There were 10 of us this morning, once again in very pleasant conditions with plenty of bird song (even a couple of bursts of song from a winter-visiting Blackcap). On the way down through the wood we observed work in progress by contractors on the main path, which had been scraped from the south-eastern entrance almost as far north as the “bridge”. Large stones had been deposited over part of its length (presumably with a finer dressing to be applied on top). Hopefully the result will be a significant reduction in mud on that particular path.
Our main task was taking down a few young Sycamore in the central area, as part of the strategy of preventing take-over of the wood by this rather invasive species, and using the material from that to top up dead-hedges on the western boundary near where we were planting whips last month. In addition, a Sycamore growing up in front of a nest box was removed, to improve the flight path and make the box less attractive to predators. Nick and Charlotte trimmed back some privet on the path leading to another nest box, to make access easier for nest inspections in the spring. We removed stakes and ties from the oaks and limes planted about 5 years ago in “trial planting area 1”, as the trees have grown sufficiently not to need them, and at the same time we cleared back some bramble around them.
Towards the northern end of the western path a dead tree had fallen over a few months ago, forming an arch over the path. Although quite an attractive feature, it was a slight safety issue because it was easy to bump one’s head while looking down at the uneven, muddy ground. We managed to cut it down and swing it out of the way.
Thanks to all.
John Elwell
