Wednesday work party

by Ian Bushell

A lovely Wednesday morning, rain free, sunny and warm.  A good turn-out of Friends met up in the car park as usual. 

Pat started off her litter pick from the Allotments end paying particular attention to the Heritage Orchard, while Frank and Joan and Patrick and Sarah and Alan started theirs from the main car park.  The rest of us moved off to the bit of copse we have been clearing for the past few weeks – the one running down from the picnic area to the stream on the eastern side of Corn Field. Yesterday’s hedge trimming course earned us Certificates of Incompetence so we took the hedge trimmer with us. 

While Clive and Phil continued taking down the diseased Ash, Simon and I took to clearing the Bramble and secondary growth Blackthorn to better expose the Ash trees.  Also with loppers we took out the Blackthorn encroaching into the path.  What a difference the hedge trimmer makes;  used at ground level it took out all the bramble and regrowth and removed all the trip hazards leaving a flat level surface.  Safer and better looking, plus we cleared at least four times the area than we would have using just shears and loppers.

We all met up at picnic area for coffee and biscuits where we discussed arranging a publicity photo shoot with Rick and Katy to thank them for funding the LANTRA training, the Girl Guide’s plans for a day in the reserve this month and, as ever, funding.

Come and join us next week; you will be made very welcome.