We managed to clear the overgrown bramble and other unwanted thuggish plants from our wildflower areas. We still need to rake off the birdfeeder clearing and last bench area, but it feels like we are making good progress.

This should have been done in September, but hey-ho. What we can decide in December is – do we want more wildflower cuttings along this bit? It has to be in areas where there are no overhanging trees and we have to have the manpower to be able to clear them out every year.

Previously we have gone to a lot of effort clearing huge areas of bramble and left it to see what might come up. Mostly this has been nettles, which is a bit discouraging, and then the brambles regrow.

If we decide that we want more wildflowers, to give us more biodiversity, we probably need bite-sized chunks that will take an hour to completely clear out and reseed. But we can stick that on the back-burner for now.

Nice coffee and macaroon break again, even if a bit of a working one. Good to have Cristina, Tim, Marcus, Paul and Mick (briefly) out today.

Next week we finish raking the wildflower areas and pull the bench back up the bank!!

Paul