Planting a Tree for Jerry

Jerry Dicker spent many years looking after the woods and was instrumental in setting up the Friends of Filnore Woods volunteer group. Sadly, Jerry passed away a little over a year ago and we thought that planting a tree in his memory would be a fitting and lasting gesture.

We decided to plant a Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) as it has lots of white, sweet scented flowers in spring that provide nectar and pollen for bees, while the foliage is the main food plant for the caterpillars of many moths and butterflies such as the Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). When the small cherries are produced they are eaten by blackbirds, song thrushes and many other birds. Any that the birds leave are food for small mammals such as badgers, wood mouse and dormouse. In autumn the leaves fade to orange and deep crimson to give a flamboyant end to the year. I am sure that this would suit Jerry.

We sourced the tree from a local nursery in Rockhampton which is only a few miles from the woods, and chose to plant it up on the ridge near post 7 where there is a lovely view over the River Severn and the surrounding countryside. From there you can also see the church at Oldbury which is close to the school where Jerry was headteacher for a while.

On the day before the planting Graham and I went to the woods to prepare the planting site. We dug a square hole rather than a circular one so that the roots will grow into the corners and then onwards into the surrounding earth. In a circular hole they can end up going round in circles in the soft earth and not spread out as much.

The planting was on Sunday 9th February which coincided with our first scheduled work party of the month. The path going up the valley to the planting site was very muddy after a lot rain and it would be easy to slip or fall, but as it was a work party day we had time to deal with that before people coming for the planting arrived. 

Ten volunteers had come along, we had a lot of wood chip near the tool store and lots of bags. Very soon a chain of people formed. Some filled bags which were then carried by others to the path and spread over the muddy areas. They worked very hard doing this - carrying wood chip uphill over mud is tiring! The path was made a lot safer and easier to walk up. As you can see above, Cathy, Aiden and Erika took the opportunity for a quick sit down, while Andy and Peter just stood in their wellies.

Once everyone had arrived, there were twenty-five of us to take part in the planting. I took on the job of holding the tree.

With the tree correctly positioned, Jerry's daughter and grandson began to fill the hole using the excavated earth mixed with some tree compost.

More compost and earth was mixed by my helpers and gradually the hole was filled.

The earth in the filled hole was firmed in ...

... and the supporting wooden stake hammered in by Jerry's grandson, with a big mallet and a helping lift.

The weather was cloudy but that didn't spoil the occasion. It was lovely to see so many people come along to show their appreciation of all the work that Jerry did to make Filnore Woods the place it has become. The tree will be a lasting memorial to a wonderful person who will be missed.

Photos by Lorna Price

The Dam Builders

Over the last few weeks we have had a lot of rain and some stormy weather. In a previous post I described how we built some leaky dams to help control the stream flowing down the valley but when I was in the woods a couple of weeks ago I found that our dam construction techniques had not been very good. This is the sight that greeted me.

The poles forming the dams had not been secure enough to withstand the force of the stream after heavy rain so the dams pretty much fell apart. Having said that though, the lower dam was still doing a reasonable job holding back some water.

For the work party on Wednesday 22nd January a repair was the priority. I wasn't able to attend, but seven volunteers did and began the re-construction. As you can see in the following photos the dams were built up with poles and stakes followed by reinforcement with mud and large stones. Fortunately it was a dry day so there wasn't too much water flowing.

There was some heavy rainfall a few days later and I went down to see how the dams were getting on. Passing by the stream near the tool store I saw that the flow was considerable ...

... but when I reached the dams they were all intact and doing a good job of slowing down the water flow.This photo was the only one I got because the ground near the stream bank was very slippery and I found I was sliding down into the stream. I was wearing wellies so no problem apart from getting back up the slope!

 

The woods may be wet and slippery but there are signs that spring is on its way. These primroses are coming out in the grassy patch near post 10 down the valley path.

On her way to the work party Erika saw signs of spring too and took these photos - 

                                

A couple of photos from today's volunteering day. The first snowdrops I have seen in the woods - two patches, and the hazel catkins were bright in places. I heard and saw a green woodpecker, a raven, great tits and a robin who joined us in our work - very closely!

The volunteers had worked hard all morning to repair the dams and they are holding back the stream. I expect we will have to do a similar job but hopefully not until next year.

Yet More Steps

Unfortunately we were not able to have any work parties in December because of adverse weather and the Christmas holidays. However, we resumed working last Sunday 12th January to start off 2025.

We began the new year near the bridge where we have previously built steps up towards the top meadow. The ground at the top of the steps has become muddy, and the path down to the steps is slippery. As you can see in this photo. To improve this, we decided to put more steps in up towards the flatter area.

We also found a broken step on the path leading up from the other side of the bridge.

We began by foraging around for poles that would be good for steps and carrying them over to the slope where Jim is sorting them.

The broken step on the far side of the bridge was repaired, then the construction work could begin. 

Andy and Eric dug out the trenches that the poles would sit in whilst Peter made the wooden pegs we use to hold the steps in place. Jim and Graham hammered the pegs in then drilled and nailed them to the poles to hold them securely in place. My contribution to this part of the work was to take the photos!

When all the poles were in place we finished off the steps with some wood chippings to level off the ground behind the poles.

A good mornings work that has made the muddy path a bit more manageable.

Brambles

At the work party last Wednesday 27th November we headed up to the top of the pylon field where there is a large patch of brambles to the left of the path. We can't entirely stop them from spreading but by removing the current growth we can hold them back for a while. 

These photos show what we started with.

We took our 'bush' scythes along because they have stronger blades than our 'ditch' scythes. The ditch blades are used for cutting grass while the bush ones are better for tougher vegetation like brambles. We also took some slashers which have a stout blade on the end of a long wooden handle.

Here, Graham is using a slasher to remove some bramble. Not an easy task though because the brambles are spreading through quite long grass which was wet after a lot of earlier rain. This wet grass was tangled amongst the brambles making cutting them down difficult and hard work.

Graham gets some assistance from Alan R with his scythe. 

Erika and Eric get stuck into the brambles along with Graham and Alan R. Meanwhile, I was raking up the cut down stuff and taking these photos.

When we'd finished cutting and raking we had a couple of piles of brambly bits and a pretty much clear patch of grass.

We still had some time left before the end of the session and used it to dig out a channel on each side of the steps leading down to the bridge. This will hopefully lead any water runoff away from the steps directly into the stream and make the steps a bit less muddy for visitors and their dogs.

Wood Chip and Steps

Autumn is well under way now and we need to get on with maintenance and repairs. Part of this involves the paths that go up and down our various hills and banks. We recently had a delivery of wood chip from South Glos so for the work party last Sunday 10th November we used some of it to repair steps. I went down to the woods a few days before to check on the leaky dams we'd built a few weeks ago only to find that the stream had almost completely dried up and there was no water behind them at all As I was there, I walked around  to see how things were looking in general and found that ...

... the flight of steps going down from post 6 to the bridge needs some care and attention.

And four of the steps had been removed completely then thrown into the scrub alongside the path.

The first job was to put some wood chip into bags and carry them up the valley path and along to the steps near post 6. We moved a lot of wood chip, there's loads more around the corner at the top as well as the bags you can see here. In particular, Andy put in a tremendous amount of work shifting the chip.

Then Erika, Graham, Andy and Rob began the repairs to install the steps that had been moved ...

... and spread wood chip on them to level off the front edges.

The rest of the steps down down to the bridge were dealt with, then we crossed over and spread more wood chip to level the steps on that side of the stream.

This job was finished off - Graham is checking that it was done properly! It was a good morning's work and we achieved a lot.

Water, Water Everywhere

For the work party on Wednesday 23rd October, our main plan was start the construction of some 'leaky' dams. We've had problems in the past with water from the stream that runs down the valley flowing over the path by the tool store. 

 

When I arrived for the work party the stream was well over the path and pouring out from the downstream  end of the culvert pipe. There seemed to be a blockage in the pipe which I tried to remove, but with little success.

The other volunteers soon arrived and we set about solving our blockage problem. With some 'torch shining' up the pipe and some poking from the other end ...

... and a bit more poking with a bigger stick, the blockage was cleared. It turned out to be two tennis balls and a large lump of rock. The stream is now back to its normal course through the culvert and the path can dry out properly. We've installed a kind of grid over the pipe entrance which we hope will stop large items getting in. Fingers crossed!

We could now get on with the work we had planned to do. This was to start building some 'leaky dams' higher up the valley the stream flows down. A leaky dam is one of the methods used to help flooding problems. A leaky dam is built from the natural materials found in the woods and restricts, but doesn't stop, the water flow. We'd had looked previously for a suitable dam building site ...

 

... and thought that these two might well be suitable.

We began by moving the poles that would form the main part of the structures from other parts of the woods to the stream and started to lay them across the water.

Erika and Eric are building the lower dam, Alan R and Alan W (I'm taking the photos) are having a go at the middle one ...

... while Peter and Graham are doing the upper section.

The main structure of the lower dam is near to completion...

... and the upper section is progressing well.

The middle dam is just about finished, just needs a few tweaks ...

... and the upper bit gets its final piece.

You can see the 'three dams' stretching up the valley ...

... and the ponds that are already forming.

We had a tricky start this morning clearing the pipe which delayed the start of the dam building but we made really good progress. You could be forgiven for thinking that calling our structures dams is a bit pretentious as they are just piles of sticks, but dams are what they are. We will leave them for a while to let them settle in, then see how they are getting on and adjust them if needed.