Wed 25th April 2018 - Brading Down. GG # 732.

Terry's Photographs.

The only time Kev turns up early for work...and he is on crutches..!

Some of the area we cleared.

The fire gets underway.

The best bit....tea break..!

Fire is nice and hot now.

Some of the "mountains" of arisings that were collected.

The ash will be good for the soil.

This week we were back up on Brading Down to continue with the clearance work we started earlier this year. Although the whole area had been mechanically flailed, there was a lot of debris scattered around which needed disposing of. The other problem was the large amount of bramble that was already shooting up from the cleared area. This was cut back, raked up and thrown upon the fire along with all the other trimmings. The whole purpose of this work is to allow people to have a full view of the southern side of the Island - from the car park...and what a view that is... absolutely stunning! Now we have cleared the majority of the arisings, it is expected that cattle will be used to keep it down. We did have a very light sprinkling of rain but the sun kept popping through from behind the clouds.

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs this week.

Wed 18th April 2018 - Yarmouth Green. GG # 731.

Terry's Photographs.

This looks a bit neglected.....

That is one huge pile of mulch!

(see text below)

Ex Yarmouth Pier timbers.

Close-up showing the barnacles and gribble worm damage.

Even this vole popped out to see what GG was up to.

Tea time...!

The pile gets less.

The finished job.

We were surprised not to say astonished by an overnight change to the seasons, gone were yesterday's decidedly wintery gusts of wind and in their place warmth. Enough to temp out the shorts for several of the gang! 

On the Green at Yarmouth then for several jobs today. The disease resistant Elm trees planted at variou times over the past 5 or 6 years and from several sources are doing well in their islands of planting however their protective fencing was in a poor state so removal of that was necessary. In its place to define the area and to prevent Mr Contractor from strimming right up to the trees and ring barking them, we placed bark chippings. On the subject of Elms, we checked up on several trees newly planted by yours truly over this winter, the plant label shows the specific variety 'Ulmus minor Ademuz' and they are all in leaf. 

A couple of years ago we planted up a gap in the hedge where a tree had been blown down and so that was another task today, to prune around these trees, again they are looking good I'm pleased to say. Adding some native flora to the mix of salt tolerant garden species already there. 

I was delighted that a group of children from Shalfleet Primary School were on the Green too, enjoying the sun as part of a school visit to learn about the work being done on Yarmouth Pier. I was pleased to be invited to have a chat with them about the Green Gym and what we were up to.  

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

Wed 11th April 2018 - Martin's Wood (aka The Bee Fields), Newchurch. GG # 730.

Terry's Photographs.

The trek down to the work area.

Hard at work creating "scrapes".

A nice stroll down through the daffodil field.

Tea break and yummy "birthday" treats...!

More scrapes.

A bumble bee.

The long walk back.

Base camp one..!

Recently, almost every GG blog has reported that we had a wet session but..... I am delighted to say that today we had warm(ish) weather and even some sun....Yaaaay! Perhaps spring has finally decided to arrive? The weather forecasters are reporting that March has been one of the wettest on record, it certainly seems to have been that way. So...having met up in the carpark, it was a bit of a trek down to the work area but walking through the field of daffodils was a delight. Our task was much the same as when we have visited here in past years...creating new "scrapes" for the burrowing bees and other insects to burrow into. Rather than try and describe the process, it is easier to look at the photographs which should clearly show the job in hand. The new group that has recently taken over management of this site have been working hard at clearing all the undergrowth from between the trees, some of which have been thinned out to encourage growth in those that remain. Have a dig around in the following link for details of this site, and others, that they manage. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust | 47 Reserves To Visit - look at the tabs on the top of the page, select Nature Reserves and then click Martin's Wood.
Those GGmers who were not into digging scrapes were gainfully employed cutting away the old rabbit guards that many of the trees had long outgrown.
In spite of the recent inclement weather, several species of butterflies were observed...a sure sign that spring is on it's way..!

Many thanks to Terry for taking the photographs.

Wed 4th April 2018 - West Wight Sports Centre, Freshwater. GG # 729.

Terry's Photographs.

Some major tree surgery.

Extreme weeding...!

Tending the flower beds.

Half the job is disposing of the waste material.

Gizmo came along to entertain the troops.

Above and below - the finished job.

(final tweaks!)

As we do about this time every year, it was out to Freshwater for the Sports Centre grounds "Spring Makeover". Not that the weather was showing any signs of spring just yet, it tipped it down with rain!  There was certainly plenty to be getting on with around the whole perimeter of the building plus the flower/shrub beds in the car park area. The photographs above show the wide range of tasks undertaken and come the end of the session the whole place was looking very shipshape. A job very well done by those who braved the rain...!

Many thanks to the staff who made us very welcome in one of the lecture rooms for our tea break and kept the hot water and biscuits coming.

A big thank you to Terry who, in spite of the awful weather, managed to take the excellent photographs shown above.