I've never known a year with so many heat waves. So far, two of my volunteering days have been cancelled due to excessive heat.
July 2026
This month I was involved with the annual pressure-washing of the main gates by the car park. Then we were back to trim and mulch the shrubs in the 'island'. We also cut down a dead box tree, did some 'cutting back' around Victoria pond, and cleared the fence-line along the Spixworth Road entrance.
August 2026
The long dry weather has taken its toll on the meadow grass. It's in such poor condition that it's not suitable to be harvested for hay.
So, Matt has started cutting the meadows using a Topper mower.
As you can imagine, there's been quite a bit of watering. Tabby has used extension hoses to get to the trees in the picnic area.
The hedges in front of the lodge were also given a trim, followed by even more crown raising along the hoggin path.
Then we were up by the Humphry Repton sculpture to cut back bramble and coppice the sycamore behind the bench.
Incredibly, this photo was taken in October 2025, but the sycamore had grown back up similar to the photo below....
This photo shows the height of the sycamore in October 2023, a bit higher than on this occasion. However, still an amazing amount of growth in just ten months!
During the sixth heat wave of the year, I was determined not to miss another volunteering day. The elm plantation just outside the back of the picnic area needed weeding and watering.
Actually, the enclosures were not too overgrown. So, whilst Tabby and Chris carried out the weeding, I concentrated on a bit of 'crown raising' and litter picking in the area.
Unfortunately, you couldn't stay out in the sun for too long as it was quite fierce.
After a break we chose a spot of painting at the back of the workshop/tractor shed. This enabled us to work in the shade.
With the sun moving westward, we were back at the elm plantation to carry out the watering. We hooked up a bowser to the back of the jeep and parked up in shady spot. As access to the enclosures was limited by vehicular means, we managed by filling buckets of water and transporting them by hand.
Hats off to Matt and Tabby who need to work in all weathers, week in and week out.
Finally, some welcome rain has returned.
Now that quite a lot of the meadow has been mowed with the Topper, it was time for a major litter pick to collect up all the once hidden discards. We decided to extend this to the east and west woods (plus St Faiths Road fence-line) as there is never a shortage of litter there too.
As usual, we were not disappointed 😠.
On a brighter note, I did come across some nice finds.....
This is Chicken of the Woods, found sprouting out of a Yew tree.
That's it for now. Look out for my next post in the autumn.
