After a long hiatus, the band was back together; Neil had finished invigilating, and Nixie joined us after a month off volunteering to tackle the Italian Gardens. The Italian Gardens had not been worked on since Neil and I had worked on them back in February. Nixie, Neil and I got stuck in weeding the Italian Garden beds. we pulled out Willowherb and Hairy Willowherb managing to tackle a vast amount of it across five beds in two short hours. In total we removed 5 wheel barrows worth!
Thursday marked the first session of Quarry Club. An ex-quarry now turned nature reserve thanks to the help of Trees for Burnley who, in the early 90’s, planted the site with trees. I had scheduled work for a month at this site including cutting back weeds either side of the path, removing dead wood, and removing low hanging branches. Five residents of the area came to volunteer and as a result we managed much of the scheduled work for the month in a single session! Between us all we managed to clear the paths of overgrown weeds, cut back the roots, cut the low hanging branches down. We also managed to cut back some of the piles of dead wood that had been left, and work on some of the windfallen trees that have come down in recent storms.
Wednesday the 26th marked the first session of friends of Clifton Wood.
Helen and I started by widening the paths through the small woodland. Over the years they had become completely overgrown and, in some areas, made it impossible for anyone to walk through. Helen and I first removed overreaching branches that encroached into the pathway. Then, we cut back weeds, nettles and brambles. We increased the width of the path so that anyone were able to walk through it safely without being stung or scratched.
Brendon, a new volunteer, joined us and helped us with these activities, to finish up the session both Helen and Brendon litter picked the site.
Today marked the day of working on the circular bed outside the front of Towneley Hall by the pond and Cafe. It was overrun with self-seeded trees, brambles, and undesirable plants. They had to go. Working on the bed was Helen, Hazel, Karen, David, Jason, Mirabela, and myself. You often find when working on a circular bed that one completes work in segments, and that you end where you started.