Mowing at the Viewpoint - Take two

Last time we were at the woods we were up at the viewpoint to begin scything the grass. There were only four of us so the area wasn't completely cleared. For the work party last Sunday 11th May we returned to complete the job. Eight of us went along and set to. 

This photo shows what we left the last time we were working here.

The day was warm and sunny, and the grass was dry. Good conditions for scything.

Eric began dealing with the grass near the path edge ...

... while Jim and Andy started scything the grass further along near the bench. 

Aiden and Cathy had been mowing closer to the top edge of the slope and were now raking up.

Will, Jim and Andy are contemplating what they have done so far before carrying on to some tougher stuff further along the path.

Looking back the other way, new volunteer Helen has been cutting and raking some of the grass from last time that has already grown considerably.

We finished around midday and you can easily see the difference from when we started.

As usual, the volunteers worked hard all morning to get the work done. The viewpoint will be tidy - for a while at least, thanks to Helen, Andy, Will, Eric, Jim above. Also Aidan and Cathy who had to leave before this photo was taken. I just hung around with them taking photos and moving some grass around!

Mowing at the Viewpoint

In the last blog post I mentioned that we had started this year's grassland maintenance at Filnore Woods. At the work party last Wednesday April 23rd we continued this work up at the viewpoint to try and keep on top of it.

As you can see the grass is starting to grow quite vigorously as the weather warms up.

There were only four of us this time and Alan R, Jim and Eric are trying out some new scythe blades we have just bought. They are making good progress while I'm lagging behind with an old blade that's showing its age.

It wasn't long before we'd cut down a considerable amount of grass ...

... then had a break before raking up the arisings, though they look a bit grumpy. Maybe I'm working them too hard!

After we'd finished raking up the grass the viewpoint was looking much tidier but of course the grass doesn't stop growing so we will be back before too long.

This is looking in the other direction along the viewpoint and the grass here is just as bad. There were only four of us this time and we did well to cut as much as we did. We'll probably have a go at this bit next time.

                                                                            

Elsewhere in the woods we have lots of bluebells this year. They have followed on from the primroses which were also plentiful.

Five Men and Erika Went to Mow

On Sunday 13th April we started our grassland maintenance activity for this year. Six volunteers were present so we got the scythes out and made a start on the welcome area grass just inside the entrance near the tool store.

The grass here is getting quite long and tussocky and needs a good trim.

Looking to the right of the entrance along the path towards post 2 you can see that the grass to the right hand side of the path is also growing longer and could do with being trimmed, but ...

... with these bluebells, along with primroses and cowslips, growing in it, we will have to wait a while before doing that.

Eric, Erika, Peter and Aidan scythed away the grass...

... Chris found some material beside the stream bed that needed to be cleared, and I dumped the cut grass and took some photos.

After a good mornings work we had cut most of the grass in the welcome area and look forward to doing it again soon!

Coppicing

At the work party last Wednesday 26th March, we did some coppicing in the small copse at the top of the valley path close to post 8. Over the last few months we have spent a lot of time dealing with brambles, steps and dams. Upcoming work will involve keeping the grassy areas and paths tidy as S Glos are not yet able to mow any grass for us. It's not quite the time to start that work yet so we had a day available to do a little bit of coppicing to give us some material for future step repairs.

This is the copse near post 8 where we worked.

And this is one of the hazel stools in the copse. Since the last time we coppiced here the hazels have put on a lot of growth and will give us some poles suitable for step repairs.

Graham is taking out the thicker branches but leaving the thinner ones to put on a bit more growth.

These are some of the branches cut from the hazel stools before being processed.

Here Aiden is trimming them to remove the thin whippy bits and leave a useful pole.

The whippy bits are not wasted though. The thicker ones can be made into stakes which are then driven into the ground every three feet or so as Peter is doing here.

Then the thinner ones are woven between the stakes to make a dead hedge. Graham and Eric are weaving the hedge alongside the scrub area opposite the copse.

We had a bit of a rest then finished ... 

... the dead hedge. A productive morning on a warm spring day.

Clearing the Slippery Slope

For the work party on Sunday 9th March 7 volunteers returned to the bottom of the slope from the lookout ridge near post 7 down to the Jubilee Way path. The upper part of this area was cleared a few weeks ago by the student volunteers from UWE followed up by more clearance at the subsequent work party. This was continued and completed at this work party. I was away for this one but Andy Farquhar kindly sent me the following photos he took at the work party.

This shows what they started with.

And here they are hard at work.

Working their way across the slope ...

... and posing for a photo opportunity!

They achieved this. Well done all of you.

WOW Students February 2025

Last week thirteen students from the University of the West of England volunteered to work in Filnore Woods as part of their WOW week. They are all 1st Year Occupational Therapy students and at this time of year they have a week called Widening Occupations Week - WOW, during which they do volunteering work in the wider community as part of their course. 

We'd had lots of rain over the previous few days so much of the woodland was very wet and muddy. This restricted the kind of work we could do on safety grounds but clearing brambles was OK. We do this kind of work because brambles are invasive and soon spread over a considerable area if left. However, we don't clear them completely because they do provide a habitat for small birds such as long tailed tits who can nest in them out of the reach of predators. We stop this kind of clearance in Feb/March though, because this is the time that nest building can start, so this was a good time to get the loppers out and get on with it.

This path near the eastern border of the woods leads from the Jubilee Way up the slope towards post 7 in the trees. As you can see there are brambles on both sides almost covering the path higher up. We are going to leave most of the brambles to the right for the birds and clear the left hand ones.

We began at the bottom of the slope and widened the start of the path to open the junction with the Jubilee Path. This was the right hand patch of brambles but we didn't remove very much, just enough to give better access to the slope.

Then we went about half way up the slope and tackled the brambles near the beech trees. This is where the thickest patches are.

The ground is better drained in this area and the footing better so we were able to make some use of slashers - long blades on the end of a pole, but very carefully and in a controlled manner.

Once the path edges were open we could begin to remove the bulk of the brambles from the ground  between the path and the boundary fence. There were lots and lots of them and they are tough to cut down but the students kept going until it was time to finish and we left  the remaining brambles for the second set of volunteers arriving the next day.

Just enough time left to make a 'WOW' sign using loppers!

The second group came along on the following day and carried on with the clearing work started by the others.

They worked their way across the slope ... 

... then split into two section, one going uphill and the other going down.

After cutting down the brambles there's still plenty to do. The bits of cut bramble, called 'arisings', have to be raked up and moved to a pile. Then all the little bits left on the ground cleaned up to leave a tidy surface.

Both of these groups were wonderful young people who were a pleasure to work with and a tremendous help to the woodland.

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