November 28th Work Party

dynamic, Work Parties and Meeting Dates - By fosh_admin on Saturday, December 4, 2010 - 18:27

On the morning of our usual monthly Sunday work party the temperature at 9.30 must have been just below freezing, however it was a gorgeous morning with a light covering of snow and bright sun.

As it turned out there were eleven of us including two new volunteers so we were able to get quite a lot done.  Litter picking is not easy in the snow, however we always take some away with us and this was no exception.

One of the main jobs was clearing young sycamores – they grow at an incredible rate and block the light from the ground, so that undergrowth is discouraged and there is too much competition with the other mature trees like oak, beech and ash.  The cut saplings are used to reinforce the hedging around the perimeter of the wood.  There are paths designated rights of way and our job is to encourage people to mostly use them, to avoid the damage to wildlife causes by a whole network of unofficial paths and particularly where people make unofficial entrances.  Reducing trodden paths makes the Wood more wild life friendly and encourages denser undergrowth for more habitat for ground living fauna.

Motorcycles regularly drive round the Wood and since it is a Local Nature Reserve, this is discouraged – that is why gates were erected this year, so that pushbikes can enter but not motorbikes.  Motorbikes and wild life definitely do not mix!

Another ongoing job is defining the main spinal path with edging and woodchip. This serves the purpose of informing people which are the rights of way, and also it absorbs some of the moisture to reduce mud.  Walkers tend to avoid the mud, thus creating new informal paths, which intrude on more of the places where wildlife should be able to thrive without being threatened.  

Richard Steer and helpers did a review of the bird boxes – he retrieved about 6 former nests, one of which sadly still had the unhatched little eggs in it. He thinks it may have been a great tit’s nest. Several of the boxes have been attacked by woodpeckers and the entrances enlarged. Naturally enough these did not attract any residents.  We think we will obtain some metal reinforcing rings to deter the wood peckers.

Lastly we did a bit of coppicing at the South end, near the most southerly entrance.  There are hawthorn bushes which have become straggly and thin, reaching up to the light.  Some of these we pruned to about waist height so that they can regrow and thicken, letting more light to the ground and providing cover.  Again the cuttings were used to reinforce the hedge round the Wood.

As it was such a gorgeous day, there were lots of walkers and we took the opportunity to ask them to fill in a simple questionnaire about their views on Sharphill Wood.  We are doing this because we want to find out what people think about what we have done so far, and what should happen next. We don’t want to meddle too much, but at the same time people may want to know more about what there is in the Wood and what to watch out for. 

By Chrissie Wells