The first volunteer session of Summer took place the 1st July. Numbers of volunteers were a little below normal, but this didn’t reduce the enthusiasm of the people who were present. We also welcomed 2 new people who had never been to the Woodland before.

Apple tree with small fruit

Apple tree with small fruit

Pear tree with small fruit

We concentrated on the usual weeding of the areas around The Glade in preparation for the up-coming revisit from the volunteers at Barclays Bank over in Canary Wharf. It is a year since their help was used to dig the pond in The Glade area. As can be seen by the accompanying photo of the pond, it is impossible to think that this is such a recent addition. It’s also remarkable that the water has never been topped up, it’s just rainwater that’s in the pond.

A view of the pond with abundant grasses

One of the elms in The Glade, that may have stronger disease resistance

An annual geranium in full flower but also with seeds

The area to the east of the flower bed saw many ruderals starting to develop, mostly hogweeds. Using the scythe, extra weeding was undertaken here. Also the scythe was used to trim the grass around the pond area. Other photos show how the fruit trees were really putting on a good display this year; it remains to be seen if any will make it to mature fruit before squirrels and birds start to eat them!