Work party - December 3rd 2017

Bit of a grey, damp morning for our last work party of the year. Most of the leaves have now fallen from the trees and with the nettles and other undergrowth dying back, whole new vistas open out where you can see right through the wood.

 The hunt for brambles encroaching on the path edges continues. These scrubby bits are added to brash line on the woodland boundary.

Iris foetidissima  (stinking iris) plants were divided and potted up. This native iris has insignificant yellow flowers in spring but amazing bright orange berries in the autumn which the birds love.

It took a bit of effort with the dry soil but 6 native honeysuckles were successfully planted to grow up some mature trees. In the top picture you can also see the ash trees marked for thinning out.

In the glade area, one of the old seating logs was removed to make way for a new bench to match the other three. A good start was made on digging the holes for the posts in dry, heavy clay soil. One of the holes was filled with water to soften the earth and this task will be completed at a later date.

And to finish pig club sausage hot dogs and giant toasted marshmallows.

Many thanks to Neil and Mark for submitting our application to Skipton Building Society and to everyone that voted. The good news is that we have been awarded £500 towards the future development of the woodland. Watch this space for news on how it will be spent.

Halloween 2017

A fine night with a murky moon and lots of fun to be had in the woodland.

With pumpkins and tea light lanterns marking the paths, the children amused themselves chasing round the wood and the adults had time to chat around the fire pit.

The woodland group provided hot fruit punch and hot chocolate to drink and marshmallows and sausages to toast on the fire. 

Hanging lantern in the den.

Sunday 29th October 2017 - Work Party

This is really November's work party held a week early to get the wood ready for the Halloween event on Tuesday. Autumn means leaves and being a woodland there were are lots of them. Some of the work was done on Saturday but there was still plenty to do.

With wheelbarrows, rakes and big rubble sacks, the paths were cleared of leaves which were collected in a large pile in the corner of the woodland to rot down into leaf mould. This can be used to mulch round the fruit trees or added to the forest floor. Most of the leaves that fall are left to add to the leaf litter as it is such an important habitat for invertebrates and fungi but it is useful to define the paths and let as much light as possible get to the sparse grass underneath.

In the glade area, the height of some of the hazel was reduced to let more light get to the Baldwin apple tree. A few snagging brambles were also removed.

Off site some more of the small way marking discs were being prepared to be put up at a later date to make the wood more easy to find. There are seedheads, berries, ivy flowers for bird and insect food and more leaves to come down, still nice and dry for shuffling in.

Sunday 8th October 2017 - Work party

 A still, quiet morning and an early start. Having postponed the work party and group social from last weekend because of poor weather, we met at 8.30 this month and had breakfast before work to avoid a clash with the church harvest festival afterwards.

        

Once full up the jobs got done. 100 daffodil bulbs were planted in the plum bed cleared last month.

To encourage even more wildlife three more bird boxes, made by Richard, were put up and holes were drilled in the standing ( almost ) deadwood tree for invertebrates.

The seemingly endless job of digging out brambles, nettles and sycamore seedlings from the willow bed continues but we are keeping on top of it.

The session finished with plum cake made from woodland plums.

There were 3 quince on the tree this year!

The leaves are beginning to change colour now.

H

Sunday 3rd September 2017 - Work party

All too soon summer turns into autumn but at least in the woodland we have a lovely display of berries and leaves to look forward to and some fruit from the orchard trees.

The plums were picked and the surrounding area cleared of suckers and brambles before being sickled, reducing the height of the undergrowth using a sickle, ready for planting wild daffodil bulbs next month.

The log stack was tidied up ready for selling. The log store for the fire pit, in the glade area, was made waterproof and replenished.

Many thanks to Erin for the photos this month.

We need votes!

We have been shortlisted for a funding award from Skipton Building Society but to get the money we need votes. To find out more, and vote!,  Follow the link

https://www.skiptongrg.co.uk/apply-for-funding/2017-shortlisted-groups/east-of-england/framsden-woodland-group-eades-orchard/