Wednesday 8th February 2012
It was a pretty chilly -4o Celsius when Mike
& I arrived at Gibside this morning. We therefore had no hesitation in
volunteering to go back to the West Woods turning circle and burning the
branches which had been left last week.
We set off at a brisk pace equipped with a pair of loppers,
a bow saw and a pitchfork. On arrival we collected some dried grasses, dried
pieces of conifer and small twigs ready to begin our bonfire. We had more
success this week and quickly had a good fire going (it’s all in the
preparation as Phil Younger would say).
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| Sun shining on the frozen ground |
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| A good going fire. |
By lunchtime we had burnt everything that needed burning. So,
after lunch, we looked for some tasks to occupy us whilst the fire was dying
down.
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| Winter sun shines through the Scots Pines |
We had been sitting on a large log whilst eating our lunch and
noticed that the surrounding area was rather untidy with lots of conifer
braches which had been dumped. So we set about clearing the area, smaller
branches being added to the remains of the bonfire and larger branches together
with other large branches and logs were used to create a log pile in the woods
nearby. This will provide a useful habitat for various small mammals or
reptiles.
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| Mike adds another branch to the log pile. |
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| The log pile |
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| Bracket Fungus |
A productive day complete, we waited for Phil to arrive with
some water to douse the remaining embers, and then headed off for home. The
temperature had risen to "balmy" 0o Celsius!
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| The dying embers |
Phil Coyne
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