Twelve or so of us turned out today and really pushed on with the second big glade. We are creating a huge open space that will hopefully be full of interesting grasses, flowers, insects, birds and mammals. we had glorious sunshine and everyone was stripping back to tee-shirts. It was good to see insects waking up and wild flowers starting to shoot up in the areas that we have cleared.

We also did a bit more dead-hedging on the top of the cutting and it looks pretty good. We are going to learn how to lay a living hedge and do this in the autumn.

Second large glade.

Work here is pretty much finished now and we probably need to push on down the path to the reed-bed at the end.

Digging out the roots of brambles!

Next workday is Wednesday 16th March 11am to 1pm. Working on the last stretch at Potford’s Dam and deciding what we are going to do to get the best out of it. We also need to site the picnic benches that have been made by Adam’s Dad. They look fantastic and just need to be sunk into the ground by a few inches to stop people trying to move them.

Sunday 20th is an early workday 10am to 12 noon at the reed-bed. 

Monday 21st 11am to 1pm carry on with work on the reed-bed.

Sunday 27th 2pm to 4pm ditto.

Wednesday 30th – 11am to 1pm – As mentioned in my last blog, just walk along and tidy any piles of brash and cut back any obvious bits that will snag walkers and cyclists.

After this the bird-nesting season starts so we need to stop all cutting and start to record what flora and fauna we see over the summer. We will need to keep a check on brambles and nettles in the newly cleared bits and probably do a litter-pick at some point.

Thanks to all who turned out today. Good work.

See you on the next one!

Paul