Last weekend was epic... with a fabulous turn-out of thirteen, we sawed, stacked, pulled, cut and raked, picked and collected our way to a well-deserved coffee.
Sawed: Dead wood from some fallen elm trees which were threatening to come down across paths to prepare for creation of refugia later in the year.
Stacked: The wood ready for use in refugia later in the winter.
Pulled: We pulled a lot of Reedmace from the pond margins, clearing a 2-3m wide channel of what will be clear water when the pond re-fills after more rain. The stems and roots were left beside the pond, so mobile creatures (dragonfly larvae, water beetles etc.) could make their way back down to the water.
Cut and raked: The grass cutting season has begun, with Paul taking one of our "beast" brush-cutters to the grass alongside the paths. Much more of this to come!
Picked and collected: Another strong "harvest" of litter from the site... much of which was sorted for recycling.
All in all, a staggeringly productive week. Thanks so much to the fab thirteen!
https://hamptonheath.org
This week, we will (of course) be collecting any litter, we'll continue grassland management with the brush-cutters, stack the reedmace stems away from the pond margins, and get on with the wild-flower seeding we missed last week. We have Wild Carrot and Weld seeds to scatter and rake in.
We'll also have a sneaky look for some fungi - it's that time of year. And we're already getting fabulous photos of Fieldcaps and Inkcaps in the Whatsapp Group.