Thursday 16th May 2024 - Although the day looked overcast and a spitting of rain was present as the day began there was still a trace of humidity to be felt as the team set to work on three quarters of the Wellfield complex of sites.
Awarding the greater amount of the working day to Wellfields East and West, the volunteers set about planting up 18 plug plants of Horseshoe Vetch between the two halves, a minor spot of weeding, Bramble control and moss reduction to the chalk scrapes; and a partial Spring cut to surrounding verges and denser rank grasses on actual sites.
With a last hour to spare the team then made their way to Wellfield North where they cleared Ivy and Sycamore regrowth from obstructing the gates before making some headway with Nettle and Thistle removal along the lengthy border which transitions into Queen Mary's Woodland.
Tuesday 14th May 2024 - A sparse contingent of volunteers were out for the days activities but two sites still got a visit and some attention.
Trampling through still wet vegetation the first site of the day was Therapia Lane Rough where the time devoted time to weeding out a number of undesirable species (Bramble, Hog Weed and Goats Rue in varying densities e.g the before/after pics!) and brushcutting select areas of rank grasses to aid the spread of some of the rarer species on this botanically diverse site.
Moving to Richmond Green for their next exploit, remaining stumps of the Wingnut Trees were treated with Herbicide to speed up its demise whilst the rest of the team carried out a close mow to the areas brushcut a couple of weeks ago, dug out a few more undesirable plant species that had been missed and seeded the barer patches of land with a wild flower seed mix.
Thursday 9th May 2024 - The Sun baked away on the sizeable contingent of volunteers as they set to work at Roundshaw Downs.
As the Tractor set off to the furthest areas of the sprawling site to continue those essential Spring mow's before the vegetation goes too wild the remainder of the team divided up around the Southern paddock locale.
With one division of the team concentrating their attention on the Southern Butterfly bank, weeding out undesirables and performing a Brushcut to the fenceline grass the other strike force set about scrub control in the paddock, clearing back fence engulfing Bramble, popping and lopping emerging Dogwood growth that had erupted through plains of desired wild flowers and making a start inching back Hogweed that is still forming a great tide over a portion of the site.
Tuesday 7th May 2024 - Sunshine was in abundance but the soil underfoot was decidedly squelchy for a slight team being joined by a work experience student at Sutton Common.
The sites Spring Meadow cut with the Tractor and flail was the main order of the day. Unfortunately the said soaked soil was unsuitable for the task meaning only a sliver of the site could be cut and alternative activities took precedence.
Using the Brush-cutter, remaining grass and unwanted vegetation were cut around both sides of the new hedgeline, a mix of approx 50 home cultivated Red Campion and Meadowsweet were planted to enhance the sites botanical diversity, Bramble was trimmed back where needed and Dock was hunted down and weeded out whilst the ground was relatively soft.
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