Wed 9th March 2016 - Golden Hill Fort, Yarmouth. GG # 625.

Terry's Photographs.

Still smiling - in spite of the weather.

A rather "damp" tea break.

Above and below - Cut & Tuck.

Just one of the many pathways that were cleared.

As the writer of this blog, I am very aware that many of the posts start with a description of the Wednesday morning weather…. well, this week follows that particular format. With weather alerts out for high winds and rain, roads flooded alerts, plus flood warnings for the Eastern Yar river - this week's GG session wasn't going to be the most pleasant! Perhaps GGmers just come from hardy stock (or never look at the weather forecasts?) but around 20 turned up in the Golden Hill car park. The brief from Mark was very simple, just give as many of the pathways as possible a "cut and tuck"(cut anything encroaching on the pathway and then tuck the cuttings neatly away). There must be several miles of interlinking pathways across this site so we were soon spread far and wide, working in small groups. As well as the new growth, several larger jobs were tackled when we came across either rotten or storm damaged branches. Everyone met up at the van for tea break but, unfortunately, the weather suddenly took a turn for the worst with very gusty winds and a abrupt heavy shower - yuck! Fortified by a cup of hot tea and a biscuit (or two!) it was back to the job in hand and by the time the session came to a close, many of the paths were looking much clearer. A sterling effort by those who decided to brave the elements - let's hope that our run on "challenging" weather conditions ends soon!

Just heard on the local TV news that winds in excess of 70 mph were recorded on the Island this morning and the Yarmouth/Lymington ferry was suspended for a while. Picture below shows the rainfall map at 12:45.

Many thanks to Terry for the photographs this week.

Little Jane's Quarry - Historical Photograph.

I have just received the following photograph from one of our GGmers, along with this comment…

"Take a look at the attached, Pretty sure this is our Quarry albeit Brading village looks very close."

I must admit that it could well be have been taken from the Downs - with the quarry below and with Brading in the distance. Obviously the sea came in a lot closer back then and judging by the dress of the people in the foreground, it might have been around the late 1800's - early 1900's..? I can't see any railway line (Ryde - Sandown) in the background and that was built around 1860 but then again cameras were not widely available until after that date.

Anyone got any thoughts…???

Wed 2nd March - Sandpit Copse, Wootton. GG # 624.

Sue's Photographs.

A mouse box "slum".

and a new, luxury apartment..!

(Note the hail on the ground.)

A mouse yes, but not a Dormouse (it is a Wood mouse). 

Meanwhile - down in the woods, the clearance work continues.

Lots of wild daffodils in the clearings.

(The white patch is the remnants of the hail storm.)

Dormouse nesting balls.

The real thing - a dormouse, in a torpid state.

(being handled by a qualified warden)

 All say "Ahhhhh".

Searching for the box that got away!

It was just over one month ago that we last visited this venue. This time we were to continue the brush and bramble cutting at Moor Wood while also doing a dormouse nesting box survey (something we had done about this time last year - see this link  Wed 25th Feb 2015 - Sandpit Copse, Wootton.). Due to the wettest winter on record, the woods are somewhat waterlogged which makes getting around on foot rather "interesting". If anyone has come up with a pair of wellies that has "four wheel drive" plus floatation bags - please let us know ASAP…! With half the team working their way through the woods, trying to locate the dormouse boxes and the other half chopping down everything in sight, suddenly the heavens opened. After several deep rolls of thunder we experienced one of the heaviest hail storms most of us can remember. Within minutes the ground was covered with white ice, which gave the illusion of snow. Somehow we all managed to meet up, in the middle of a wood, for tea break - by which time we were back to blue sky but a rather strong NW wind. Excellent progress was made with the clearance task and the dormouse box survey seems to have  gone very well indeed. We will put the adverse weather conditions down as "character building"..!

Have a look at the following link to the Island Echo Twitter site - it refers to the hail storm and the truck crash was "just over the hedge" from where we were working! islandecho.co.uk/news/road-acci…

Photographs this week were from Sue and Terry - many thanks to both.

Wed 24th Feb 2016 - Cockleton Meadows. - Gurnard. GG # 623.

Sue's Photographs.

A wall of bramble.

The pond area from the east..

and from the west.

A nice way to warm up on a "crisp" morning!

One of the many piles of cut material - before processing.

Cutting into the pond bramble.

Getting there...

Above and below - WE FOUND THE POND(S)!!!

More cutting back.

The trusty hound guards the orchard area.

Above and below - the ponds are finally uncovered.

Mark's Photographs.

Call that a bramble..? Beat this one!

Nice before and after shots of the pond area.

One of the two bridges that we "discovered".

Cutting ivy and brambles from the trees in the orchard.

What gets a GGmer really excited? (besides being fed yummy cakes!) - a new venue to work at. So, this Wednesday morning we were all VERY excited about tackling this new site, especially as some of our GG members are on the committee that is running the project (Gurnard Open Spaces). Due to the restricted on-site parking, we all had to find somewhere to leave the cars, then hike back along Cockleton Lane to locate the entrance. The whole corner plot is presently being developed for a housing project (it was the old Gurnard Primary School site) but we were to work on land to the south of this. When it belonged to the school they had planted various fruit trees, built a pond, had vegetable beds etc but after they moved school it had all become somewhat overgrown. We were tasked to work on several areas, one of which was a 10 foot high wall of bramble and undergrowth - which we were informed "might contain a pond?". After about half an hour of hacking away, we finally made it through the gate and after further cutting away, discovered THREE ponds surrounded by a wire fence…! I am sure the photographs will show this magical revelation far better than my words can describe. Other members of the team were set to work in the orchard area, cutting everything back and giving the fruit trees a bit of a prune, where needed. With huge piles of cutting building up, it was decided that a fire was in order, so a considerable amount of effort was required to drag all the debris back to the fire for "processing". Needless to say, we did a full litter-pick and collected an amazing range of "goodies" including a brass bed head! We have all grown used to just how much we can achieve in one GG session but I think I speak for all when I say that this week was truly exceptional - so a big pat on the back to all those who attended and put in so much effort. This is a wonderful open area with views over the surrounding fields and even distant outlooks across the Solent. I can see that it will become a firm favourite with Team GG if we are invited back in the future. The weather, although frosty to start with, was rather cloudy but remained dry throughout - just about perfect for hard work!

Photographs were from Sue and Mark….. many thanks to you both.