Hello Conservation Volunteers
A big thank you to all of the 24 volunteers and group leaders who turned out yesterday morning for a very productive morning's work in glorious sunshine!
Whilst Glyn and his team were hard at work clearing more self sets at Bingham Park, FoPV had a very high profile at Forge Dam with all the hi-vis vests on show working in the vicinity of the dam and Festival Woodland.
For starters, the decaying bags of sand surrounded by the 3 blue plastic fence panels (onto which some local wit had fixed a very amusing Sheffield City Council Art in the Park 2020 spoof) were moved along with the fences, and the sand used to fill the large muddy depression on the grassy area below the cafe which has now been fenced off awaiting grass seed. Sand was also laid in front of some benches to help alleviate the mud issue. We are looking to have some paving slabs laid in front of these benches to make it a more pleasant experience for people when sitting at them, which should also obviate the need for people to remove stones from the wall and place in front of the benches.
Ann, along with Tricia and Jantina, have planted some more plants in the area opposite the store and it is looking much improved. Two of the plastic fences have been placed in front to hopefully stop people trampling over them. Some temporary timber posts with roping is to be installed in this area with polite notices to encourage people to only walk on the footpath.
Debris from the dam was removed, work has started on tidying the paths alongside the dam, and mud washed down by the recent storms was cleared from the bottom of the cobbled path behind the cafe.
Mandy's team made great inroads on cutting back the laurel above the cafe.
Peter's team have mapped another 36 trees in Festival Woodland making it a total of 80 so far.
Anna and Rowena ventured onto an area of woodland up the footpath towards Fulwood where there was an accumulation of litter to be collected.
Chris Nicholson took a small group to check under the tin trays for sign of reptiles. Not much signs of life so far but there are two small nests made by something under one tray and we are eager to know what is creating them!
And to top it all, we also had a photographer going around taking photos of the volunteers working hard around Forge Dam for an article to appear in the local press!
The next work morning will be on Tuesday 25th May. The usual email asking for volunteers will be send out nearer the time.
Lyndon
