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Today was very wet. So wet that we thought it best not to get the battery-powered tools out and cut back the last bit of scrub at our most southerly point. Instead, we litter-picked all the way to The Bear bridge.

It was a decent haul and it did at least stop raining towards the end. It was a good 4 km there and back. We dumped the bags at The Bear end and annoyingly spotted a few bits of litter that we had missed, on the way back to where our kit was. Next time we need to remember to take a spare bag for the return trip.

We admired our snowdrop clearing as we passed it.

When they have gone over we will fill in some more of the gaps from our secret supply. The term “in the green” is used when they are still active but not flowering and apparently, this is the best time to split clumps and move them around. Hopefully, we will get the carpet effect at some point soon.

My obsession with running water continues…

This is a collective effort but Reece and Ian have really driven the project forward, and today showed it coping really well.

There’s still work to do on the bridge drainage and we need to tidy up around the drain area. I have a small bench that I made out of an abandoned pallet, to put in, so people can sit and enjoy the sound of the water and hopefully, enjoy the greenery that will explode in a month or two.

That really was about it for today. A bit of a damp squib in terms of cutting back, but great conversations and stuff.

Over the next month or so we can busy ourselves with jobs like staining the benches and generally keeping it all tidy, before it suddenly goes mad and everything goes boom!!

Dunchurch Bridleway

Three wildlife superheroes turned out last Friday. Ian, Ruby and Paul. We swapped the bitter cold of last time, for the raging wind. It was the sort of wind that we had to put our heads down and really fight against.

But we got a good 100 metres nicely strimmed back all the way up to the third bench.

We have tractors going up and down at the moment because it’s a bridleway, and in the middle of farmland. We can just keep the path cut back and keep our little slither open and walkable.

There seems to be a muddy patch where our picnic bench is, so we opened up the side a bit. People now have the option of not having to walk through it.

This area will become a large glade later in the year so the muddy bit will dry out. Another job for September when the bird nesting season is over.

We also litter-picked up to the pair of benches where the Solstice Coffee Shop path runs off to the south.

Mostly just plastic and stuff from the building site that is the warehousing.

I got papped…

Definitely a Z-lister…

But the highlight of the morning was bacon rolls cooked by Ruby.

It was tough going because the gale-force wind seemed to be blowing in every direction, but she got there in the end and served up a cracking breakfast to go with our coffee.

The next one is in March, and being the first workday of the month means… more bacon!!

Until next time!

Paul