Four Go Wild In Wellies

Our Wednesday work party this week took us to pastures new.  We are now clearing the overgrown pond near Decoy Cottage.

We were a little concerned by the heavy rain upon meeting, but our work location was thankfully in a tree sheltered valley.

Having slashed through the ankle biting brambles to give safe passage to our brash pile, we moved onto the pond margins.  Our aim was to collect lying wood; remove saplings and size permitting, fallen trees; together with bank side scrub clearance.

Alison working so fast she's a blur and Keith venturing into the tangle...

We quickly outgrew our initial brash pile – it was gratifying to see just how much material had been amassed by the four of us in a short space of time and how the area was already opening up.  We concentrated on clearing a swathe back to the trail so that our progress could be clearly seen.

An improving view!

The winds increased significantly in the late afternoon, flushing out a large, circling flock of finch sized birds above the softwood plantation, their call had us scratching our heads for identification – hopefully we'll encounter them next time in more favourable conditions...

Given we are often blessed with dry, sunny weather on these occasions, it was something of a baptism of fire for our new volunteer Alison, but despite the sometimes inclement weather and black, evil smelling mud, we had an enjoyable and productive day and Alison even agreed to return!

Not quite as blessed with the weather today.

So my thanks to Alison, Keith and Michael for their good company and sustained hard work throughout the day.