What we did at yesterdays work party 24/06/12

dynamic - By fosh_admin on Monday, June 25, 2012 - 19:59

Weather conditions were fair, and we were working in areas sheltered from the brisk north-westerly wind. We first had to tackle two fallen branches on the paths. Then we split into two, with most of us continuing to clear “weeds” from from around whips planted last winter, and the remainder spreading wood chip on the main path. We covered most of the whips around the southern end (we did the northern end last time), but 100 or so remain in the middle of the eastern side, and also some inside the wood. Weeds had certainly grown considerably, and each plant took a while to clear. Very few dead whips were found, so overall they seem to be thriving well. The chip spreaders covered many muddy sections of the main path. Recent rain had made the path very messy, and treatment seems to be a never-ending task. Nettles and weeds were encroaching on the main path in many places, making it much narrower, so a possible task for the next work party will be to  cut things back to the edging.

Birds were still singing. In particular song thrush, chiffchaff and chaffinch , sky larks and buzzards were also prominent.

A family of mice were also relocated from the wood chip as they had taken up residence in the middle of the plie and a large frog was moved from the middle of one of the paths.

article by John Elwell (work party co-ordinator)