Strimming

At the back of the picnic area there is a 'willow tunnel' being grown. In the summer when new growth is at it's peak, the tallest branches are either lopped or trained back to enhance the tunnel shape. We also plant more willow using branches that have been pruned from other trees in the park, these will have been stored in a water butt which helps them grow new roots. It is possible to plant freshly lopped branches, as some may start to root if the ground is moist enough.

It's now September 2021, and time to clear the overgrown Rowan tree bed. Some of the big clumps of grass were hard to remove and had to dug out using a fork. Once cleared, the area was mulched with several barrow loads of woodchip.

                                                 
Lots of areas were becoming overgrown, mainly with nettles and grasses. A 'wild flower' section in the east woods was no longer visible, so this was cut back using strimmers.

The strimmers were back in force the following week, clearing more nettles and tall grasses etc around the 'dead tree' popular for climbing on. Of course, we always make sure that we have litter pickers handy, you never know when are going to find bottles, cans and sweet wrappers etc.

These images show the area before and after strimming.

Removing the nettles make it a lot safer for climbing.

We usually end up getting caked in grass and nettles

😄
  

Next job was to clear a woodland path to the 'dell', my name for the pit, close to the car park on Oak Lane. That was mainly cutting back holly & sycamore, lopping low branches and strimming nettles around the 'dell'. I believe this area is often used by the local scouts.