Would they do this at home?

Unfortunately, some things never change when it comes to the thoughtless and inconsiderate people among us.

You can always guarantee that the park side of the fence by the bus stop opposite Appleacres on St Faiths Road will be covered with litter. 

In fact, the whole fence line down to the traffic lights seems to be a prime spot for litter louts (just chuck it over the fence, it's someone else's problem then)! 

 Anyway, moving on. With the help of our new volunteer Chris, we completed the first session of revitalising the wooden sculptures. These need several coats of oil each year to protect them from the weather.

Back at the lodge, it was time to trim back the hedging along the front. It was becoming so tall that you couldn't see out of the office window.

The lodge itself has had a recent makeover. Some of the wooden cladding around the back had started to rot, as it doesn't get much sunlight there. Matt coated these with a wood hardener, and the college volunteers gave the whole area a fresh lick of paint. 

It's now the middle of May 2024. With so much mowing and strimming to do, I decided that I would make use of the last of the recent good weather. Not my normal day of volunteering, but a satisfying one in terms of getting things done.

Here's a photo of a freshly mowed and strimmed climbing area.

The meadows have started to grow. The buttercups are looking particularly lovely at present.

Back at the bus stop, some bushes and tree branches were starting to grow through the fence line. 

 

That's Matt using the hedge trimmer/loppers. I followed up by clearing the cuttings. It was an opportunity to also sweep up the leaves along that stretch of pathway.

Next stop, Repton Pond...

The fountain needed cleaning as it was down to two constricted jets of water.

As the fountain is in the middle of the pond, access is by telescopic ladder stretched across. 

After carefully crossing on hands and knees, Matt was able to clear the blockage and restore the fountain to it's former glory!

Back at the park, more mowing and strimming ensued. 

As May draws to a close, the weather has definitely become unsettled.

Our final task this month was to cut back hedging along the approach to the lodge car park. This was a mammoth job.

Armed with loppers and shears, Chris and I set to work.

The plan was to create a view across the park. As you can see by the photo, the bushes (mainly blackthorn) had grown quite tall and wide.

Most of the cuttings were barrowed round to the woodchip pile and heaped, ready for chipping later.

What a transformation! 

I couldn't believe we managed to finish it, however we were lucky weather wise considering the forecast. 

Next month we will be preparing for the arrival of the fairground. 

I hope you have enjoyed catching up with my monthly journal. Looking forward to more exploits.

Keeping busy

As you can imagine, since Amy has moved on to pastures new (no pun intended), it's been a busy time keeping up with essentials like mowing and strimming.

While Matt was off for the Easter break, I decided to help out with a large litter pick. It was then that I came across some broken fencing on St Faiths Road. Unfortunately, the post had rotted through at the base and became unstable (as often happens).

Just one of the many ongoing maintenance jobs...

Thankfully, Matt has since replaced the post and reinstated the fence line (his first job back!).

Changing the subject, I've noticed a lot of caterpillars lately. 

The first time was during a walk near Quaker Lane. The hawthorn/blackthorn hedgerows were covered with Lackey Moth caterpillars; they had eaten their way through the leaves and spun silk webbing over parts of the plant.

The second time was at Repton pond. Matt and I had taken some woodchip over in the jeep to cover a small patch of ground.

The small box plants along the border were not looking too good. Unfortunately, this was the result of box tree caterpillars, they had eaten most of the leaves and spun webbing in a similar way.

A couple of the culprits! 

The moths are native to East Asia, but arrived in Britain around 2007 before becoming more established by 2014.

It was decided to remove most of the plants as they were virtually bare (not a pretty sight!).

These few still had some leafage around the base, but may be stripped later unless treated... 

The Victorian cottages on Church Street with their lovely intricate box hedging, look like they have fallen foul to this insect.

May 2024 began with a couple of warm and sunny days. Ideal weather for cleaning and oiling the wooden sculptures.

There are twelve sculptures in all. I managed to revitalise ten of them before I decided my back needed a rest!

The bases were particularly dusted with soil and a few had bird droppings. So, a good clean was necessary before applying the oil. 

The barn owl (above) and the buzzard (right) are two examples of my handiwork.

The grass is now beginning to shoot up all over the park. Matt has started opening up trails again on the mower. 

I also ended up on the mower, as a relief from all the bending earlier (must be my age).

Bye for now, I'll be back again soon.