Tuesday 23rd December 2025 - The last taskday of 2025 finally arrived with the traditional thermal disposal of the harvested Blackthorn on Roundshaw Downs.
As a large turnout of a team arrived at the chilly expanse they were glad to get the fire burning to counter the cold, rapidly going through the material gathered from last Tuesday and Sunday and even adding a bit more as the activity got underway.
The final before and after pics show the stretch of Blackthorn tackled this year, from when the team arrived on Tuesday 16th and left at the end of today.
Sunday 21st December - Today's small but determined team assembled to tackle the remaining section of blackthorn, left by Tuesday's volunteers. A great way to conclude a year of Sunday Task Days at Roundshaw Downs.
Thursday 18th December 2025 - Today's task ended up being a test of endurance for the volunteers as they spent a soggy morning battling vegetation at Queen Marys Woodland.
Descending into the North-Eastern tip of the central woodland the light spitting rain matured to a steadier heavy bombardment as the day wore on.
With minimal shelter from the towering leafless deciduous tree's the team soaked up all they could take as they felled clusters of self-seeded Sycamore's, cleared a couple of bags worth of litter and significantly pushed back a tide of Bramble to rescue Tree whips planted about two years ago.
Tuesday 16th December 2025 - It was a truly mild day for the time of the year as a large team made preparations for the final taskday of the 2025 at Roundshaw Downs.
With a bigger split between the felling and harvesting of the old Blackthorn and the "thermal disposal" next Tuesday the volunteers once again amassed a staggering amount of material after of course a thorough check and mark up of Brown Hairstreak Butterfly eggs on newer growth.
Thursday 4th December 2025 - The coldness held off which could not be said for the constant drizzle from arrived in force from midday.
Managing to cover two site's on todays outing, a full strength team spent the first half of the day at Caraway Place where a light dredging to the pond got underway, a number of half fallen trees and stumps got felled and the usual tree tangling Bramble and patches of Nettles got pulled.
The final couple of hours of work had the team move to The Spinney where, although unphotographed, the team pushed their way along the central pathway clearing a tangled lattice of Bramble and brashing up a number of smaller trees that had come down since their last visit.
