Our first volunteer morning of the year saw a large turnout but, wow, it was very cold! The main focus of the day was to plan for the year ahead, using the knowledge from Russell Miller’s site visit several weeks ago.
Topics and thoughts discussed were very varied, ranging from tree removal, coppicing of hazels, planting of more native bulbs and perennials, cutting back of ivy, removal of invasive plants and “tidying” up of deadwood to make it more beneficial to nature.
The accompanying photos show that the previous night was very cold, in places the frost looked like fresh snow! It was definitely below freezing as the pond had frozen over. But, the hazel catkins were in flower and tree leaf buds were present on an elder shrub.
Last Sunday was our 3rd volunteer morning of the year, it felt no warmer than in January! But it didn’t stop several local volunteers from the Good Gym Group from joining us by helping us move heavy logs to other parts of the woodland and also in removing some of the overgrown area’s ivy at the main entrance, ready for more wildflowers to be grown.
Good Gym volunteers
Not much in the way of wildlife was visible, but primroses were in flower and the bluebells look like they’re growing very strongly. Also, there are several clumps of Lords-and-Ladies with their wonderful, shiny leaves coming in to display.
One of the early flowering primroses
In the last few weeks, our tree surgeon was working in the main area. His trained eyes saw a diseased sycamore tree which was very close to the entrance, the photo shows the inside of the tree being hollow, with wood next to the area very soft and spongy, a victim of a fungal disease.
A diseased sycamore with a hollow centre
By removing it now, this shows the pro-active approach we take in maintaining the safety of all who use the woodlands. The tree surgeon also removed other non-native and highly invasive robinias. The tree trucks have been stacked for a mixture of uses, as part of decaying wood for insects and also to potentially use for making steps.
Our 3rd event of the year saw another 20 or so volunteers and committee members turn up, as well as new, local residents who had never been to the woodland before!
The main focus was in the mini-glade area, as you walk up the steps towards the main glade. Three sycamore trees were felled to allow for more light to enter the area, in order to benefit the oak trees and hedge plants. The felled trees were cut in to smaller pieces, which will either be used as path edging or for small seats in the glade. Very useful for children to sit and listen to Richard Sylvester’s story telling!
Felled sycamore tree with the trunk cut in to logs
Other activity in this included the preparation of a trench next to the footpath so that school children can plant the hedge saplings in the next few days.
Plant-wise, the snowdrops have finished flowering, but the primroses are going strong, and the bluebells are also growing well. The Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum) are also growing well and spreading nicely. This native British plant is common in woodlands and other shady areas.
Lords-and-Ladies, a very good woodland plant indicator species
Finally, the bees were rather quite early in the morning, but as the morning advanced, a little activity was seen, although later in the morning, around midday when the temperature had risen, you could see them flying around the hives.
Our pear trees (see photo) are starting to come in to bud, see photo below. Let’s hope this year’s fruit crop is as good as last year’s.
This morning’s event was another exciting and very productive session, with around 2 dozen existing and new members turning up.
As always, the removal of invasive bramble and ivy took place, with lots of help working in the “mini-glade”, on your left-hand side as you walk up the steps towards the main area. A large 8 foot high and wide buddleia was removed. While good for butterflies, it’s an invasive plant which was swamping the planted bluebells.
The enourmous buddleja that was threatening to swamo the local area has now been removed!Volunteers tackling the buddleja plant
Also removed was ivy around the bases of trees and putting up of new bird boxes.
Removal of ivy on treesOne of the many bird-boxes, now cleaned and ready for new tenants!
The bees in hive 1 were “a hive of activity” (every pun intended!!).
Bluebells were looking good, and snowdrops were nicely in flower. Primroses were discovered under ivy and were expanding their range; plants for free! And a foxglove was also found which hadn’t been planted, exciting stuff!
Emerging bluebellsA single foxglove, which should be in full flower in several weeks from now Committee member Rich Sylvester coppicing hazels.Snowdrops in flower. These are now starting to be established.
In the area near the entrance, hazel coppicing took place.
Our 1st volunteer morning session of 2020 was a packed
event! Even at quiet moments like this
there were plenty of activities.
A Primrose just starting to flower
Continuing on from last month’s work was bird box
cleaning and maintenance. Committee
member Richard Sylvester and 2 other volunteers in the accompanying photos can
be seen in repairing bird boxes before replacing them.
Committee member Rich Sylvester making a new bird-boxOther volunteers reapairing old bird boxes and making new ones
As always, there’s no shortage of weeding. The area
around the main entrance was starting to be taken over my nettles and brambles,
so work was done here, as well as general tidying up. Well-rotted leaf mulch was taken from here
and added to our composting area.
A group photo
Honey for sale!
Also continuing from last month’s work was tree clearing of smaller shrubs to create more light, as well as removing ivy at the bases of trees. Dead, fallen branches were added to our wood piles in the smaller glade area. After the increased production of honey earlier this year, jars were available for sale. By the end of the day over £50 of sales had been made!
The pond is now fully topped up. Last Summer, the water level dropped quite dramatically for a few weeks.
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