Hello Conservation Volunteers
A big thank you to all of you who attended our Tuesday work morning on what was a glorious sunny and warm Spring morning where we had groups performing various tasks around the Forge Dam area.
Rachel, Leonie, Mandy, Paul and Pauline headed over to Wire Mill Dam to tidy and restore the path edge along side the dam. This involved cutting back the soil and turf which had grown over the path creating a rather forlorn appearance down the side where the benches are situated. Once removed though the harder part is removing the debris and sweeping up! Although it is not finished and will require a further session to be completed, it has made a tremendous improvement so far.
Chris and Rod first dismantled what looked like some children's attempt at creating a leaky dam, complete with an old piece of carpet, placed behind the grill with the FoPV plaque on the head goit to Wire Mill Dam! As well as the usual clearance of the grill entrance to the culvert they also cleared a large pile of debris from the far end of Wire Mill Dam itself above the cottages.
Tricia and Calsie were on gardening duty, firstly tidying up and removing all the dead twigs and small branches which had fallen from the trees onto the border areas and then planted some plants donated by volunteers.
Dave and Nick have rebuilt the two small rockery walls by the store and made this little corner more presentable.
Matt led a group to survey the footpaths between Forge Dam and Whitely Wood Road which have many issues needing to be addressed. Armed with tape measures, notepads, GPS and What3Words, the paths on both the north and south sides of the Porter were walked noting fences which need repairing, new fences installing above steep drops on the river's edge, drainage improvements and path rebuilding to ensure they met both the minimum width of 1.8m and were safe. In total 19 areas were noted requiring remedial work. These will be prioritised and relevant supplies ordered for volunteers to commence work hopefully in the next month or so.
The next work morning is on Thursday 14th April 2022 where we will be at Endcliffe Park preparing for the Duck Race! Full details nearer the time.
Lyndon.
A Selection of photos from the work morning
Wire Mill Dam path before clearing
During and after clearing
Rachel on a newly cleared section
Branches and carpet behind the grill with the plaque
Gardening team in action
Rockery wall rebuilt and tidied
Surveying the footpaths, Matt, Glyn, Rob and Peter
Path edge washed away requiring a deep revetment
