Wed 31st May 2017 - Bodster Equine Assisted Learning CIC, Sandford. GG # 687.

Terry's Photographs.

Gizmo…. before he got very dirty!

Grab the tools and

off to see what we are working on.

A rather bland planter.

Placing out the plants prior to planting.

Tackling a huge pile of discarded fencing materials.

What this place is all about…!

Tea break and Merlin hopes for a biscuit.

Dragging the old fencing away.

What a difference…!

The area after clearance.

What a difference.

Ragwort pulling - first of the year (lots more to come!)

A cinnabar moth.

It was only the start of this month when we had our first visit to this wonderful venue. This time we were to continue some of the jobs that we had started before - working on the sensory garden removing a huge pile of old fencing material and trying to reduce the ragwort in the paddock. The main task was to finish off the sensory garden area that we had helped to form on our last visit. There were many wheel barrows full of new plants for us to position before digging them in (see above). Part of the team tackled a rather large pile of discarded fencing material, consisting of tangled wire fencing, wooden posts and barbed wire. This had to be cut apart and then transported up to the barn area. The paddock area had a considerable amour of new growth rag work growing across it so… Team GG decided to try and tackle it (the first of the year…. much more to come I suspect!) As per usual, Terry's excellent photographs beautifully demonstrate what we achieved under that beautiful blue, sunny sky. Many thanks to our hosts for letting us use the classroom facilities for the tea break.

A message from Mark…..

Hi Everyone,

As mentioned last Wednesday we've had a cancellation from Shademakers for this coming Wednesday.  They have had last minute notice from their neighbours that they are removing the wall which would have been damaged in last year's fire and Sandy and Sharon sensibly consider that our being there would be potentially difficult for both parties.  I'm hoping we can arrange a date in the summer to return to Shademakers.

For this week however we will be heading up to Brading Down for some Ragwort pulling. Long sleeves advised. Aim for the big car park where the ice cream van usually parks and we'll adjust from there.

We had a lovely thank you email from Bodster Equine, expressing their appreciation for all of the hard work everyone put in over the 2 sessions. They promise to look after the plants we planted for them last week.

See you soon.

Mark

And……some photographs from Giles.

Wed 24th May 2017 - Westridge Cemetery, Ryde. GG # 686.

Terry's Photographs.

The gateway to a new GG venue….

One of the several fallen trees.

First, trim off all the smaller branches.

Then drag them away.

Starting work on the main trunks.

Phew…all this on a hot sunny day!

Trimming some of the overhanging trees and shrubs.

What a difference…! The tumbled trees have all but gone.

One huge pile of cut branches.

So much more light getting in now.

We were careful not to step on the common spotted orchids….

and we repositioned this common toad away from the work area.

I imagine that more than a few GG members had to look at the map that Mark thoughtfully attaches to the work program before starting out to this new venue. This well hidden cemetery is to the south of the junction where Great Preston Road joins Smallbrook Lane and is one of those places that we have all driven by many times but never noticed the cemetery gates…! As parking here is very restricted, it was park in the surrounding side streets and then walk the rest of the way. We were met by the church warden who gave us a tour of the cemetery to point out the jobs that he would like us to tackle. The largest of these tasks (quite literally!) was a huge Leylandii tree that had toppled across one of the main pathways. The photographs above show just how massive this tree was and I think that we were somewhat sceptical of our chances of cutting it up. With true GG grit, we were soon removing the outer   branches before tackling the much larger trunk sections.  The sun was really beating down so it was definitely a day for short sleeves and plenty of bottled water. Come tea break, everyone was more than ready for a rest and a refreshing cuppa…! While some of the team were playing at being lumberjacks, the others were trimming back the overhanging shrubs and trees which made access to graves a whole lot easier. Special care was taken to ensure that we didn't disturb any nesting birds or step on the wildlife or wild flowers. This was a very challenging session but very enjoyable to work in such a lovely wild life haven on the outskirts of busy Ryde. Please can we have a return visit there soon?

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs this week.

Wed 17th May 2017 - Play Lane Millennium Green, Ryde. GG # 685.

Terry's Photographs.

Editorial will be added when it arrives,  (I missed this session but it did look rather wet!)