It certainly didn’t look pleasant earlier on in the morning, but by 10 o’clock, the sun was coming out and a splash of blue sky had appeared. Around 15 or people turned up throughout the session, very impressive considering the deluge earlier!

As usual, with the warm(ish!), bright and wet days, the brambles were on the march. Weeding and removal took place around the entrance area, as well as in the Oak Glade area.

Another task was to stake an Elm tree that we had planted several years ago in the Glade area, but had drooped quite a bit. Committee member Nigel Duncan can be seen below making a wooden stake for its support. Further down, Paula can be seen next to the tree. Our Dutch-elm-disease-resistant elm trees were planted in 2016, 60 cm high, and is now 7-8 m tall. We hope it will recover well from its mishap.

Some of the children who joined the event found a smooth newt, found by two of our youngest volunteers, aged 6 and 7, near the roots of an apple tree not far from the pond.

Another task on the agenda was to continue work behind the beehives, with the installation of a liner and gentle slope with the ability to collect and store water, and allow for a more diverse range of plants to be grown in the area. The 3 beehives had plenty of activity when the sun came out later in the morning.

Finally, the apples in The Glade area are starting to grow. Last year’s crop was a bit disappointing, and recent heavy rains and winds had knocked a few smaller ones to the ground. But the below photo shows Bramley apples starting to grow nicely. Also, a Geranium has self-seeded right in the middle of The Glade. How it got there is a mystery!

Our latest newsletter should now be with all those Friends of Westcombe Woodlands. We have uploaded this report under the section “Newsletters” for your reference and we hope it provides you with an enjoyable read.

Although in the last few weeks there has still been small amounts volunteer work taking place in the woodland, our usual early October open day was cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus situation. However, the bees in their hives have thankfully paid no attention to this and have generously rewarded us with lovely, locally produced honey.

The 2020 honey vintage sold like those proverbial hot cakes, so much so that by midday on Sunday lunchtime, we had sold out! The photo below shows committee member Andrew Slade looking after the honey sales. He is also one of the key “custodians” of our hives.

Also involved in running the weekend’s Pop-Up event was Rich Sylvester, who helped bring in several new members to the the Westcombe Woodland charity, an amazing number!

Other photos show the woodland in deep sleep with yellow leaves, bare trees, and yet amazingly there are one or 2 bees still flying around the hives. The holly berries in the below photos are the most vibrant reds at this time of the year.

Yesterday morning’s session focussed on a few areas; tidying up the footpath that leads from the entrance to the top of the mound. We are still limiting the numbers of people onsite at any one time, taking in to account the current situation with the corona viris health risk, but we are doing volunteer mornings in July.

This has become a bit overgrown with trees and ivy, so a little “haircut” was needed.  The fallen leaves were then put in the compost bin.

Also, more fallen branches were cut into smaller pieces for future log pile are creation.

The bluebells were starting to seed, and as can be seen, they are ready to be scattered to be given new places to be grow. 

And more weeding, bindweed and brambles were removed which threatened to smother a hedge next to the pond. A busy morning!

The hot and sunny days that we had in April and May came to a bit of a halt in the first half of June, but with warm temperatures, the water level of the pond was slowly dropping. We had previously used rain water from the water butt at the entrance to the woodlands, but it was obvious that we needed more. We have now connected another water butt to the roof of the bee shed, which was further connected via a hosepipe to the pond, and with gravity, the pond level since the heavy rains of the 17th and 18th June, has filled up nicely.

Unfortunately, the heavy rains have knocked quite a few apples off the trees; we are hoping that those still remaining will provide a good crop in late September.

At end of May and early June, our bluebells had almost stopped flowering, but as can be seen below, a single foxglove on the Oak Glade area is floweing strongly. We have weeded around this foxflove in the hope that when it starts to seed in the next few weeks, these will land on the ground and not on plants’ leaves.

At the entrance of the glade is a 30 / 40 feet high cherry tree, which as the photo below shows on the 6th June, was full of ripe cherries and a large number of ripening cherries. However, a site visit a week later showed that apart from several green cherries, the local wildlife had helped themselves!

The bugs and beasties were out, with dragonflies, caterpillers, hoverflies and other insects being seen in large numbers.