Sunshine on Spurrell’s Wood

Tuesday March 22nd was a beautiful spring morning, with chiffchaff and yellowhammers and newly released sheep in the sheep field next door. Also newly released were 11 eager volunteers, who spent the morning continuing to clear up the aftermath of the earlier storms – specifically the Oak on the North bank that had come down, bringing part of an ash with it. Peter Fisher continued to chainsaw larger limbs while some lopped and sawed smaller boughs, and others dragged branches to the footpath where they created a dry hedge, lining the path and separating it from the inner woodland.

In clearing all of the debris, we were able to restore the area around the hornbeams to the open grassland that it was before the storm. This was a really good effort, with everybody working hard at different tasks.

Ground Ivy

Towards the end of the morning, three people drove to West Beckham Old Allotments to start spreading the road chippings which had been delivered two weeks before – we need these to even out the bumps in the approach track and to help firm up the entrance to the field.

The next work party is at West Beckham Old Allotments on Thursday 7th April, when we will be scything and raking. Let’s hope for good weather!