25th January 2012
Another mild day with temperature of 9o Celsius
at 9am. The weather certainly has been kind to us volunteers so far this
winter. There were two tasks to be completed today. Phil Younger set off to
Snipes Dene with Dave, Lorna and Matthew to burn rhododendron prunings, whilst
the rest of the group set off for the Monument to pull up silver birch
seedlings on the hillside above the Lily Pond. The idea is that there should be
a clear & uninterrupted vista from The Lily Pond up to the Monument.
When we arrived at the Monument a large number
of molehills were noticed. Terry and Mike quickly got to work flattening them
out (the molehills, not the moles!), to improve the look of the area.
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| Flattening the molehills |
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| More molehills to flatten |
An A-board was then set up to explain to any visitors the
nature and reasoning behind our task.
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Keeping our visitors informed
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The team then made their way down the hill, and spreading out
across the hill began to work upwards removing small silver birch saplings, and
any other saplings likely to obstruct the view. It wasn’t quite as easy as we had
been led to believe; some of the saplings had been pruned in previous years and
this meant that the new growth was on fairly large roots. We had, therefore, to revert to digging them out using garden forks.
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| The Team in action |
Mary was given the additional task of asking any passing visitors for their views on our conservation efforts. So, equipped with a clip board (in true management style), she eagerly set about her task. I just hope the comments are favourable.
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| Laura takes a break in the sunshine |
Another task completed we all headed for home, I wonder what's in store for next week?
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