Ponsanooth Community Wildlife Garden

Our community wildlife garden project in Ponsanooth has been underway since March 2024.

Commissioned and supported by Ponsanooth Parish Council as part of Cornwall Council's Community Levelling Up Fund, the project aims to educate, engage and empower volunteers from the local community to enjoy, maintain and, eventually, take ownership of their local wild space.

We take a nature-first approach in the garden. The impact on existing habitats and wildlife is the first priority in the decision-making process.

Sign up to the Ponsanooth Wildlife Garden volunteer mailing list

Register to volunteer at the garden

The story so far…

The garden was originally established around a decade or so ago but not maintained. When we took over in March 2024, it had recently been strimmed after being overrun with brambles, grasses, and hogweed for a few years. The pond was in a poor state, not holding water properly, and dominated by a single species of grass and a willow tree, the roots of which had become a problem.

Spring 2024

With the help of volunteers, we spent spring and early summer removing bramble and other dominating plants. We then planted a variety of plants, flowers and shrubs such as lavender, witch hazel, wintersweet, teasel, foxgloves sweet woodruff and more that will help to attract and support a whole host of wildlife and pollinators.

Summer, 2024

During the summer, we applied a light-touch approach to the garden, taking care not to disrupt already established wildlife and microhabitats.

We maintained pathways for access, installed benches and planted more native ferns.

Autum, 2024

In late summer, we began establishing a new wildflower meadow area.

After clearing the area with a heavy strim and hard rake we removed any remaining brambles. In the bare patches this created, we sowed a mix of locally hand-collected wildflower seeds including knapweed, oxeye daisy, yellow rattle, red campion, field scabious and more. We also planted over 100 wildflower plugs that were generously donated by a local nursery.

This area will take time to grow into something recognisable as a wildflower meadow so some expectation management is needed! But given time and the proper maintenance it will be worth it. Volunteers are needed to keep the area free of leaf litter, nettles, brambles and dock, and to strim the grass back several times a year.

In late autumn, once we could do so with minimum impact on any wildlife, we drained the pond and dug out the dominating grasses and mud from the bottom.

The next phase will be to remove the old pond liner and dig the sides out to expand the pond in preparation for re-establishing it with a new liner.

We completely removed the troublesome willow tree and used the waste to build a dead hedge border between the meadow and woodland areas.

Coming soon in 2025…

In January, we will begin planting trees, such as oak, apple, rowan, and alder buckthorn. We’ll also add more shrubs and start work to restore the pond with a new lining and more plants.

We will need help with all of this so if you’re interested in being a part of something that will be established for years to come, please get in touch and sign up to volunteer and join our ever-growing group of wildlife gardeners!