Thursday 17th September 2026 - The team of volunteers managed to tackle two sites for todays activities, Belmont Pastures and another return to the sprawling Roundshaw Downs.
Beginning at Belmont, the team may have missed the rain falling during the early morning but they still had to deal with its aftermath as they set about raking and shifting the pre-cut arisings that had absorbed much of the moisture. With a bit of harrowing from the Tractor to gather the last strands of grass the squad then set about a spot of plug planting to the pastures as well as snipping back straggling Bramble.
Seizing the opportunity of being able to drive on the site whilst the ground is still firm, the afternoon had the team return to Roundshaw Downs to make a comprehensive sweep of the sprawling vista, making many stops to load the trailer to capacity with arising self produced over the last couple of weeks and remnants left over from the contractor harrowing.
Tuesday 15th September 2026 - There was a tinge of mugginess in the air as the skies changed between overcast and sunny throughout the day as the volunteers set about work at Cuddington Rec.
As the hum of the brush-cutter filled the air, the team spent their day raking grass cuttings from the scrubby long grass areas and filling not one but two trailers, the bio-diversity teams and a helpful spare provided by the Idverde team, reducing the long trip to Mitcham and back.
Thursday 10th September 2026 - After Tuesdays rain-soaked taskday an urgency to get sites cleared of arisings was definitely at the forefront of everybody's mind.
With the team at a fair size the day kicked off at Anton Crescent Wetland where the squad worked in close unison to load the trailer with the meadow cuttings gathered on Monday. As one full trailer weighing in at north of one tonne was despatched to the transfer station at Mitcham the remaining squad got busy clearing out straggling Bramble and a light bit of Tree regrowth ready for another tip run once the trailer was back.
After disposing of this second smaller load the final phase of the day had the team heading to Roundshaw Downs to shift more arising left over from Tuesday which luckily could stay on site at one of the designated compost heaps.
Tuesday 8th September 2026 - The rain was a constant factor falling in varying degrees of intensity as a full team bolstered by one new volunteer returned to Roundshaw Downs.
Having raked the grass arisings in the South-East corner up when they were bone dry last Thursday todays activity was much more of a struggle for the volunteers to shift the piles to the compost heaps as they gained weighty moisture minute by minute, luckily the Tractor and Harrow was on call to alleviate some of the burdon.
Thursday 3rd September 2026 - With numbers boosted by a new volunteer joining the ranks the team made a return to Roundshaw Downs.
Amassing in the South East region of the site, as the Tractor and topper finished off the last parts of the meadow cutting the volunteers devoted their day to the first phase of the clear up, raking the cuttings into windrows and heaps ready for moving to the compost heaps on a final visit.
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