We all know about “de-rhododendronisation” but this was a
relatively tame affair. Not the usual mass slaughter, more a reprise of
previous visits to cull regeneration. Nevertheless a passing dog walker accused
us of vandalism, an unkind remark that we bore with our usual stoicism.
Don't you dare!
Jan and Will prefer to deal with the slightly larger branches...
...as they are much more tasty.
But there was an additional task. While most of us tackled
the re-growth, Paul worked with a small muscular group in hole digging tasks
with the intention of planting 17 posts that would replace some unattractive
geocache markers. Children lucky enough to spend time at Bewerley Park Outdoor
Centre will be the beneficiaries.
Work begins on inserting geocache posts.
It's not so easy as it sounds...
...so forces have to be joined.
Once in they look very smart.
Better than the old ones!
Lunchtime for the gang.
We, “the Vandals”, left the Postmen, “the
Visigoths” to get on with the work until
we ran out of pre-cut rhodies early in the afternoon at which time there was a
lull in activities with the Vandals unsure what to do next. Three serious
students of flora were seen using their apps to identify nettle species.
How many petals? What about the leaf arrangement?
Others slunk back to the Barn and as I was one of the slinkers I don’t know what
happened next. But having seen the Visigoths at work it was obvious that they
were having a difficult time and we may be back there again to continue with
the geocache work.
Next week it’s the Summer Walk! This week there were twelve
of us under Paul’s leadership, next week Will is in charge and the tempting
thought of free food at a local pub should result in a good turnout.
Tony
An aside for interested readers:
The Fishpond Wood ice house is now fully renovated and looks wonderful. Living inside the house is a number of European cave spiders .
An additional job that some of the Vandals did this week was to bash the bracken around the ice house - no easy task! This obviously happened once the slinkers had slunk!!
All this bracken....
...was masking this lovely ice house.
Inside the spiders are patiently waiting for their prey.
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