Opening up a Glade

For the two work parties in January we started to clear and open up some of the area alongside the path between posts 13 and 14. This is the path we've been trying to improve recently by covering it with wood chip. The area we are now working on has mature trees, some small scrubby trees and bushes along with some bramble. It's quite dark here when the trees are in leaf and there are lots of hart's tongue fern and similar stuff. We don't want to completely clear the area but it would be good to let more light in and provide some access for the people who use the woods for leisure and recreation.

These photos give an idea of what this area was like to start with.

Lots of small or scrubby bits and plenty of Hart's Tongue ferns.

We began next to the path - it's on the right here, and took down some of the larger material.

We made good progress and had a reasonably big section cleared ...

... but produced a lot of waste material in the process. 

We stored this up for now and will use it later on in the year for repairs.

We had made a good start but there's lots left for us to do.

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We returned on Wednesday 28th Jan for the second January work party and carried on from where we had finished last time.

This is pretty much what we started with.

Eric and Peter set to work removing a small scrubby tree that was beginning to impede a stronger growing tree.

Eric, Jim, Peter and me then wandered around the area tidying up any small stuff and arranging them in piles of graduated sizes. We will be using most of the small stuff to form some dead hedges and the thicker pieces for step repairs and dam maintenance.

At subsequent work parties we will go further in past the wood piles and do some 'gentle' clearing in the area through the trees in this photo with the aim of making a rough path through to the Jubilee Way.

A Blocked Path

At the work party on 14th Dec we were walking towards the the path alongside the Sort-It centre when we came across this tree that had fallen across the path that heads down past the Paddock. It was a considerable blockage and had completely shut the path that forms part of the Jubilee Way.

We had intended to spread wood chip on the muddy path that the UWE students had begun last time so we split into two groups to get both jobs done.

As you can see in this close up photo the tree does not have a single trunk but is rather a tangle of small branches which will be easier to deal with.

Our local tree warden - Chris, was with us today and along with Graham and Peter ...

... they took the tree apart slowly and carefully piece by piece.

The did a fine job and the path was quickly restored.

While the tree removal was taking place the rest of us shifted another few loads of wood chip along the path to where the three UWE students had spread a lot of wood chip to improve the path.

All in all a different work party but a good day where we ended up with a fallen tree cleared and a path made a bit easier to walk along.

WOW and Woodchip

Back in early December three first year Occupational Therapy students from the University of the West of England volunteered with us as the 'WOW' part their course. This is the Widening Occupations Week in which they engage with community activity to broaden their experience.

At this time of year we have some very muddy paths which we try to stabilise by spreading wood chip on them. 

Erin, Hazel and Kaitlin with some help from Peter have made a start ...

... and continued for the rest of the morning.

The work involved moving heavy bags of wood chip from the pile near the wood entrance out to the muddy path by dragging them along on a sledge. This was heavy and demanding work but they put a lot of effort it and made a real difference. Thank you girls!

Trees and More Trees

In November we were very much focussed on trees and spent some time sorting them out.

The first one was this oak. It is half way up the slope from the Jubilee Way path to the viewpoint and was damaged to the extent that a large branch had become almost detached.

You can see in these photos that the branch has split away from the main trunk, probably from natural causes and not vandalism as we first thought. Although close to a path, it did not pose an immediate danger as a lot of it was already in contact with the ground. However, we needed to deal with it.

We began by removing the thinner branches and were careful not to put any of our volunteers at risk whilst doing so.

We piled up the arisings - thin branches and leafy bits ...

... and left the bigger stuff for the S Glos tree dept. experts to deal with over the next few days.

This they did admirably and restored the tree to a safe condition. As a bonus they also left the larger pieces of wood they'd removed. We can put these to good use in the future for other repair and restoration work.

Having dealt with the oak as best we could we moved on the the next tree.

This one was a much smaller affair that had toppled over the path between posts 16 and 17 in the old tree nursery area and was causing an obstruction to any body walking along.

Peter, Jim, Eric, Chris, Andy and me set about stripping off the smaller branches  ...

... then cut the trunk into lengths that will find a new home as part of our ongoing step repairs.

The third and final tree for the day was a thin branch that had fallen in the nursery area. It was lying across the path so we 're-purposed' it as a section of path edging.

A bit more tidying up of the path and we were finished for the day.

Stairways to 'Heaven'

For the two work parties in October we did some path maintenance. I was only present for the first of these on Sun 12th, and at the second one on Wed 22nd nobody took any photos so this post is really only about the first.

Over the spring and summer quite a lot of the steps up the valley path, and some from the viewpoint down to the bridge had become damaged. The two work parties were used to repair some of this damage.

Most of the damage was to the wooden edge of the steps. Some were wearing away, others had been broken. Here Chris is selecting some poles we'd previously coppiced as replacements.

Eric investigated the steps on the valley path ...

... and a repair was soon underway.

After replacing the wood we had to level up the step by adding wood chip.

This work was continued until ...

... all the repairs needed to the valley path had been completed.

Then on to the path down to the bridge for some preparation before the second work party.

Paddock

For the work party on 24th September we returned to the Paddock which had become a bit overgrown since we were last there in the spring. 

This photo shows how much has grown up over the summer. This is looking from the steps by the stile near post 12 ...

... and this is a little further in.

This is the 'open' area alongside the fence where the main path goes.

Looking back towards the stile Cathy, Aidan and Graham have made a good start clearing the new growth.

While Chris is assessing what to do next!

Meanwhile, Graham is clearing a path to the dumping area.

While this activity was taking place, I cleared the pathway leading to the lane.

Chris is making a start on shifting the arisings we created ...

... and has thrown himself into his work! 

We cut down and shifted a lot of stuff ...

... to restore this area to a more accessible space. 

Compare these photos with the ones at the top to see how much work was done by the volunteers. A splendid effort.