Diary Reports - 2011
10 December 2011
On a beautiful, crisp winters morn we broke the ice on the three scrapes in the Central Meadow to carry out our seasonal re-profiling and deepening of these important breeding pools for frogs and toads which have been drying out in the spring.
We celebrated another hard but enjoyable year with mince pies and hot chocolate!
Thank you all who have helped in the 2011 work parties your work is never forgotten.
19 November 2011
On a damp, misty morning we cleared vegetation, such as brambles, bracken and nettles away from the hedging plants we had planted in November 2010. Where there were some obvious gaps we planted around 40 new hedging plants.
We also litter picked along the hedge line all around the rugby pitches.
15 October 2011
A great turnout in glorious autumn sunshine saw 4 tonne of path gravel barrowed down to repair the path from the wooden foot bridge towards the Western meadow.
Membrane was laid, gravel applied then ‘wackered’ down. All of which was achieved manually as Ben could not be with us with his mini digger.
Vegetation was also cleared overhanging the footpaths.
17 September 2011
A great turnout in lovely sunshine, which followed a heavy downpour, saw several tasks undertaken.
We cut willow saplings in the Central Meadow in preparation for the autumn mowing and used them to repair a dead hedge next to the River Rother. We also cut back a large willow next to the scrapes.
Other volunteers pulled and cut seed heads off the ever present Himalayan Balsam whilst others repaired the broken rail on the wooden bridge across the Tilmore Brook.
A very successful and enjoyable mornings work!
20 August 2011
We removed long grass and vegetation around the bench seats, and trimmed back the brambles and nettles from the path either side of the wooden bridge. We also trimmed back the vegetation and removed low hanging branches along the path between the pumping station and the Western Meadow.
The boardwalk to the pond was cleared of Himalayan Balsam and nettles.
16 July 2011
Jill Oakley led the workparty and three other members braved the rain. We examined the fallen tree and decided to cut off the branches that stuck out over the path making it difficult for walkers to pass.
We made a habitat pile in the woodland with the branches. We also removed some very thick ivy stems that had fallen over the path overnight morning and added these to the pile.
The rain became quite a lot heavier so at about 11 o’clock we decided to finish work for the morning.
18 June 2011
We removed low branches on a few trees along the footpath, removed long grass and vegetation around the bench seats, and trimmed back the brambles and nettles from the path either side of the wooden bridge.
We then pulled Himalayan Balsam in the Western Meadow, which we made into a pile under a large willow on the northern boundary, before covering the pile with plastic sheet. The willow hid the pile and also provided reasonable shelter for us from a heavy shower half way through the work party.
21 May 2011
A great turnout on a lovely warm day saw 4 tonne of path gravel barrowed down to repair the path alongside Tilmore Brook. A new ‘by-pass’ path was created, looping round two Alder’s into the woodland, to relieve pressure on the bank side on a narrow section of the path. Other areas of path were also patched up with more gravel.
Membrane was laid, gravel applied then ‘wackered’ down. All of which was achieved manually as Ben could not be with us with his mini digger. Vegetation was also cleared away from the footpaths.
Many thanks must go to Ben Spraggon & Bernie who could not be with us this time, and unfortunately will not be joining us again, for their previous sterling work with mini-digger and barrowing, all at no cost to Rotherlands.
16 April 2011
We reinforced three sections of the footpath next to the Tilmore Brook which was becoming narrow through natural erosion and where dog’s enter the water. This revetment work was achieved using hazel rods and chestnut stacks driven into the bank side and then hazel and willow weaved in and back filled with brash and earth.
19 March 2011
We walked the entire length of the hedge firming in canes and adjusting plastic spiral coils where necessary and replacing any missing canes and coils. We were delighted that nearly all the plants were in bud or sprouting leaves.
We inspected the insect homes along the planted hedge and found that much of the bamboo filling had fallen out of many of the housings. We cut bamboo into suitable lengths, refilled where necessary and repositioned the homes to ensure that the bamboo filling would not fall out so easily in future. We used up all our supply of bamboo so we couldn’t repair insect homes elsewhere on the reserve.
We swept the entire reserve for litter including the EHDC area where we discovered the remains of a very old car! The amount of litter seemed less than usual but was quite bad behind the rugby club area. We collected eight bags of rubbish altogether.
19 February 2011
The workparty started in very wet drizzle conditions but ended up being a very fruitful exercise throughout the whole reserve.
The whole footpath was walked with overgrown vegetation at ground & head level trimmed back. Four repaired bird boxes were put up back in position. Three notices for the forthcoming Meadowlarks Forest Playgroup were put in the notice boards, recently planted hedgerow checked, litter was picked, and future work parties discussed as we worked. And eventually the sun did come out!!
15 January 2011
The first workparty of 2011 saw us repair the dead hedge next to the bluebell wood using material cut down in the previous Autumn from the ‘scallops’ cut into the tree-line behind the rugby pitch.