The predicted strong winds hadn’t arrived when we started work and we started to continue the work from last month. With our usual good mixture of volunteers and committee members, we concentrated on removing brambles from the mini Glade. April and May are when we can get at the roots of the small plants before they start to grow and swamp the more delicate species, such as bluebells and primroses.

More saplings, including hawthorn as in the below photo, were planted along the boundaries and those previously planted are already starting to quickly grow in to a good, wildlife-friendsly habitat.

On the lower levels of the woodland, work continued to take the smaller branches of fallen and felled trees to create piles of dead wood. The below photo shows such a habitat that was started in February.

Of course, it’s also a pleasure to be in the woodlands and see the season change. The pear tree blossom in the below photo makes the tree appear to be covered in snow!

The third volunteer morning took place on the 3rd of March. Lots of blue skies and a good mixture of volunteers, committee members and 3 people from the local “GoodGym” in Greenwich meant a lot of useful work completed.

More ivy clearance was undertaken and lots of young saplings were planted and heeled in. In addition to “common” species, crab apples” will be making an appearance!

The border with Tom Smith Close’s car park was also planted up by one of the group’s most active volunteers, Dave Larkin. There were still many saplings that need to be planted in the next few weeks. Logs from the bottom of the woodland were moved to The Glade area and will soon find a new purpose.

The blue sky definitely had a warming effect on the bee hives as there was a lot of activity here.

With Spring arriving in the next 3 weeks, it was nice to see some of the fruit trees starting to bud, including the photo of the pear tree.

On a cold morning at the start of February, committee members Lieve Reckers and Nigel Duncan completed the annual maintenance task of removing excess vegetation from the pond. If this wasn’t done regularly, the reeds and grasses would eventually take over, causing the pond to turn into mud and back into a normal part of the woodland. Lieve’s waders and thick gloves resulted in the excess vegetation being put on the side of the pond, allowing valuable water and insects to fall back into the water.

The February volunteer morning took place a few days ago. As you can see in the accompanying photos, it was an overcast morning but surprisingly warm. Primroses are in flower and the bluebells that we planted a few years ago are coming through. Self-seeded foxgloves are also growing near the entrance’s steps.

The recently felled robinia trees can be seen, and have been cut into logs for use elsewhere in the woodland. A tree also fell in the last few days and can also be seen here.

Committee member Andrew Slade is shown hard at work sawing through branches so that these can be used elsewhere.

In the area of the entrance previously felled trees are being sorted into similar-sized branches to create more “bug hotels” for wildlife. The branches will eventually rot and return nutrients back into the ecosystem.

On Friday the 5th of January, tree specialist Mark Clews was onsite and surveyed 150 trees to check that they were in a good condition and posed no serious threat to people while onsite. Due to the recent poor weather, an additional day of surveying will be needed next week. This is another area where the donations and annual subscriptions of members help pay to keep the woodlands in a safe condition.