IMG_20211102_125401
A sunny Tuesday , the first in November 2021, and I thought I would have an amble round Maulden Woods with my camera and phone. It started well when I arrived at The Working Woodland Centre to find Sue Raven, Tim Spencer and Guy Lambourne who were all heading my way to see the Si;ver Birch growth on Raven's Heath. It was good to catch up but I left them there with the cattle browsers> I wandered south to the very edge of the Southern Wood boundary before following a path that lead to the picnic site and the fire pond. It is obvious there is a lot of catching up to do there and back on Raven's Heath where gorse and Canary Grass, Broom and Birch have all run riot over the COVID years. There was very little moving in the way of invertebrates and nary a Speckled Wood etc to be seen.
17/11/2023
Jamie Proud
Attachments
Fri, 17 Nov, 14:18 (5 days ago)
to Michael, Carolyn, Dan, Sue, Sarah, Robert
Hi all,
Thank you for all your hard work this week. On Tuesday we were at Raven’s Heath, behind Maulden wood. This ridge is being rewilded from plantation woodland to heather heathland. The trees were felled around 10 years ago, and sections were then seeded with heather over the course of a few years. Today, the heather is doing very well, but broom, gorse, and saplings are intruding, and shading out the heather. Each year we try and remove the gorse and broom from the heather plots, but the broom is proving tough to keep under control, and now invasive wood small reed is also causing a problem. The volunteers did a cracking job and cleared loads of broom and gorse. There is one heather plot that was completely covered in broom, but to avoid causing too sudden a change to the developed habitat, we remove half the broom each year, and have now been doing it for three years.
On Thursday we were back out in the woods at Sandy Smith Reserve, putting up deer fencing around a glade we’d expanded. The glade will be planted with a greater number and variety of tree species to improve the age structure and diversity of the woodland. We had around 60 posts to drive in by hand, and I’d planned on that being the task for the day. The vols dove in with great gusto and had finished driving in the posts by break time! The neighbouring wetland meadow is too wet to get vehicles into, and needed some fence posts replaced, but is currently accessible from the woodland side, so the vols finished off the task by replacing posts in that field as we had the tools with us already. Next week we hope to get the wire and netting up, and then the enclosure will be ready for planting in December.
Next Tuesday we are doing more scrub work at Maulden Heath. Meet at the picnic area for 10am (map attached). We’ll be working in the adder field.
Next Thursday we are continuing the enclosure at Sandy Smith Reserve. Meet in the carpark for 9am.
Hope to see you all on Tuesday!
Yours,
Jamie
IMG_20211102_125401
A sunny Tuesday , the first in November 2021, and I thought I would have an amble round Maulden Woods with my camera and phone. It started well when I arrived at The Working Woodland Centre to find Sue Raven, Tim Spencer and Guy Lambourne who were all heading my way to see the Si;ver Birch growth on Raven's Heath. It was good to catch up but I left them there with the cattle browsers> I wandered south to the very edge of the Southern Wood boundary before following a path that lead to the picnic site and the fire pond. It is obvious there is a lot of catching up to do there and back on Raven's Heath where gorse and Canary Grass, Broom and Birch have all run riot over the COVID years. There was very little moving in the way of invertebrates and nary a Speckled Wood etc to be seen.
17/11/2023
Jamie Proud
Attachments
Fri, 17 Nov, 14:18 (5 days ago)
to Michael, Carolyn, Dan, Sue, Sarah, Robert
Hi all,
Thank you for all your hard work this week. On Tuesday we were at Raven’s Heath, behind Maulden wood. This ridge is being rewilded from plantation woodland to heather heathland. The trees were felled around 10 years ago, and sections were then seeded with heather over the course of a few years. Today, the heather is doing very well, but broom, gorse, and saplings are intruding, and shading out the heather. Each year we try and remove the gorse and broom from the heather plots, but the broom is proving tough to keep under control, and now invasive wood small reed is also causing a problem. The volunteers did a cracking job and cleared loads of broom and gorse. There is one heather plot that was completely covered in broom, but to avoid causing too sudden a change to the developed habitat, we remove half the broom each year, and have now been doing it for three years.
On Thursday we were back out in the woods at Sandy Smith Reserve, putting up deer fencing around a glade we’d expanded. The glade will be planted with a greater number and variety of tree species to improve the age structure and diversity of the woodland. We had around 60 posts to drive in by hand, and I’d planned on that being the task for the day. The vols dove in with great gusto and had finished driving in the posts by break time! The neighbouring wetland meadow is too wet to get vehicles into, and needed some fence posts replaced, but is currently accessible from the woodland side, so the vols finished off the task by replacing posts in that field as we had the tools with us already. Next week we hope to get the wire and netting up, and then the enclosure will be ready for planting in December.
Next Tuesday we are doing more scrub work at Maulden Heath. Meet at the picnic area for 10am (map attached). We’ll be working in the adder field.
Next Thursday we are continuing the enclosure at Sandy Smith Reserve. Meet in the carpark for 9am.
Hope to see you all on Tuesday!
Yours,
Jamie