Monday 7 January 2013

Lakebed project

The Amazon? The Congo? No it's deepest Surrey where a few of us have been clearing laurel from an overgrown area of an old estate. 

There are some fine tall Scots Pine and various hardwood trees on the site as well as a number of standing and fallen dead ones, some from the 1987 storm. The laurel has spread over several acres and choked out all the ground cover so hopefully its removal will allow the native woodland flora to return. We are cording the trunks for removal and burning the small stuff and then a machine will be brought in to grub out the roots to prevent regeneration.

Sunday 6 January 2013

Byfleet - Second session

Yesterday was the second Surrey Hedgelaying Group session at Byfleet. A maiden double-row hedge about ten years old, planted around a large field used by Surrey Wildlife Trust for winter grazing. We were originally asked to lay the hedges on all four sides of the field  but this has now been reduced to just two sides. We started the hedge last week on a wet and blustery Saturday but made good progress, almost completing the shorter of the two sides. This week we cracked on in unseasonally mild weather, leaving perhaps another days work to complete the job. 

This first photo shows the work completed on the 29th December, with the walkway reinstated on the inside of the hedge.
 


Here we see Fred 'The hedge' O'Hare starting work on this weeks section and working round a large entrance to a badger sett. As you can see the hedge is rather thin in places with sections of dog rose but it was nice to be able to work all day without the noise of chainsaws.

This shot shows a section of hedge completed yesterday with a nice curve round the corner meeting up with the previous weeks work.