Despite Remembrance Day commitments we had a good turnout of fourteen today.
We started with Bradfield Road and the boardwalk looking
like this...
Grizzly mowed the reed and it was cleared to a heap at the
side in no time....what a difference!
These two look pleased with their efforts...though the poised
hammer looks a little dangerous!
Volunteers sawed and lopped and dragged branches to our
cleared area
Of course it wasn’t all hard work. We had some quiet time at
11.00 and some coffee and choccie biscuits and a good old natter!
We were relaxing but this little fella was very busy (his
haven was left intact)....
All the cuttings were neatly stacked in the cleared area and
will hopefully provide havens for more wildlife over the winter
As it was my first ‘solo’ lead of a Sunday work party
(though it’s always a team effort in reality) I was trying to thank everyone.
If anyone out there is a Strictly Come Dancing viewer you will understand if I
say I felt like Giovanni ‘thankyou thankyou thankyou’ though without the glitter
and spray tan!!!
But what a difference again!
The cutting may look harsh in places but in the spring the
new growth will come through but not impede progress along the boardwalk. You
can also see into the wooded area also which has its own value.
The Bradfield Road entrance now provides a great welcome for
visitors to a site that Katherine from Natural England said was the best
volunteer run site that she knew of.
What more can you say!
Only that here is Julie's message of thanks:
Dear Volunteers
This is a double thank you today.
Firstly a huge thank you to ALL our volunteers. We had a
visit from Katherine from Natural England last week and she was extremely
complimentary about our SSSI Common. She said it was the best site run by
volunteers that she knew of. She asked if we had won prizes (which we have of
course when we were the Trust) - as she thinks we certainly deserve them. High
Praise indeed from Natural England. So well done everyone.
Secondly, another huge thank you to the fourteen who turned
out today. We understand that several people had remembrance day
commitments,and so were, as usual, amazed by a good turnout of volunteers and
even more amazed by the amount of work we got through....it feels as though we
had 28 people working! Thank you so much for all your hard work,it is very much
appreciated.
We managed to completely clear the small area next to the
Bradfield Road entrance to allow the snowdrops to flourish and we cut back huge
amounts of willow, bramble and scrub along the boardwalk from the car park
right along to the Bradfield Road entrance.
We also managed to clear the boardwalk of all cuttings and stack them
neatly for wildlife to make use of in a small cutting in the trees. An
extraordinary achievement. We will now be able to walk along in the
winter/spring two a breast without getting poked in the eye! Also the Bradfield
Road entrance to the Common gives an appealing welcome in to passers by.
Have a great couple of weeks and hopefully we will see some
of you again in two weeks (Sunday, 24th November) when we will now be
relocating to the Warren Road end of the site for some scrub clearance. A
reminder will be sent nearer the time for this.
Thanks again, Julie
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