For my walk ... the Knowle

 


For my walk on Sunday afternoon I thought I would take a closer look at the Knowle which I previously paid a casual visit to about a month ago, not long after I arrived here in Sidmouth.

As far as I can tell this area is the garden of Knowle House which was once one of the most prestigious houses in Sidmouth with extensive gardens but subsequent conversion into a hotel and then to East Devon Council offices has meant some of the grounds have been lost to the enlarged building and areas of access road and car parking. The house is now empty but I see has been acquired by McCarthy and Stone for conversion into luxury apartments for the over 60s. The gardens are currently a public park but whether this will change with the new development I do not know.

Anyway, to the natural interest of the site which is why I visited. The area seems to fall into two sections; the 'formal' gardens to the front of the house and a more 'informal' section alongside the main road from the town towards Bulverton. The formal garden has manicured lawns and many introduced tees and shrubs and, as so often in formal gardens, there seemed little of interest in the way of 'wildlife' but they are a delight to the gardener.

The 'informal' area is a totally different proposition! It, seemingly, has been rewilded although it may have always been the way it is now; I do not know the history but I am sure someone can enlighten me.  Areas have been roped off to protect them from wandering feet and the profusion of wild flowers is impressive to say the least. Whether this area was seeded with wild flowers or whether this is natural regeneration I have no idea but there is a wide range of flowers rather than one dominant species which might suggest some seeding took place but, that said, the flowers here are not those one associates with packs of wild flower seeds.

Although early October I counted twenty seven species in flower. Many were single, last standing worn specimens as one would expect in October but it shows the diversity of the area and must be a true delight in June and July. It was also noticeable that there were more insects here than I have found elsewhere to date. Mainly wasps, a well known autumn species, but also three or four species of hoverfly but I was only able to get close enough to identify one, Episyrphus balteatus, the 'marmalade' hoverfly.

The Knowle is only 200 yards or so from where I live so it is my 'local' patch and I plan to keep a close watch on it next year.

For the full list of species I recorded visit my website: https://www.peterorchard.me.uk/diary-sun-10-02-2022-12-00-knowle



Comments

  1. Ed Dolphin15 October 2022 at 20:03

    If you join the Arboretum/SVA tree walk this Friday 21st, 10.30 from the museum, we end up in the Knowle and I can tell you much more.

    ReplyDelete

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