Wed 25th May 2016 - Wroxall Stream (by the Donkey Sanctuary). GG # 636.

Mark's Photographs.

With the weather starting to improve (fingers crossed!) and everything starting to grow once again, it can only mean one thing for Team GG……. Pesky Plant Pulling (known to all as PPP). This week we were working on the stream that runs to the west of the Donkey Sanctuary at Wroxall, a site we have visited many times in the past (see the numerous "back issues" of this blog). At this venue, the pesky plant we are concerned about is Himalayan Balsam - (see this link for details Himalayan balsam/RHS Gardening - Royal Horticultural Society ). At this time of the year the plants are still very small and rather difficult to spot but….. if they are not pulled now, when we return in a few weeks time they will be head height! This was a well attended session allowing comprehensive coverage of the stream and resulting in many piles of uprooted plants stacked along the banks of the stream. Well done everyone.

Quiz time.

Martin came across the "bug" pictured above (thanks for the photo Linda). Any suggestions as to what it might be?

Many thanks to Mark for the photos this week.

Wed 18th May 2016 - Millennium Green, Ryde. GG # 635.

Terry's Photographs.

A patch of Bugle (Ajuga Reptans).

Rain greeted the gang as we assembled for the start of this week's session but by the time elevenses came around the clouds were parting.  That first slightly damp hour, as the photos show, was used to patch some of the more muddy stretches of paths which network around the site.  With that finished off, and after the break, we set about to manage the little butterfly meadow with what is now a regular task of limiting the sprouting bramble.  This area was once completely bramble but we helped clear it many years ago and it is now a wonderful patch of wildflowers and grasses which during the summer becomes alive with invertebrates, amphibians and lizards too.  More bramble was cut back in the woodland to lighten the area and yet more encroaching upon paths.  A busy and successful session!

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs and Mark for the editorial.

Photos - Watershoot Bay and Merstone.

I have just received the following from Alex. Thought you might be interested? He writes…...

Just been reading your Blog about Watershoot Bay I missed out on a good morning it seems. I have attached a Pic taken last November at the Bay during a Storm showing a mass of Foam maybe some of the debris you found is hiding under the Foam?

Also attached a few Pic’s of Merstone Station I found from Railway days, the angle of views highlights the trees we park our cars under.

Thanks for sending them in Alex.

Wed 11th May 2016 - Watershoot Bay, St Catherine's. GG # 634.

Mark's Photographs.

The long trek down to the beach...

Oh dear..! Can we just turn around and go home?

Work gets underway.

Every time we come here we ALWAYS find one of these!

Just a small amount of the rope we collected.

Looking better.

For info about the crate above… view these links.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogaland

http://www.rogfisk.no/delfi/

Can this be the same beach..?

Above and below… the "spoils" of the day.

This is why there is a lighthouse here.. for foggy days!

Carol Kirkwood, the BBC weather presenter, announced on the early morning weather forecast for Wednesday, that the rainfall on the Island was the highest in the UK overnight. That set the scene for our GG session this week - but fortunately the rain stopped soon after 1000 hrs..! The rain stopped but turned into low cloud with "mizzle" (misty drizzle) but, just occasionally, the sun would break through.
After the long walk down from the car parking area the first views of the beach were NOT good. In all the years we have been doing the beach clean here (9 years?) we had never seen so much litter and debris - it was strewn everywhere…! We decided, very early into the session, that the best approach was to haul all the large bits to the bottom of the cliff path and then form a human chain to manhandle it up to the collection point. Such was the volume that we decided to leave all the wood on the beach and concentrate on the plastic, rope and other non-biodegradable items. Part of our work here usually incorporates the listing of every item collected as this forms part of an annual national survey for beach debris. This time we had so much to collect that it would have been totally impossible to list everything AND clear the beach in just one session. At the completion of a very strenuous session everyone was astounded at the huge pile that had accumulated at the collection point. Far more than we had collected on previous years and that was with a reduced Team GG today (down to about 15 of us). Then came the long haul, back up the never ending hill, to the car park. Usually there is a wonderful view of the light house as you climb higher but this wasn't to be today…due to the low cloud surrounding it. An extra special WELL DONE to all those attending today - an excellent result when working under difficult conditions.

Mark's Note.

Isle of Wight Green Gym were delighted that we received a grant for today's session as it was supported by the HP Beach Clean Up Fund.  This has meant the group has been able to purchase some items to aid our work and cover the costs of the day.  HP printer cartridges have been found along the South coast following their loss at sea in 2014.  Today we found 5 of them, see photo above.

Photographs this week were taken by Mark…. Thank you!

Wed 4th May 2016 - Cockleton Meadow, Gurnard. GG # 633.

Sue's Photographs.

Pre-session briefing.

The pipe bridge.

Relocated cowslips.

Cleaning up the pond area.

Transporting the grass sods.

The finished pipe bridge.

Tea break.

"We plough the fields and scatter, the good seed on the land"

Working in the orchard.

Making bee houses.

The pond area - work continues.

Bob's Aero Photographs.

The ponds area.

Starting the wild flower area.

The orchard area.

Tea break…!

This was our second visit to this site and the Gurnard Open Spaces Project. (See this link for the first one… Wed 24th Feb 2016 - Cockleton Meadows. - Gurnard. …)We were to continue the clearance and tidy-up work we started last time and, in addition, sow lots of wild flower seeds to give the grass field a meadow look. The area surrounding the ponds needed a really good rake-up to get rid of all the debris from the previous cutting session. To assist the drainage from the field to the pond area, a deep ditch was cut and a length of plastic drainage pipe inserted. The pathway was then reinstated above the pipe. Some of the team went through to the lovely orchard area and continued to remove the bramble and weeds, giving the trees and shrubs room to grow. Obviously, great care was taken to ensure that no nesting birds were disturbed! The wild flower seed sowing team had a tough job trying to remove areas of grass turf before scattering the seed. It will be interesting to come back at a later date and see what a change it has made. Since our last visit here there has been a lot of hard work done to plant numerous saplings around the perimeter of the site - well done to volunteers who did all that. The weather was a glorious sunny day so perhaps spring has finally arrived?

Many thanks to Sue and Bob for the photographs this week.