Local volunteers and committee members gathered at the woodland site last Saturday for a day of habitat creation, weeding and planting of seeds. As can be seen in the accompanying photos, in a newly created habitat area where dense holly trees have been cleared, new habitats in the form of terraces next to the path that goes from the entrance to the upper levels were created, using the felled tree trunks to act as support structures.

Many of the volunteers were excited to see the primroses in flower, including an unusual purple-coloured primrose, the lords and ladies that were beginning to appear, as well as the bluebells which were growing strongly.

The volunteers took extra care to protect these delicate flowers by clearing any invasive plants such as brambles that could threaten their growth.

We hope that by creating new habitats and caring for the existing ones, we can promote a healthy ecosystem that benefits both the wildlife and the local community.
Of course, no volunteer morning would be complete without the coffee and biscuits!

The Westcombe Woodlands’ 2nd volunteer morning of the year saw lots of activity! Work took place in both the Lasseter Place part and the main area. In the Lasseter Place area, we coppiced our own hazel that was planted over a decade ago. In the photo can be seen volunteers and committee member Andrew Slade.

In the main area of the woodlands, it was a good time to start some of the repairs that are needed. We can see committee member Jeremy Avis with a new wooden pole to replace a rotten one next to some steps.

Other maintenance includes pruning trees in the orchard and clearing the area around a beech tree which is to be moved to a brighter place in the next few days.

Once again we had volunteers from Greenwich Goodjym come and help out in weeding and bramble clearance.

There’s not much to be seen with new plants at the moment, we have hazel catkins but bluebells are emerging, the photo shows several clumps to be a few centimetres tall.

The start of the year is always a quiet time in the woodland, but there’s typically general maintenance to do somewhere! At the start of January 2023, we welcomed 2 volunteers from the local “Good Gym” branch. We welcomed Julian and Marta to our volunteer morning. It has been quite a while since we ventured in to the woodland’s “other half” over on Lasseter Place.

Bramble, snowberry, fallen trees were all in the wrong place. Snowberry, while providing winter food for birds, can be very invasive so much so that it can swamp all other flora.

With hacksaws and secateurs, we started to remove the plant, as well as brambles and ivy. An unexpected find – or rather lots of them – were several footballs and tennis balls which must have come flying in from the gardens of adjacent Ulundi Road. Goal!!!

Over the last few days, the committee members have been in the woodlands and below are some of the wonderful photos that were taken.