland. Ideal shade loving wild flowers. Seed mix contains 17 wildflowers including Wood Sage and Bluebell Seed. Flowers from May – September. 

It was sown on the raised area along Clouston street , beneath the large lime trees. Only so far as our entrance, half way along the street, so not the full way to the shed. Note this area has natural soil as it was never a sports pitch. 

https://www.meadowmania.co.uk/wild-flower-meadow/wild-flower-seed-mixes/wildflower-seed-for-shady-areas.htm

500g which cost £157.

Bluebell Seed (Hyancith non Scripta) 2.5%, 

Common Agrimony (Agrimonia Eupotar) 5.0%, 

Hedge Bedstraw (Galium Mollugo) 15.0%, 

Hedge Garlic ( Alliaria Petiolata) 10.0%, 

Hedge Woundwort (Stachys Sylvatica) 2.5%, 

Herb Bennet (Geum Urbanum) 5.0%, 

Nettle Leaved Bell Flower (Campanula Trachnium ) 1.0%, 

Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos Cuculi) 1.0%, 

Red Campion (Silene Dioica) 17.0%, 

Self Heal ( Prunella Vulgaris) 17.0%, 

Square St Johns Wort (Hypericum tetrapterum) 0.5%, 

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis Odorta) 6.0%, 

Upright Hedge Parsley (Torilis Japonica) 6.0%. 

Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis Cambria) 0.25%, 

Wild Angelica (Angelica Sylvestri) 2.0%, 

Wild Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea) 7.5%, 

Wood Sage (Teucrium Scorodonia) 1.5%

Pack Two:  Native British wildflower seed mixture for partial shade. Ideal near hedgerows too. Seed mix contains 20 wildflowers including Yellow Rattle and Yarrow. Flowers from May – September. 

It was sown in that area below the slope but not further than the large cut branches. Some of it was sown in that area near the lane fence. Note this has an artificial red blaze surface under a thin amount of soil , as it was used as a sport pitch. Poor soil though is excellent for meadow flowers as then they don’t get outcompeted by grass. In this woodland area though there is hardly any grass due to a lack of sunlight so it will be interesting to see if any of it grows – fingers crossed. 

https://www.meadowmania.co.uk/wild-flower-meadow/wild-flower-seed-mixes/wildflower-seed-for-partial-shade.htm

500g which cost £119.50

Betony 5%,Bluebell seed (Hyancith non Scripta) 1.5%, 

Common Agrimony ( Agrimonia eupotare) 5.0%, 

Common Vetch ( Vicia Sativa) 0.5%, 

Dark Mullein (Verbascum Nigrum) 0.1%, 

Hedge Bedstraw (Galium Mollugo) 5.0%, 

Herb Bennet (Geum Urbanum) 2.5%, 

Lesser Knapweed 4.0%, 

Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus Acris) 1.0%, 

Ox Eye Daisy (Leucanthemum Vulgare) 12.0%, 

Red Campion (Silene Dioica) 10.0%, 

Ribwort Plantain (Plantago Lanceolata) 10.0%, 

Self Heal (Prunella vugaris) 10.0%, 

Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa) 2.5%, 

Sweet Cicely ( Myrrhis odorata) 1.0%,

White Campion (Silene Alba) 10.0%, 

Wild Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea) 0.3%, 

Wild Garlic (Alliaria Petiolata) 6.0%, 

Yarrow ( Achillea Millefolium) 10.0%, 

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Minor) 3.3%

We have also planted bulbs which cost £187 along the Clouston street fence line and in other areas.

Fingers crossed some of this at least comes up next spring / summer.

It will really help introduce more biodiversity into the land which in turn helps people and especially the young kids have a better experience of getting in touch with nature which is so important in this busy built up area of Glasgow.

We remember the Queen as she visted our land back last summer – July 2022. She didn’t have to at the age of 95. By the end of that day she had put us on the map for many that didn’t know what we are about. What a Queen, a life, and a person. Thank You.

We need to raise some funds for the upkeep of the land, and to renovate the old brick shed. Little has been done to this shed, maintenance wise for perhaps 60+ years so its due some much needed work. This helps us as the tools and supplies we have inside then don’t get rusted or go off as the roof and walls have been letting in water.

We are therefore better able to maintain the land which in turn helps all , but especially young kids, get the most benefit out of this wild natural green space.

To donate please click on this link:

 www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/north-kelvin-meadow-1

Thank You so much for anything you can give us.

We’re a registered charity with our own bank account etc.

Looking back this last 12 months of being in a pandemic and its fair to say its been a very busy time for us on the land. Throughout the period the land been used alot as people are often staying at home during the day for various reasons and want to get out for some fresh air and exercise – which is where we come in.

To begin with we had hoped the land would get a much needed breather from all the attention its had this last few years and it did get that back in late March 2020 but then that changed after a few weeks. However it was great to see so many local people use the land and get benefit from it. So many said how happy they were to have this nearby.

Nursery groups that used to come for part of the day started to come for the entire day so as to separate the kids in two parts – one lot staying in the nursery all week while the other half came to the land and then they would swap over the next week.

All this has contributed to wear and tear on the land which in turn we have tried our best to rectify and in so doing that has used up alot of our funds.

As always a big thanks to our Dog Walkers that have cleared up after anti social behaviour and just kept a look out for things going a drift. Because we are open 24*7 they really help as there is nearly alway a dog walker on the land.

There are too many volunteers to thank here individually but a special mention goes to Paul Dallas who lives locally and has done alot of woodworking for us. He’s got a talent with wood and you’ll see that when walking round the land. For example the two wooden deer he made that so many young kids adore, plus the 8 bat boxes he made that have been put up high on the metal structures (thanks to Tristan for that) and the work he has done making the brick shed more useable by putting hooks up on the walls and making a work bench.

Although its been busy people wise, we still have had successes with our wildlife, we now have two hedge hog homes and camera footage of them using the land. Foxes too have been spotted late evenings. We have tried our best to keep parts of the land with deep undergrowth to help with providing an eco system that is good for nature. We intend to keep up our re-wilding activities in the years ahead.

We’ve put up 10 new bird boxes so fingers crossed for some new residents this spring. Thanks to Tsanko and Lucy for keeping many of the bird feeders topped up throughout the last 12 months.

We’ve tried to keep the adjacent streets clean from all the leaves etc that come from our land. If we do’t we know the street drains will block which then becomes a bit of a nightmare. The land also leeches soil each time it rains heavily. Big thanks to Ell and Flo plus Charlotte and Lottie and of course Tristan for this and many other tasks. These volunteers are how we will endeavour to keep the land a wild natural greenspace.

All the volunteers have done their tasks on their own or with members of their household, and as part of their daily exercise close to where they live.

The 4 wheelbarrows were really in need of a full renovation which is what they got. New wheels and bearings plus a full coat of metal based paint and new handles. Most of them had flat tyres which had been like that for years so the difference moving stuff around now is so much better.

We installed a litter picker on Kelbourne street which has been a great success. Its a street thats always had a fair bit of litter what with the nearby scout hut, special need school, college and of course our land. Perhaps its just the sign with the litter picker that stopping people littering in the first place or maybe people are using it – whatever the reason its working. As far as we know its the first litter picker to be put on a public street in Glasgow for people to use (happy to be corrected on that one). We have another 4 on the land.

Lastly it wouldn’t be a summary without mentioning all the work we do in keeping our nearby street bins operating effectively. We now have a key to open them up which means we can help with them if they start to overflow. We clean them regularly as a clean bin is one that is more likely to be used, and even gave two of them a full coat of paint last year (inc the gold paint trimmings the Council uses!). It was needed as they had fire damage. Managing the litter is very important to us, as if we don’t it would change the whole vibe to the land and that in turn would have a detromental affect on the very young kids that benefit from the land – and we simple can’t allow that.

During April and May 2020 volunteers were out as part of their daily excercise helping to maintain the meadow and wood. They prepared the ground and then put down meadow seed. Mostly around the Orchard area but also in the Wood along the Pivet hedge running along Sanda street and some small patches on the Kelbourne street side. The hedge was cut back and reduced in height last year so more sunlight should be getting into the wood which in turn will hopefully result in more ground flora. Its something thats missing in the wood and we are keen to do our part in bringing it back.

The volunteers have also put in alot of hard work digging holes for more David Austin Roses. The ones in pervious years have done well. More flowers helps our bees.

With less cars being parked beside the land, its given us an opportunity to take down some of the branches that were overhanging the surrounding streets. The leaves drop on the pavement and then block the street drains. Some of the branches were also at risk of snapping and being above a pavement with all the nursery groups that use the land, it was felt best to take them down. The other significant factor is we need some large branches within the wood to help slow down all the foot and paw fall. It’s an easy way to help direct people to another area and so let nature start to repair and grow.  These branches were grown from the land and so its great they go back to help the land out as they rot down into the soil.

All the above was done as part of the volunteers daily exercise, social distancing, wearing clean gloves and tool cleaning applied. Plus they worked on their own or with members of their household.

Please vote for us so we can get some much needed funding from the “Wee Green Grants scheme”. Its really easy and only takes a few minutes:

click on link below, register, verify your email, find “North Kelvin Meadow” in the list. Click vote and cast your other two votes as well with other fundees (Tip: we quite like the “Ha Penny Bridge House Wee Green Garden” as its run by FORK which is close and known to us), click “check and confirm my ballot” and thats it. You’ve now helped us secure some much needed money which will be used to help the land benefit all of us.

https://weegg.communitychoices.scot

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Thanks

We’ve got 500 snow drop bulbs (in the green), just needing people like you to come out and help plant them this Sunday 1st March at 2pm.

Meet at the Clouston street fence line as thats where they will be planted. Parents or guardians are responsible for their kids at all times. The weather not be great to get out recently so this is your opportunity to come out, get some healthy fresh air and do some good in your community.

UPDATE: event now done and we actually planted 700 bulbs in total.