Wed 29th Aug 2018 - Bouldnor Forest, Yarmouth. GG # 750.

Mark's Photographs.

The all important tea break...!

This week Team GG found themselves way out off the beaten track at Bouldnor Forest. In fact, we were working in the far NE corner....about as far from the car park as it is possible to get..! We were removing naturally regenerating trees, mainly Birch, which when growing within the heathland are not wanted in any number. If left the habitat would revert to woodland. We always enjoy visiting this site due to the wonderful views across the Solent and out towards Yarmouth. Although we had leaden skies, it was pleasantly warm with a light breeze - very nice for working in.

A milestone for the blog this week...the 750th IoW GG session...!

Many thanks to Mark for the photographs this week.

Wed 22nd Aug 2018 - Millennium Green, Ryde. GG # 749.

Mark's Photographs.

We tackled the encroaching bramble and bindweed this week in the butterfly meadow but It's striking what a little regular maintenance of the meadow does for wild flowers, it was looking lovely. The Fleabane in particular is looking good.

We also cleared some of the Iris from the almost empty pond (it's been such a dry summer)

then for the last hour felled some of the trees which were either causing a hazard or needed thinning to add to the boundary dead hedge.

All in all a successful day.

Many thanks to Mark for the editorial and photographs.

Wed 15th Aug 2018 - Brading Down. GG # 748.

Mark's Photographs.

The wonderful vista.

Common Ragwort.

 Common Ragwort - 1st year growth.

Common Ragwort.

Oxford Ragwort.

Oxford Ragwort.

Our session today brings the Pesky Plant Pulling for 2018 to a grand finale. Being up on the Downs, this time we were tacking the dreaded Ragwort which is described below....

The daisy-like, yellow flower heads of Common Ragwort may be pretty enough to the casual observer, but they belie the poisonous nature of this plant. Renowned as a weed of paddocks and pastures, where it can be harmful to livestock, it is not usually such an issue in gardens or on waste ground. In fact, it is the foodplant of the black-and-red Cinnabar moth: sometimes its black-and yellow-barred caterpillars cover the plant, totally stripping the leaves. Common Ragwort is a biennial, flowering in its second year from June to November.

The problem we have on the Downs is that there are two different types of Ragwort growing in close proximity and at this time of the year, as the plants are going to seed, it is quite difficult to pick out the poisonous one. Undeterred, Team GG were soon spread out across the top of the Down hunting down every last pesky plant (well, almost EVERY last one!) and loading them in the trailer for careful disposal. Although not as hot as recent sessions, it was a pleasant, somewhat cloudy day and  was well attended. Perhaps everyone turned up to take in the wonderful views across the Island..?

Many thanks to Mark for the photographs this week.

Wed August 8th 2018 - The Riverside Centre, Newport. GG # 747.

Terry's Photographs.

Work gets underway....

New top soil/compost and the pea gravel.

Yes...it was VERY overgrown...!

Planting up the "new" flower bed.

Everyone hard at work.

Disposing of the "arisings".

Bob's Photographs.

and after we had finished!

Before work started...

It has been a couple of years since GG last worked at the Riverside Centre - and I doubt that anyone had touched the gardens since our last visit..! Everywhere you looked, the flower beds were overgrown with shrubs, weeds and bramble, truly a daunting task even for a group of hardened GGmers. So eager were we to get "stuck in" that many of the early arrivers began work by 9:30 - some 30 minutes ahead of our scheduled start time. The long bed under the restaurant windows needed particular attention as the "soil" consisted mainly of builders sand and rubble. We were tasked to chop down all the weeds, remove all the compacted sand and rubble, replace that with a mix of new soil and compost, put down weed control membrane, plant it up with new plants and then top it off with pea gravel (see before and after photographs above). Not much to do there then...! Other members of the team tackled some of the very overgrown areas along with de-weeding the paved areas around the site. I am sure that the photographs show the full extent of the work.
The long, dry, extremely hot period of weather was finally drawing to a close so we had a warm but cloudy day with just the slightest sprinkling of rain. Great conditions to be working hard in.
The Riverside staff were kind enough to supply us with bacon or sausage baps plus tea and coffee at our tea break. Needless to say this was gratefully received by all so a big thank you to everyone that was involved with the preparation.
Although a tremendous amount was achieved in a very short time, there is much more to be done around the site. There is a rumour that we might be returning sometime in October - I am sure we will all be looking forward to that :-)

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs this week.

Wed 1st Aug 2018 - Downend, Arreton Down. GG # 746.

Terry's Photographs.

Trekking to the work site.

Just look at that sky and the view.

Taking a photo of someone taking a photo...!

A well earned tea break.

One of the beautiful Chalk Hill Blue butterflies.

Just some of the trimmings.

Tony's Photographs.

This week our attention was on  some light scrub control in order to maintain the wonderful chalk grasslands that we have on our downs. Without considerable maintenance, these areas would soon become overgrown with bramble and hawthorn. It was something of a long stroll from the car park to where we were working but the effort was more than offset by taking in the wonderful views. Yes, the fields were a little browner this year, due to the prolonged hot & dry weather we have been experiencing but still a stereotypical English rural landscape...! We were soon tackling the areas of scrub that had sprung up this year, surrounded by a kaleidoscope (yes, that is the collective noun..!) of chalk hill blue butterflies, they were in their thousands. Tea break is always welcome at a GG session but I doubt that we could have a better vista than this one to contemplate while having a cuppa. The rain, that we so badly needed, seems to have left us once again and we enjoyed blue skies with those puffy cumulous clouds that make a summer's day so perfect.

Many thanks to Terry and Tony for the photographs this week.