A big thankyou to the 16 volunteers from our own group who helped with the work on Saturday morning. We were fortunate to have ideal weather, and it was good to have 2 young people join us this year.

Together we completed all the planned work, clearing the undergrowth at the northern end of the nature reserve.

This included:

• clearing weed and Himalayan balsam from the stream bed
• weeding around the hedge saplings
• clearing re-growth of hawthorn and ash from the 4 rides     originally created in 2007/8
• removing hawthorn saplings from the 2 areas cleared of bushes in     March
• opening up the riverside paths by strimming, and by     tramping/slashing
  
• clearing new growth from the glade next to the main path
• easing access through the path which crosses the site, and the path     leading down to the swamp.

Tools and heavy gloves were loaned from BTCV, supplemented by our own tools which were donated by SERCO earlier this year.

We may need to have another session later in the year to keep the riverside paths open and to deal with later growth of balsam on the banks of the stream.

I hope to have the 2 areas of grassland cut again this year by external volunteers. This is usually done in the autumn when seed has set.

Please let me know if there are other tasks we need to consider tackling elsewhere on the nature reserve.

 






A ride showing lush vegetation where it was bare before the hawthorne were cleared 2 years ago and now walkable after the work

The two youngsters cleared this path




  



The Ladies start work on the hedge