Today seven volunteers litter picked the marsh and the reserve edge between the Braydon Ave gate and Baileys Court Rd. We collected:
1 shopping trolley
1 shopping basket
1 traffic cone
1 motor cycle tyre
Sundry bits of pipe,plastic,wood etc.
And fifteen sacks of rubbish - i think a new record for GG.
In the course of this we noticed:
the channels dug last year have become blocked and the sumps are therefor dry
There is a large tree in the Stoke Brook beginning to cause a blockage.
So: we will be changing the schedule and revisiting the marsh the week after next to tackle both problems.
Today seven volunteers (incuding two new) spent the final scheduled day working in the Orchard Plantation. The fence and dead hedge have been created and extend for much of the length of the plantation. The hedge and fence could be strengthened in places and if an opportunity crops up in the next couple of weeks we may return.
Next Thursday we are scheduled to litter pick the marsh before the spring growth gets too high. If the pickings are lean we will pick along the path towards the lake.
Today eight volunteers braved the weather and felled more trees in the Orchard Plantation. Quentin continued his fence building and BTCV continued felling in the area of the Pump Track. We had some discussion with the Pump Track designer.
It really was cold and very wet what with the snow falling and everything. So we concentrated on felling smaller trees so we did not have to kneel in the mud for so long. Unfortunately in this particular plantation there is an unusually large number of spindly trees due to the problem with excess water and the presence of a number of overshadowing willows (without which the water problem would be worse!)
Next week is our last scheduled week at this site so mostly fence/hedge work and tidying up.
Today 6 volunteers helped Quentin build a fence along the edge of the Orchard Plantation using brash from Saturday’s Conservation Group work day. 1 volunteer went off and extended the dead hedge started by the BTCV Pump Track team.
I think that makes 8 in all.
Today four volunteers went felling in the Orchard Plantation (Greg was let down by his support worker and couldn’t make it, Jenny W is shooting for Friday at Eastville this week).
We only felled two trees. The reason? hedgebuilding is reaching a high art. We now fell trees only in order to supply wood for the hedges (fences really). We did cut some stakes ready for Saturday’s fence making but I warn you there is a high standard to live up to :-). I also blazes a number of trees for felling.
Next week same job, same time ,same place.
Today six volunteers felled ash trees in the Orchard plantation and built dead hedges along the edge of the brook. We worked at the orchard end of the reserve well away from a team of BTCV guys working in the Pump Track area.
Today 8 volunteers worked on trees along the footpath between Savages Wood and the School playing fields. Once again much of the work was surgical removing rotten or cankered branches. Most of the work was concentrated upon two trees an Ash and a Willow. This gave two locations for dead hedges and a mini hedge building competition began. We were very pleased to have Jenny Darwin and Udan out with us today.
This is an ongoing task which we will return to in future times. For now we switch our attention to the Orchard plantation where we begin felling next week. We understand BTCV have already started work in this plantation, hopefully on the Pump Track.
Today’s GG went ahead after all dispite some earlier chickening out bythe Project Leader. Four volunteers set out to coppice along the path from the LC car park. It is fair to say we did little coppicing and rather more tree surgery as several of the smaller trees/shrubs along the edge of Savages Wood are suffering from being under the hornbeams and had rotting sections which we removed.
Back again next week to carry on.
A massive turnout of volunteer (sic) spent today’s session at the tool store. In view of the prevailing temperature I decided not to attempt to sharpen any edged tools but I did manage to:
* Clean and oil (vegetable and linseed as appropriate) all tools
* Do an inventory of all TBNCG/GG stock. (List to be circulated as appropriate later)
* Tidy up the shelves
* And sweep the floor
A couple of minor changes:
* All maintenance gear (tools ,rags, candles etc.) is now in the large green container on a lower shelf of the r/h unit.
* I have put 2/3 days supply of storm kettle fuel (shavings, teasel and cow parsley stalks, small and medium twigs and some paper (not a lot ‘cos it is all a bit damp) in an old bucket covered with a plastic bag so now it is in a waterproof container. I think it will be the responsibility of whoever is tasked with fetching tools etc. to make sure this bucket is replenished and materials collected each week and brought back to the store to dry.
For the final GG of 2009 five volunteers created a hedge alongside the northern fence line at the lower newt pond.
We green hedged a couple of willow trees and augmented these with dead hedging.
We also removed a number of tree guards at the back of the pond. These spiral type guards have severely deformed the bases of a number of the trees