Blog

Well, it was a more relaxed (i.e. less physical) day this week at a small woodland near Bingley St. Ives. We were working for an initiative called Forest of Bradford, helping to confirm whether or not the site is an ancient woodland. Its status as an ancient woodland was to be tested by carrying out a survey of the species of plants found on the woodland floor.

After a short stroll around the place to become aquainted with some of the plants which are markers for these ancient woodland sites, we were split into small teams and given a map of the site along with a list of plant species to look for. The list included holly, wild garlic, wood sorrel, golden saxifrage, wood sage, bluebell, wood aven, wood anemone and others (to be honest, I would have listed them all here but these are the ones I can remember - there weren't that many more!). Some were easier to identify than others, especially as not all the flowering plants were in flower.

By the end of the day we had compiled and mapped out a comprehensive list, and I guess it's now up to the experts to ascertain the woodland's status. It looks promising though. It would be nice to get an update from Forest of Bradford at some point.

This week saw us at the Bowling Park Community Orchard. There were lots of jobs on the list for this fairly large site, and we soon got down to work.

I may miss something out, but here's an attempt at listing the tasks we managed to achieve:

- install colourful bird boxes
- clear/tidy woodland area
- mowing
- weeding (a small entry, but a big task!)
- install insect homes
- clear pond area and bog garden
- move willow fence

We were rewarded by glorious sunshine in the afternoon, and, at the end of the day, left tired but satisfied (well, I did at least!) that the site looked better than it did when we arrived!

This week we were at Reevy Mill Dam. Our job was to clear the path which had become overgrown with grass, and to install 2 lovely new benches. We were helped by a group of kids from the local school, some of whom also helped clear a lot of the litter from the dam itself - good job lads!

We also enlisted the help of a couple of lads from the school to try out the height of the benches before committing cement to the holes we had dug. Once levelled out, the benches were fixed into position and the site made good. By the time we had finished, the benches looked like they had been there for years!

There still remains plenty of work to be done here, clearing the paths a little more and making sure the dam is free of litter, but we made a good start and hopefully local people will be inclined to spend a little time to sit and watch the resident geese fighting!