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.