Archbishop launches ‘Springwatch’ at Bishopthorpe

As part of his Year of the Environment celebrations, the Archbishop of York today has invited people to view online how his Palace Gardens look all year round.

The section entitled ‘Springwatch at Bishopthorpe Gardens’, can be viewed online at http://www.archbishopofyork.org/3152. 

Springwatch is the first of four seasonal updates about the flora and fauna habitats within Bishopthorpe Palace.  It is hoped that this resource will not only appeal to gardening enthusiasts and ‘twitchers’ but all those with a general interest in the environment.

Written by the Head Gardener, the first section (focusing on Spring) talks about the prevalence of scillas, snowdrops, wood aconites and daffodils. It looks at the tasks of pruning, lifting herbaceous shrubs, and tree-planting.

A project to plant Tansy along the banks of the River Ouse to encourage the Tansy Beetle also gets a mention.

At the start of the year, the Archbishop sent a bird nesting box to every church and church school in the Diocese and it is revealed that a dozen nest boxes have also been set up at Bishopthorpe for robins, blue and great tits, tawny owls and tree creepers.