On the coldest morning
of the winter so far 5 intrepid volunteers made their way to Hoe
Fen.
Our job was to dismantle a large game pen, but despite its size
it is well hidden and it even took Iwan a little time to find
it.
The pen is about 50 metres square and still in good condition.
In order to get inside Clive decided to climb a partly fallen
tree, only to discover later that there are 2 doors that would
have made his job much easier!
The size and construction of the pen were slightly daunting; the
fencing was 6 foot high, made up of 4 different lengths of chicken
wire- that makes nearly 2 kilometres for us to sort out. Surrounding
the outside is an old electric fence which needed to come down
first- that's about ½ kilometre of wire to roll up.
Our first task was with loppers and bow saws to cut back the undergrowth
do that we could get at the pen. We then managed to get rid of
the electric fence completely, and made good inroads into the
chicken wire, as you can see from the photo - but we have left
more for the next group to do!
It was a good day - the sun shone all day and we made good progress
- so what more could we ask for?!
[from Val - Chairman]
CNTV participated
on Make A Difference Day (MADD) at Wimpole Hall by clearing part
of the Ha-Ha wall,
and installed more fencing around the Walled Garden. The aim was
to improve the view of the house and folly.
Once fencing and clearing work is completed, the area around the
walled garden will be opened to the public.
Below: Volunteer group with Wimpole Hall in background with Phil,
the head gardener to the left.
Below left: clearing
the ha-ha....... Below right: lunch break
Below left: installing
fencing and gate posts........ Below right: pile clearings from
ha-ha ready for shredding
Anglesey Abbey,
yet more grass raking! - 20th August Continuing the clearing
of grass in the wild flower meadows
Above: Val and Joan
throwing cut grass into the trailer of the Kawasaki Mule.
Steve and Mark on the right with Lop in the background. (Photo:
Tom Howes)
Programme was to
continue clearing the paths to the wildlife area we has started
earlier this year.
However, that had now been completed by 350 employees from Goldman
Sachs volunteering
as part of their work team building exercise.
Wimpole Gardens
fencing and clearing the ha-ha - 13th August
(how did that ha-ha get its name? click here to find out)
The ha-ha includes
a grassed area with trees and is adjoining the Victorian Gardens.
The ha-ha area is currently un-accessable to the public, but does
offer magnificent views
of Wimpole House across the fields. Our task for this Sunday was
to help Phil erect
a fence and prune trees in preparation for the opening of this
area to the public.
Above: clearing
and pruning in the ha-ha
Below: erecting metal fence posts
Anglesey Abbey
meadows cut and clear - 23rd July Our Sunday task was
to clear the cut grass in the meadows.
Yet another very warm summers day - great to be outside.
Left: cut grass
in the meadows .. Right: Clyde, Mark, Joan and Val pose in front
of the Abbey
Above: Clyde, Val and Joan collecting grass into heaps using modified
turnip forks and wooden rake.
The meadows and gardens are excellent places for wildlife, over
lunch a deer passed within 50metres of us.
This time of the
year is also great for photographing butterflies and where better
than
in the gardens of National Trust properties. Below are two examples
from Anglesey Abbey gardens.
Right: common blue (female)
Below: painted lady
sipping nectar from a Dahlia in the gardens. Butterflies can only
sip liquid food such as
nectar from flowers using its proboscus or "tongue".
You can just make out the tongue
in the photo below - look for the fine black line just below the
head.
Henman Weekend
Task pictures - 7-9th July
A weekend task at
Henman
basecamp in the North
Downs near Dorking clearing ragwort. download
our photo album of
the weekend - 1.5MB file for viewing with Adobe Acrobat reader.
Left: Henman basecamp...............................Right: pond
in basecamp gardens
That's it for the
diary pages.....we hope you enjoyed reading.....perhaps you'd
like to join us?
