Return to the Paddock

In my blog post from last October about clearing the Paddock area I speculated that we would need to do it again when growth started. Well, it's not officially summer yet but a lot of growth has already taken place

For the work party last Wednesday 28th May, we returned to the Paddock and this is what we found. 

Over the winter and spring, the hazels have put on some growth and the ground cover has increased considerably. No sign of the path we created to run alongside the fence!

Four of us - Erika, Eric, Alan R and me Alan W had turned up for the work party. We decided that with only four of us the priority was to open up the path from the entrance stile, then clear alongside the fence to the exit further down Vilner Lane. This would create a usable path through the Paddock and leave some vegetation for the wildlife.

Erika, Alan R and Eric started to clear from the fence line back towards the stile while I went in the opposite direction clearing towards the lane entrance. 

Erika came back to help me and it wasn't long before we had established a path wide enough for easy access to the lane.

We left a lot of the vegetation in place, things like hart's tongue fern and Herb Robert. Anything that provides shelter or is good for pollinators will be beneficial in the long run.

Compare this photo with the one at the start of this blog. The tree left of centre and the hazel right of centre will help a comparison and you will see how much change can be made by only four people.

The volunteers worked hard all morning to get the work done and the paddock path was soon opened up again. I expect we will be back to do a similar job but probably this year in the autumn if not before.

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!