Diary Reports - 2007
17 February 2007
After a dull start, the weather brightened to blue sky and sun. January was cancelled because it was too wet. Julian & Lindsey led the workparty. As the main task, we collected litter that had been blown (or thrown) from the playing fields into the edge of the Reserve. We filled 20 plastic sacks with rubbish and 6 sacks with glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans for recycling. We also cut up the trunk of an alder which had been blown down across the Eastern Meadow, so that it would not interfere with the mowing. We stacked the cut sections at the edge of the meadow. Near the pumping station we tidied up a pile of earth which was beginning to spread across the gravel path.
18 March 2007
Rain delayed the start a little. Peter led the workparty. Jill stayed in the Central Meadow, with bucket and fishing net, rescuing tadpoles and transferring them to the pond. Last week it was just frog spawn, today they were energetic tadpoles enjoying the sunshine. The rest of us went to the Tilmore Brook to check on the branch Peter wanted to remove. It was not causing any problem, but 50 metres upstream a very large branch was causing a blockage. It was collecting all the twigs and rubbish and almost damming the stream, so we decided it would be more productive to remove it. This took approx 1.5hours, passing the rubbish up the bank, sorting it, putting twigs/branches into the woods and plastic bags etc into a bin liner. One item was a purse with credit cards! Julian had to get into the water to saw the branch and the rest of us used ropes to lift the logs out. Julian was now wet to the waist, so we had a drink and told Sheridan, a new recruit, all about Rotherlands.
21 April 2007
A bright, sunny and warm day. Jill led the workparty. Peter made a seat near the wooden footbridge, ably assisted by Roger. Others worked clearing encroaching vegetation from the edges of some of the paths we had made. We also clipped back nettles growing next to the paths and removed some of the protruding stobs. After the break we pulled 5 bags of litter from the Tilmore Brook by the woodland and cleared the vegetation from the edges there. Pat sat on the new seat and conducted a few visitor surveys. It was noticed that the gravel along the paths was getting rather compacted, and it was agreed that it would be useful to add some more from time to time.
20 May 2007
A warm, sunny day - Julian & Lindsey led the workparty. We were able to work mostly in the shade on our primary task, which was maintenance of the path between the wooden footbridge and the pumping station. We trimmed back the encroaching brambles and nettles along the path with garden shears, and dug out some exposed roots. Where the log edging had decayed, we pulled out the redundant stobs using a short length of rope wrapped a couple of times around the end of the stob. Jamie had brought some waders which he donned to remove rubbish from the Tilmore Brook. Peter fixed the re-varnished plaque on the boardwalk, and Jenny took some time out to pull balsam from clearings in the brambles on the Mount. As a last task, we removed several large branches from a straggly willow between the concrete bridge and the corner of the playing field. This should make access easier for the mechanical wheelbarrow at the next workparty.
16 June 2007
Torrential rain before we started, and again as we finished the task. Jenny led the workparty. Work was delayed by the late arrival of the gravel, but 8tonnes were delivered at 10.30am. Pat took photographs at the start for the Action Earth Grant, plus before and after pictures of the day’s work. Excellent progress was made, with all the gravel having been moved by 1.30pm. The main pathwork was undertaken on the western side of the wooden footbridge, extending the path into the meadow. In addition, a section of the muddy path leading into the Reserve from the far corner of the playing fields. Small drainage ditches were also dug either side of this patch - if this doesn’t work, the suggestion for the future is a boardwalk to enable access in winter.
15 July 2007
A dull, but warm day. The main task was a survey of the pond, and some of us also cut brambles and pulled balsam. Unfortunately the newts we saw on 11th July stayed out of sight, but we identified 14 water creatures, a great diving beetle, one large common frog with froglets in the grass near the pond, and common blue damselflies over the pond. We also found common duckweed and another unidentified (either fennel pondweed or slender-leaved pondweed.) When it flowers, we will make a definite identification.
18 August 2007
A pleasantly cloudy day. The party split into two to carry out a flower survey and to build a fence at the top of the bluebell wood.
The flower survey was undertaken, with Pam and Clifford (our retired surveyors) imparting their knowledge to the other surveyors.
The results will shown under ‘surveys’ in due course.
The fence was built as a narrow dead hedge, using wooden stakes provided by Jonathan and inserted with the help of his post driver. Long branches of willow were cut and woven between the stakes to form a barrier. By the end of the morning, a barrier some 15metres long was achieved. In addition some of the holes on the BMX track were filled in by Richard and Alex.
15 September 2007
Pat had received the necessary permission from the Environment Agency, so the group worked on the Tilmore Brook path area to stabilise the banks. Stakes were driven into the stream bed, next to the bank. The majority of the volunteers went to various locations, cutting willow and other suitable woody material which was then brought back and woven through the stakes.
Councillor Bob Ayer attended together with an EHDC employee, who took photographs.
20 October 2007
A good attendance, on a cool but dry and sunny day.
A further section of the path alongside the Tilmore Brook was resurfaced with membrane and gravel. The path was quite close to some gullies that had formed in the edge of the bank, so it was necessary to repair this erosion first. We used some stobs and membrane to build retaining walls across the gullies and filled behind them with earth. The earth came from the opposite side of the path, as we cut a level platform for the path. The end result was like a set of steep, narrow steps filling the gully.
We got all the gravel laid before 2pm (8 tonnes), which included time spent pumping up a flat wheelbarrow tyre and fixing the pull-starter on the wacker machine when the rope broke! An enjoyable time was had by all.
18 November 2007
Today we had our first accident (in seven years), luckily not too serious, but it did make us aware that in future we should keep all our keys to gates to the site and a list of volunteers’ mobile numbers in our first aid kit, which always goes to a workparty.
We were working on bales which had rolled down into the bluebell wood - they had spread out and were impossible to roll back. Julian went to the toolshed to collect the crowbar, meanwhile the rest of us cut off the netting around the bale furthest down the slope, pulled it apart and moved the contents on a tarpaulin to reinforce the dead hedge fence. There were a vast number of spores within the bale, we tried to keep upwind of these, but decided that we would not open any further bales. When Julian returned, the men worked on the remaining bales, by forcing the crowbar into the middle of the bale, and wrapping rope around the crowbar, to pull the bale to the top of the slope. Meanwhile the women went to remove the netting from the bales on the mount, which was easily dealt with. It then began to rain, so they decided to return to the bluebell wood and finish work, since tools were becoming slippery and difficult to use with cold hands. The men were moving bales into an upright position with the crowbar and rope, and Lindsey went to help while the other women packed up the equipment. Unfortunately Lindsey was hit on her head by the crowbar, just narrowly missing her eye. The ambulance was called, and they glued her wound at Q.E. Hospital. Thank goodness, it was not more serious. Taught us a few lessons.
December 2007
The December workparty was cancelled as it was too near to Christmas
