What an incredible turnout today! An amazing mixture of committee members, regular volunteers and new volunteers. One of the most exciting things was that after several years in the making, our apple trees have not only provided a crop, but the birds and squirrels have left them alone. A mixture of Bramley apples and Cox’s Oranges were available. In advance of next month’s Early Autumn Open Day, we have harvested several bags of them, all neatly wrapped in newspaper, but there are still plenty left.

Another long overdue task was the clearing of vegetation around and in the pond. Committee member Donald Albrecht can be seen in the photos removing grasses from the centre of the pond.

But as usual, there was ivy clearing of the paths, it’s our woodland’s proverbial “Painting of the Forth road bridge”! Many thanks to the new volunteer who got stuck in with this task.

Butterflies were seen when the sun came out. We were very fortunate to have Nathan Jones (Chair of the Kent & SE London branch of Butterfly Conservation) available this morning. He noted Speckled Woods, a Painted Lady and a Red Admiral as well as a “Turnip Moth”.

There was also clearance of weeds in the Glade area, as well as clearance of weeds and brambles from around the fruit trees.

It’s shaping up to be another good occasion for next month’s Open Day.

Yesterday morning was the 7th volunteer session of the year. As nearly every time we hold an event, the weather is good and new people come along for the first time to enjoy our little, local woodland.

After the very warm few weeks, the water level of the pond hadn’t dropped to much, but it was topped up using rainwater from the tool shed’s water butt. In September or October we will need to cut back or remove some vegetation before it takes over the pond.

Other items we worked on were bindweed removal on The Mound, and in anticipation of tomorrow’s evening bat walk, the footpaths were tidied up, and vegetation cut back.

The apple trees in The Glade are showing a good crop, the pear trees aren’t looking so rich in fruit; perhaps local squirrels have already been enjoying the pears before us!

The geraniums in The Glade’s flower bed have really come on this year, their vibrant blue flowers can be seen in the accompanying photo. Also growing well, as can be seen below are hogweeds and meadowsweet. Meadowsweet is commonly associated with damp meadows, going around 4 feet in height and is a member of the rose family.

The Halstow School project of growing acorns and other seeds is looking very successful, the photos of the seedbed show young oak saplings several inches tall, all with plenty of leaves and looking healthy.

Finally, at the entrance, we saw a hazel shrub with hazel nuts! We suspect that it won’t be long before the squirrels enjoy this free snack!