Spent quite a bit of time yesterday updating this neglected blog of ours filling in the gap from May-October 2016. Feel free to scroll on down.
It reminded me that it is much easier to tell a story on the blog than it is on Facebook or Twitter.
Monday, 31 October 2016
Sunday, 30 October 2016
Natural Buzz. Wildflower Turf Laying
29th October 2016
The second activity of the day finished off a major part of the Natural Buzz project and involved laying native wildflower turf (from Wildflower Turf).
There were two parts, the first in the Henllys Triangle on ground level and the second on the roof of the container.
After a quick demonstration, Nic, Tricia and Richard cracked on over the next couple of ours completing a beautiful job.
Luckily for the second part, one of our vols, Brian, is a retired fireman and made sure it was all very safe. The first part involved constructing a frame, which we paid for. A tarpaulin was put over the roof, overlaid by overlapping landscape fabric. We used a grapple line to pull up bags of low nutrition soil and tamped it down to a depth of 100 mm. The turf was carefully laid over the soil tucked up just inside the frame. Finally it was given a good soak.
Back on ground level we tidied up and gave the triangle a good soak too with rainwater collected from a waterbutt.
It looks great, will hopefully look even better next year and we were delighted to wake up to rain today.
The native wildflower turf was from Wildflower Turf and they gave us some great advice as this was the first time we had done this kind of work.
Natural Buzz is a Keep Wales Tidy-run Welsh Government-funded project for the benefit of pollinators and the wellbeing of people.
There were two parts, the first in the Henllys Triangle on ground level and the second on the roof of the container.
After a quick demonstration, Nic, Tricia and Richard cracked on over the next couple of ours completing a beautiful job.
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| The "Henllys Triangle" |
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| Wildflower turfing the container roof |
It looks great, will hopefully look even better next year and we were delighted to wake up to rain today.
The native wildflower turf was from Wildflower Turf and they gave us some great advice as this was the first time we had done this kind of work.
Natural Buzz is a Keep Wales Tidy-run Welsh Government-funded project for the benefit of pollinators and the wellbeing of people.
Moving the bin; "common sense at last" - she said
29th October 2016
We did 2 activities for the price of 1 today. The morning made us finally tackling something which has been a problem for some time which we have gone through great efforts to try and address:dog poo.
Since the ban on dog walking on playing fields and sports grounds, we have had ever increasing foot and paw fall on the LNR. This coincided with our improved access of the Tidy Towns 2013 project. Local Nature Reserves are for wildlife and people and are incredibly important for... mental and physical wellbeing. So the LNR is a great and well used resource.
Since the ban on dog walking on playing fields and sports grounds, we have had ever increasing foot and paw fall on the LNR. This coincided with our improved access of the Tidy Towns 2013 project. Local Nature Reserves are for wildlife and people and are incredibly important for... mental and physical wellbeing. So the LNR is a great and well used resource.
However, there has also been a huge increase in dog poo not picked up and dog poo picked up and thrown in bushes or trees. Both are big problems, we volunteer in these bushes and we take every year group out onto the LNR from Henllys CIW School. On a recent bulb planting session with year 2, we checked the ground beforehand, but an unsupervised dog had a poo on the ground and one of the children put his hand in it. Luckily he was wearing our gloves.
We've put Torfaen Green Dog Walkers signs up at all the principal entrances and this has made a big difference. We do want to make it so easy that there aren't any excuses. We looked at the Henllys Way entrances and Brian said "people walking home from any of these exits have to walk 100m in the opposite way to use the bin. Why don't we move the bin to the orchard entrance where most people walk? People will be more inclined to pick up and then bin it." Well, we asked Streetscene for permission to do this with the explanation and eventually this was granted. Materials were provided by TCBC's Ranger Jon Howells and with support from his long-standing volunteer John Adkins, we moved it and installed it right by the gate.
The first 2 people we saw said well done for moving the bin and common sense won. To be fair, the bin was there before the access improvements of 2013, but common sense has won as has partnership between our volunteering group and the TCBC.
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| Dog poo on a child's glove. Dog owners, please bag it and bin it! |
We've put Torfaen Green Dog Walkers signs up at all the principal entrances and this has made a big difference. We do want to make it so easy that there aren't any excuses. We looked at the Henllys Way entrances and Brian said "people walking home from any of these exits have to walk 100m in the opposite way to use the bin. Why don't we move the bin to the orchard entrance where most people walk? People will be more inclined to pick up and then bin it." Well, we asked Streetscene for permission to do this with the explanation and eventually this was granted. Materials were provided by TCBC's Ranger Jon Howells and with support from his long-standing volunteer John Adkins, we moved it and installed it right by the gate.
The first 2 people we saw said well done for moving the bin and common sense won. To be fair, the bin was there before the access improvements of 2013, but common sense has won as has partnership between our volunteering group and the TCBC.
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| So far away from home; bin issues |
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| Moving the bin near the orchard gate |
Natural Buzz. Roping and raking
27th October 2016
Today, the #Wildflowers2be area was staked, roped off and @HenllysCIW reception class #lovepollinators signs are up with help from Steve.
The signs add a splash of colour to the site before winter and show that year 2 and reception class from Henllys Church in Wales School worked here. They also show how much bees and butterflies mean to them.
We also broke up the soil ready for tomorrow's wildflower turfing.
This is part of a Welsh Government-funded project run by Keep Wales Tidy called #naturalbuzz which aims to support pollinators while improving the wellbeing of people's lives. Almost all the work has been done by our group of volunteers with permissions kindly granted by Torfaen CBC.
The signs add a splash of colour to the site before winter and show that year 2 and reception class from Henllys Church in Wales School worked here. They also show how much bees and butterflies mean to them.
We also broke up the soil ready for tomorrow's wildflower turfing.
This is part of a Welsh Government-funded project run by Keep Wales Tidy called #naturalbuzz which aims to support pollinators while improving the wellbeing of people's lives. Almost all the work has been done by our group of volunteers with permissions kindly granted by Torfaen CBC.
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| Steve getting signs ready |
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| roped off |
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| Reception Class signs |
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| Raking wildflower turf area |
Natural Buzz. Marking out the areas
23rd October 2016
Well, the four of us dug hard today and removed the Henllys triangle ready for wildflower turf which is arriving next Friday. All of the removed turfs were dug out and wheelbarrowed over to the habitat pile area where we will create a bee bank on the sunny side.
Part the way through we started adding posts into the ground. On the posts we screwed on the A4 marine plywood boards which I prepared yesterday. Some of Henllys Church in Wales Reception class' pollinator cards were stapled to the plywood boards to give a clue to what will be coming next spring. Brian then added sisal rope to the posts to encourage to walk around this patch. We'll keep it fenced off until the flowers are fully established next year.
Part the way through we started adding posts into the ground. On the posts we screwed on the A4 marine plywood boards which I prepared yesterday. Some of Henllys Church in Wales Reception class' pollinator cards were stapled to the plywood boards to give a clue to what will be coming next spring. Brian then added sisal rope to the posts to encourage to walk around this patch. We'll keep it fenced off until the flowers are fully established next year.
We are grateful to the Natural Buzz Project for supplying the fenceposts and the wildflower turf for this part of the project which is Welsh Government-funded. The project aims to enhance food sources and habitats for pollinators with associated wellbeing benefits for communities.
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| Thank you cards from Reception Class...maybe use them to decorate the area??? |
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| Backing boards for the pollinator cards |
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| Backing boards cut to A4 and painted green |
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| Digging the "Henllys triangle" |
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| Roped and signed areas |
Natural Buzz. Planting with Henllys CIW School Reception Class and Year 2.
13th October 2016
Well what a day. All that hard work cutting the front entrance to the LNR last Friday, Saturday and Sunday really paid off today. We had Ms. Rowland's Reception class this morning, then Ms. Sulway's class this afternoon and we did loads.
The morning class had a quick talk about bees and butterflies and we then got stuck in to planting 450 native bluebell and native snowdrop bulbs by the car park sign. Holes were made in the ground by the grown ups and the 4 year olds (and 1 five year old) took turns to plant their bulb before heeling in the hole. It was amazing to see how quickly they did all the work.
The morning class had a quick talk about bees and butterflies and we then got stuck in to planting 450 native bluebell and native snowdrop bulbs by the car park sign. Holes were made in the ground by the grown ups and the 4 year olds (and 1 five year old) took turns to plant their bulb before heeling in the hole. It was amazing to see how quickly they did all the work.
So we'd finished planting bulbs which will provide nectar from Jan-Feb for the snowdrops and Apr-May for the bluebells.
The class did a little video for the Friends, encouraging people to "please pick up after your dogs, as we work here".
After this, we went over to the brash pile and filled up plant pots and ice cream containers with stones, hay, bamboo and seasoned cuttings to make mini-beast hotels and installed them.
In the afternoon, Year 2 came along and planted 500 snake's head fritillary bulbs (flowers Apr-May) and the more delicate 100 wild primrose (Mar-May) and 100 cowslip plug plants (flowers Apr-May).
We had time then to plant 100 wild garlic bulbs right next to the entrance sign.
All of this planting work is for the "Spring zone" part of a Welsh Government funded Natural Buzz project to support pollinators by providing food sources and habitat.
The class did a little video for the Friends, encouraging people to "please pick up after your dogs, as we work here".
After this, we went over to the brash pile and filled up plant pots and ice cream containers with stones, hay, bamboo and seasoned cuttings to make mini-beast hotels and installed them.
In the afternoon, Year 2 came along and planted 500 snake's head fritillary bulbs (flowers Apr-May) and the more delicate 100 wild primrose (Mar-May) and 100 cowslip plug plants (flowers Apr-May).
We had time then to plant 100 wild garlic bulbs right next to the entrance sign.
All of this planting work is for the "Spring zone" part of a Welsh Government funded Natural Buzz project to support pollinators by providing food sources and habitat.
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| Bulb planting with Reception Class |
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| Habitat boxes with Reception Class |
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| Plants behind the container and flowering times |
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| Plants to the right of the main path and flowering times |
Natural Buzz. Bulb Delivery
12th October 2016
Reception and Year 2 classes from Henllys CIW School are coming down to plant a load of bulbs and plug plants by the LNR car park tomorrow. It is part of the #NaturalBuzz project funded by Welsh Government to improve areas for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and hoverflies by providing habitats and nectar. They will also look stunning for us humans too and we'll know they were planted by local 4 and 6 year olds. #volunteering
Reception and Year 2 classes from Henllys CIW School are coming down to plant a load of bulbs and plug plants by the LNR car park tomorrow. It is part of the #NaturalBuzz project funded by Welsh Government to improve areas for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and hoverflies by providing habitats and nectar. They will also look stunning for us humans too and we'll know they were planted by local 4 and 6 year olds. #volunteering
Natural Buzz. Winter flowering area and ground prep
9th October 2016
Today was spent going over yesterday's scythed area with a mower to cut it even shorter. This was just so we can see the holes more clearly for when we plant the cowslip (April-May flowering), primrose (March-May flowering) and snake's head fritillary (March-May flowering) plugs as part of the Natural Buzz project. As mentioned previously, this patch is rich with knapweed which flowers from late June-August, so we'll hopefully greatly improve the seasonal availability of nectar available to pollinators here.
Adjacent to the above patch, a winter flowering area was planted by the container with more RHS perfect for pollinator plants. These included two Helleborus nigra varieties and a Viburnum tinus variety. Two of the raised areas to protect the fruit trees were then planted with 2 RHS Perfect for pollinator lavenders and these will be used to make cuttings.
For more information on RHS "perfect for pollinator" plants for your garden please visit here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/…/conservation-and-biodiversity/wild…
Both areas and the soft fruit plants from Friday were given a good watering from water collected from waterbutts.
For more information on RHS "perfect for pollinator" plants for your garden please visit here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/…/conservation-and-biodiversity/wild…
Both areas and the soft fruit plants from Friday were given a good watering from water collected from waterbutts.
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| Mowing ready for cowslip, primrose and snake's head fritillary |
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| RHS Perfect for Pollinators lavender |
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| RHS Perfect For Pollinator winter flowering area (and a honeysuckle) |
Natural Buzz Ground prep for bulb planting
9th October 2016
Saturday was all about the Natural Buzz, supporting pollinators. The first part involved getting areas ready for Thursday's Natural Buzz activity where we'll be native bulb and plug planting with Reception then Year 2 from Henllys CIW School.
The first patch was the shady south facing triangle and this needed some serious brushcutting to tackle the encroaching brambles from this entrance to the LNR. As much as possible was raked off into the habitat pile. In this area we will be planting native snowdrops, bluebells and wild garlic or ramsons on Thursday. All three provide nectar for pollinators
The first patch was the shady south facing triangle and this needed some serious brushcutting to tackle the encroaching brambles from this entrance to the LNR. As much as possible was raked off into the habitat pile. In this area we will be planting native snowdrops, bluebells and wild garlic or ramsons on Thursday. All three provide nectar for pollinators
The second area behind the football changing rooms is a lovely area which has some wet patches and knapweed. This area was scythed making sure the knapweed seed heads were all empty. Knapweed is great for pollinators especially as it flowers late in the season (male bumblebees particularly like this plant). The thatch was then all raked off to the habitat pile. This area will be planted with native cowslip, primrose and snake's head fritillary on Thursday.
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| Veg Clearance all onto the brash pile |
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| scything behind the container for the cowslip, primrose and snake's head fritillary planting |
Natural Buzz a natural expansion of our car park pollinators work
8th October 2016
We've been working on the semi-oval #wildflowerstobe area since January. Within the space of a day we'd been offered a load of soft fruit bushes and a couple of gage trees and the recipient of a Natural Buzz Project which is all about pollinators. We quickly needed to make a move on both of these before the first frost.
We've been working on the semi-oval #wildflowerstobe area since January. Within the space of a day we'd been offered a load of soft fruit bushes and a couple of gage trees and the recipient of a Natural Buzz Project which is all about pollinators. We quickly needed to make a move on both of these before the first frost.
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| Plan of Car Park improvement for pollinators (and people) Yellow and Orange are all due to Natural Buzz funding |
We started yesterday's volunteering session with a plan to clear some of the vegetation by the #LNR car park. It is an unwelcoming, unmanaged and messy mass of plants which surrounds our semi-oval #wildflowerstobe area. However, the night before we had a text from a local resident who was offering to bequeath soft fruit bushes to the #LNR. This generous offer fitted in perfectly with our new #NaturalBuzz project which will provide habitats and nectar to support pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies. The flowers will be great for various pollinators, while the fruit will also be eaten by small mammals, birds and of course for people.
We picked the fruit plants up from the person's garden with help from Steve Chamberlain's trailer. Steve had kindly offered his help today already. We started of by picking the planting sites and cleared them with brushcutter and lawnmower. The holes were dug and plants heeled in.
Later on, we cleared a good chunk of the vegetation and raked it off into a habitat pile. Good progress.
Later on, we cleared a good chunk of the vegetation and raked it off into a habitat pile. Good progress.
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| Soft Fruit Area |
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| Vegetation clearance work |
Some people are just plain lazy and ignorant
2nd October 2016
We put in hundreds of hours each year of our own time to help primary aged children to learn to repect and contribute positively to their local environment and community. This results in over 1000 volunteer hours to be undertaken on #Henllys Local Nature Reserve.
It is deeply sad to have to litterpick the car park, which I had to do this morning of McDonalds, wraps and cigarette butts. It was infuriating to then return early this evening to find 7 fag butts, 2 empty packets of fags and an empty plastic bottle freshly dumped under 2 metres from the bin. If the lazy muppets would have parked the other way, they could have used the bin as a drive by bin. #camerascomingsoon
We put in hundreds of hours each year of our own time to help primary aged children to learn to repect and contribute positively to their local environment and community. This results in over 1000 volunteer hours to be undertaken on #Henllys Local Nature Reserve.
It is deeply sad to have to litterpick the car park, which I had to do this morning of McDonalds, wraps and cigarette butts. It was infuriating to then return early this evening to find 7 fag butts, 2 empty packets of fags and an empty plastic bottle freshly dumped under 2 metres from the bin. If the lazy muppets would have parked the other way, they could have used the bin as a drive by bin. #camerascomingsoon
Big Celebration
28th September 2016
We're a lucky recipient of a @BigLotteryFund award for a #BigCelebration
Details coming soon, but who likes pizza? Henllys Church In Wales School Henllys Community Council #HenllysCubs #HenllysBeavers #volunteering
We're a lucky recipient of a @BigLotteryFund award for a #BigCelebration
Details coming soon, but who likes pizza? Henllys Church In Wales School Henllys Community Council #HenllysCubs #HenllysBeavers #volunteering
Balsam and Henllys LNR crab apple jelly
15th September 2016
Great contrasting events today. First off, Tricia Davies told me about a patch of Himalayan balsam upstream from the LNR which we hadn't touched yet so with a mixture of scythe and handpulling cleared the area in around 1.5 hours. This was in an area where we reinforced the stream bank with willow fascines and these are still in place with several of the stakes now showing good living willow growth.
After a quick shower it was back over to Tricia's house to make our Henllys ...LNR crab apple jelly. This is the second year we've made some and could have made twice as much. Any money raised from this will go back into the LNR to pay for things like our insurance or on materials and tools. It was fun making the jelly under the Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate head chef. I was told off twice by Gordon Ramsey herself.
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| Balsam and access |
It was really lovely to make something from something we've planted and nurtured as volunteers and as the orchard grows we will only be able to make more produce. Thanks to Asda Cwmbran for a carrier bag grant for the massive jam pan and accessories.
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| Beautiful colours, fun and tasty too |
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| Henllys LNR Crab Apple Jelly Mk.1 |
Post-Barclays balsam scout and scythe
10th September 2016
Went out today fully armed with my favourite billhook, Llandeilo pattern, a saw and scythe to tackle more balsam which had regrown/missed after a Barclays team building event and a brushcut event.
My favourite part was climbing up a fallen willow tree to pull up the balsam from above, followed more sensibly by cutting a tunnel into the bramble and willow, crawling along the ground and pulling them down from below.
3.5 hours was spent and 0.85 hectares was covered (blue patch on the map below) and what do I get for thanks: 4 wasp stings. I'm glad I had my fleece on, or it would have been more than that. Making good progress on the balsam, still more to go.
Went out today fully armed with my favourite billhook, Llandeilo pattern, a saw and scythe to tackle more balsam which had regrown/missed after a Barclays team building event and a brushcut event.
My favourite part was climbing up a fallen willow tree to pull up the balsam from above, followed more sensibly by cutting a tunnel into the bramble and willow, crawling along the ground and pulling them down from below.
3.5 hours was spent and 0.85 hectares was covered (blue patch on the map below) and what do I get for thanks: 4 wasp stings. I'm glad I had my fleece on, or it would have been more than that. Making good progress on the balsam, still more to go.
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| Area in blue done today |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| Under the willow tree |
Himalayan balsam in 2016
10th September 2016
Himalayan balsam is quite a difficult plant to manage and eradicate. We know this very well as al we've been trying to do this since 2009. This year from 15th July to 24th August with the #bagsofhelp funding we've undertaken some 381 volunteer hours tackling its emergence.
It doesn't stop there though. You have to painstakingly go over the same areas getting rid of any that you may have missed, some which were snapped off rather than pulled fully out the ground and have re...grown flowers and finally smaller plants which have germinated after you tackled the area. All of these would re-seed and you'd have more fresh seeds in the seed bank. This is what I've been doing over the last week in the evenings largely with our scythe in 5.5 volunteer hours see map below. The top section took 23 hours for me to initially clear by hand, scythe and brushcutter. It took just 25 minutes on Tuesday to walk that whole patch handpulling each of the 30-40 plants.
Himalayan balsam is quite a difficult plant to manage and eradicate. We know this very well as al we've been trying to do this since 2009. This year from 15th July to 24th August with the #bagsofhelp funding we've undertaken some 381 volunteer hours tackling its emergence.
It doesn't stop there though. You have to painstakingly go over the same areas getting rid of any that you may have missed, some which were snapped off rather than pulled fully out the ground and have re...grown flowers and finally smaller plants which have germinated after you tackled the area. All of these would re-seed and you'd have more fresh seeds in the seed bank. This is what I've been doing over the last week in the evenings largely with our scythe in 5.5 volunteer hours see map below. The top section took 23 hours for me to initially clear by hand, scythe and brushcutter. It took just 25 minutes on Tuesday to walk that whole patch handpulling each of the 30-40 plants.
Another advantage of hand-pulling is you are selective to balsam and leave other native flowers for pollinators and insects which feed on these plants. In the last week, I've been much less careful as the density of balsam plants is now very low and the other native flowers have seeded (good things for the seed bank) and are dying off. This means I can cover a much bigger area, sweeping at the base of the balsam plants with the scythe. If we hadn't pulled so much already this year, many of those 10,000's of plants would have partially cast seeds down by now, which is the position we have been in for the last 4 years where we've frantically just smashed down as many plants as possible. We are really hopeful that we've made a real big difference this year.
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| Quick, but critical to go over these patches |
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| Quick, but critical to go over these patches |
Grip Strips on the bridges
2nd & 9th September 2016
With all the extra help on the LNR from businesses, we are much more enthused to pursue other tasks (No balsam burnout in 2016). One of the things we noticed of late, was how slippery the bridge from the car park gets in the rain. We asked for permission from TCBC and installed grip strips using money from ASDA carrier bag money.
With all the extra help on the LNR from businesses, we are much more enthused to pursue other tasks (No balsam burnout in 2016). One of the things we noticed of late, was how slippery the bridge from the car park gets in the rain. We asked for permission from TCBC and installed grip strips using money from ASDA carrier bag money.
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| Scrubbing the bridge |
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| Before and after |
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| Bridge 2 |
Torfaen Green Dog Walkers Signs
7th September 2016
The first of our Torfaen Green Dog Walkers signs are up on the entrance frames made with Henllys CIW School. They look great and will hopefully encourage more dog owners to act responsibly by picking up after their dogs and then to put the bags in a bin.
There are some owners who pick up, which is great, but then throw the bags in bushes and this is where we often volunteer and do projects with your or your neighbour's children or grandchildren who are out with the school, beavers or cubs. We brushcut 3 dog poo bags that were in brambles a couple of weeks ago, not only is it disgusting for us, it is also very dangerous to our and children's health, where we could lose our sight and/or limbs as a result of contact with the dog poo.
There are some owners who pick up, which is great, but then throw the bags in bushes and this is where we often volunteer and do projects with your or your neighbour's children or grandchildren who are out with the school, beavers or cubs. We brushcut 3 dog poo bags that were in brambles a couple of weeks ago, not only is it disgusting for us, it is also very dangerous to our and children's health, where we could lose our sight and/or limbs as a result of contact with the dog poo.
We urge dog owners to please bag it and bin it. There is a bin in the car park off Birch Grove and on Henllys Way. The QR code shows the locations of the bins and contact information.
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| Preparation |
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| In situ. |
Clearing the orchard (II)
2nd September 2016
5 of us turned up last night to clear around the last 11 orchard trees. We handpulled all the vegetation from within the triangular frames.
It is interesting to note looking at the original trees that the newer varieties are all doing much better than the old Welsh varieties. The replacement trees we planted this year from Ian Sturrock and Sons are all doing really well. We all agree that the manure and drainage we dug in has also made a big difference this year.
We all agree that the orchard is looking really great and we are hopefully for a good crop next year.
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| Well done us |
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| Orchard cleaned up. |
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| Grooming and littering on the LNR (recycled at home, like they should have) |
Clearing around the Orchard trees (I)
23rd August 2016
We cleared vegetation from around half the orchard trees today. This was largely by handpulling the grass and weeds. This decreases competition for water and nutrients with the trees. It was relatively easy as they largely grew on the lovely rotten manure we put down earlier this year.
We cleared vegetation from around half the orchard trees today. This was largely by handpulling the grass and weeds. This decreases competition for water and nutrients with the trees. It was relatively easy as they largely grew on the lovely rotten manure we put down earlier this year.
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