Thursday 11th January 2024
The Gang is Back
We had a first-class turnout today. It was good to see so many familiar faces. I find the enthusiasm of the group is sometimes a little overwhelming. Despite the prospect of a few hours working outside in the cold, they still come.
Today's treat was an impromptu talk with our guest Mike Wilford. A very pleasant gentleman who answered our questions about growing and weaving willow. This is only one of the crafts on which he is knowledgable. There is some interest in this craft amongst the volunteers and so we are aiming to start willow weaving at some point this year.
Back to the brambles
When I first started the volunteer programme I never imagined that volunteers would find bramble clearing in any way satisfying. Imagine my surprise to discover that this is universally considered a very satisfying task.
This week I did not disappoint them and we started clearing back the strip of blackberry that runs alongside the lower left-hand path towards the pond. There are plans afoot for the use of this cleared area. All will be revealed in a future blog entry !
Since we have had a lot less rain and the ground has dried out somewhat, I decided that we could put the slack-line back up. Will be interesting to see the general response to this. I am hoping it adds value to the arboretum visitor experience.
Ram and Phil (our bird man) continued the task of putting up repaired and restored bird boxes for the coming nesting season.
