Stopping fly tipping

As my regular reader will know, back in the spring the Friends of Chopwell Wood had its annual spring clean. Its unfortunately true of any area of the countryside, that small minority just doesn’t care about the litter, rubbish or trash they leave behind when they visit an area of beauty. Thus the FoCW along with the Forestry Commission carry out an annual spring clean to try to remove some of the rubbish that has just been dumped in the wood. Rubbish removal is not just confined to then, the first time I met the Ranger she was collecting rubbish, and others do it on a regular basis, but on this day a concerted effort is made to clear out what is mostly discarded drinks can, bottles and sweet wrappers etc. However, the other problem is that of fly tipping. To explain for my overseas reader, that is where rubbish is illegally dumped, sometimes by individuals but often by companies that are trying to avoid paying landfill tax.

It is probably the greatest single gift that the Friends of Chopwell Wood provided for the Community was to pay for a series of barriers that are in place on the Fire Roads (Dirt or stone tracks that enable Fire fighters to access the woods), thus preventing the fly tipping that used to occur on a grand scale. It still happens, but nowhere near as much as it did in the past. But following the last Spring Clean, a suggestion was made by our Earth Skills supremeo, that we asked the local authority if a skip could be placed near a particular entrance to the wood, so that instead of people dumping rubbish in the wood, it could at least be skipped and help reduce the costs of clearing such items illegally dumped.

Because I was already in contact with some of the local councillors, I was asked to place the idea before them. Latter I discovered that this had been asked for several times in the past but to no avail. Therefore, I was not totally confident that it would happen. But with the persistence of naivety, eventually a compromise solution was reached, and a Skip has been placed in the park very close to the entrance to the wood were most of the rubbish dumping occurs.

It has been there for some time now, and while I wanted to report the good news sooner, there was some concern that we would have further incidents of the skip being set alight. It was the concerns about a pyromaniac setting the skip on fire that prevented it from being sited right at the entrance to the forest as any fire in the skip would have set the wood ablaze too.

The real test of if this has worked will be if there is less rubbish to collect next year. I doubt that it will reduce the volume but it will allow the volunteers to go further a field and expand the area of the forest we are able to make free of rubbish.

While I hope that I will not have to talk rubbish again, well I know that some think that’s all this mouse does, until every one takes responsibility for their waste, I guess that it will come up as a theme again.

The Mushroom Hunter

On Sunday was the annual fungal Foray organised by the Friends of Chopwell Wood. The chap who acts as our guide is extremely knowledgeable as well as being entertaining.

Personally I learnt a lot, for example that all fungi are edible, but some only once!

While that is a humorist quote, it does emphasise just how careful we all need to be when harvesting wild foods. There are some that I can recognise and know are safe to eat. Further, I have come back from many a walk with a few for a meal in my pocket. But I will only eat what I am sure of and only harvest a little. Unfortunately there are some people who will totally strip a site. In the summer I found a place that was full of chanterelles, but the following day they were gone. That has the effect of not allowing any new spores to be released and while there is lightly to be another flourish there will be less and less if that type of unsustainable harvesting were to continue.

This year there are far fewer fungi around, the wet summer and the warm dry autumn has made this year a poor year for fungi but as we have around one hundred and sixty species of them in Chopwell Wood we are not in any danger of loosing them just yet.


The Top picture is of Gordon, the mushroom hunter.

Russula nigricans Blackening Russula, it is edible but not worth eating.



Russula fellea Geranium-scented russula, edible when cooked but best avoided (Unless you like eating rubber that is)



Piptoporus betulinus Birch Polypore, Not poisonous or Edible and is better used to strop a knife than for anything culinary

Mycena vitilis

Cavatia excipuliformis Edible when young and firm

Taking the Trees for a Walk

Your friendly neighbourhood Wood Mouse will be appearing in the local paper soon. The reason for this is my obsessive-compulsive behaviour of growing Oak Trees.

It all started when I was first out walking in the wood and I first encountered the ranger. She told me that the forest had a friends group and they carried out practical work in the wood. So I decided I would become an acquaintance of the Friends of Chopwell Wood.

Well you know how these things can escalate; I was foolish enough to offer to plant up the acorns that were gathered during last year’s tree seed collections. If only I had realised that there were nearly six hundred of them. I then had to go out, on the scrounge, to garner enough pots together to put them in. Fortunately the local community helped and soon I had all the pots I needed.

It was not easy, as I had to fight off all manner of birds, mainly the jackdaws but also the odd Jay and several magpies as they were constantly trying to eat their future perches. Eventually in the spring my compulsive, others would say eccentric, behaviour paid off and about two hundred and fifty baby oaks emerged.

It was as a result of doing this that this morning I had to take some of the trees back into the wood so that the Press Officer from the Forestry Commission could take some pictures of me with these trees. Now while I know that some people love performing in front of the camera, I don’t relish it, as I am very much like an oil painting, an old master in fact, cracked and flaking! However I did my duty, I don’t know how the images came out, as I haven’t seen them, but I felt a complete idiot standing there holding pots of trees in contrived poses. Even the Dog walkers were laughing at me, I think even the dogs were too.

Well there was I thinking that this is just for the staff magazine or some obscure place where no one would see them, like my Blog, then I get a call from the biggest paper in the region and it’s the environment editor, and before I know it, I will be in the local paper.

Well at least it will not be saying “Don’t Approach this Mouse” I just wish that the Ranger had not beguiled me when I first met her. It’s all her fault really.

All joking aside there is a serious point to all this, as these trees will be planted so that we can regenerate the ancient wood here in Chopwell. In doing so we can directly aid over one hundred species that are on the UK at risk list of flora and fauna. The reason for the publicity is so that we can encourage other people to become actively involved in collecting seed, helping to plant the trees and do their little bit.

As it was such a great morning it was worth, well almost, the humiliation of having my visage captured on film.

I got my own back by snapping this picture of the photographer!

Changed Plans and A Long Walk

One of the large coppice stools

While I knew that I had a couple of important errands to run yesterday, I was planning to have a quite day especially as I have a load of washing to do. One of the problems with living a truly “Green” lifestyle and being so involved with practical conservation is that my clothes do get mucky. Therefore I needed some time to get my washing done. I don’t have a washing machine so it’s all done by hand. Rather old fashioned but effective. However, I got a call from the Ranger as the Forestry Commission Crew had been in that morning and had coppiced the large trees down where the Friends’ are building the Grass Snake hotels. As I seem to have become by default the task leader on this project, I needed to check to see if there was anything else that the FoCW needed done while the crew were still around.

Therefore, I had to adjust my plans and go and visit the site. As building these Grass Snake Hotels, Hibernacula, is a big project and we are relying upon volunteers, we need to keep a sensible balance in providing work that is interesting yet achievable. Had we left the large timber there to be coppiced by inexperienced volunteers, far less could have been done as the site lacks the space for twenty plus people to be working and several tonnes of timber getting felled. Also as the volunteers are inexperienced, by making the work interesting with results that they can see occurring, they are more likely to want to continue volunteering and doing their bit for the environment.

Well when I got to the site, the Forestry Commission crew have done a fantastic job. They have left the smaller more manageable trees there, for the conservation volunteers to deal with, but have opened up the area so that we can work on the Hibernacula. None of the wood will be wasted as it will be required for the construction of the grass snake hotels, and what is not used will be corded so that insects and other small animal can use it. None of the trees have been killed, as the coppice stools will regenerate. The site was chosen as the trees there need to be coppiced anyway, and because of that fact the location is perfect for the Hibernacula. It all goes to become a virtuous circle of enhancing habitat.

As my regular reader will know, previously while carrying out a survey of potential bat roost sites, I had shredded my old boots, so on Monday I went out and bought a new pair. I was glad that I had as the site where the Friends of Chopwell Wood are to build the Grass Snake Hotel is not easily accessible. Access is via a steep bank and you need good stout footwear to get on or off the site. Because the tread on my old boots was so worn on the last occasion that I had been to the location I had to slip down on my butt to gain access. This time it was a piece of cake.

The steep valley near the river

As I had needed to alter my plans I decided I would take some time out and relax by taking a nice walk and see what was happening in the wood. With autumn showing its self in the wood, it was possible that I could get some great pictures. I personally love this time of year because of the colours and the way that the wildlife is feverously preparing for winter.

An Inspirational Conservationist

I was asked if I could help provide some green woodcraft activity for some of the Forestry Commission staff that were attending a meeting in Chopwell Wood yesterday. As this mouse and a few other members of the Friends of Chopwell Wood recently underwent four days of training and experience to enable us to pass on these skills, I thought that it would be a wonderful opportunity to show the Forestry Commission folks what we do in their wood. While I do frequently call it my wood, that is just because it’s my home base from a landscape and conservation perspective, and while the Forestry Commission owns the land, it is in fact the communities’ wood.

However, I only tell you all this to set the scene, as after I had set up the equipment, as any reader of my old Blog will know we made a Shave Horse and Pole lathe, I was offered some lunch and the opportunity to hear a talk by Keith Bowey the head of Northern Kites.

Again my regular reader knows, I am passionate about the Red Kites, any day that I see them lifts my spirits and the way that the local community gets excited about seeing these birds is amazing. Every time I meet a stranger and they see I am carrying a camera or binoculars (That’s all the Time), I am asked if I have seen the Kites!

Yesterday I met the man who has inspired that passion, Keith Bowey. Every now and then you get to meet someone who really shares a passion, and for me that happened yesterday.

I have personally felt that far to often when conservation projects happen that everyone should be told of what is occurring. That way people can be enthused by great wildlife. One of the things that the Northern Kites team did was to tell everyone that “Hey we are reintroducing this bird into the area” rather than keep it all secret. This has had the positive effect of ensuring that the birds were not persecuted. Persecution is why the Red Kite nearly became extinct in the first place. In the 1930s it was down to one breading female.

That was how close we all came to loosing this fantastic bird.

Right from the start, Northern Kites, got the community involved and all of the birds have been adopted and named by local schools, in fact we need the kites to breed faster as more schools want to adopt the birds that have yet to be laid and hatched yet! By being so public and getting the community support and involvement when one of the birds was poisoned in the first year, the community condemnation, especially from children, has prevented it happening again.

The Red Kites were one of the prime factors that caused me to move to my village in the first place.

I wish I could convey the passion that Keith Bowey has, personally he has inspired me a new and I can see great thing for my wood, our community woodland that is Chopwell Wood.

Installing the Insect Bench

Yesterday I had a real treat as I witnessed the sculpture David Goss install our newest item in the forest. The artwork is a function piece as it is a bench, and provides a welcome rest stop on the boundary walk. Further its location has been carefully selected so that it provides a view out of the wood across to the moors and up the Derwent Valley.

I was able to observer and at times hinder, the whole of the operation. It was a delight to see a real craftsman at work.

The Complications and Fun of Clearing a Pond

It can be extraordinary the way that events over three hundred miles away can impact upon this mouse’s activity here, but the fresh outbreak of Foot and Mouth down in Surrey has done just that.

Yesterday was the monthly committee meeting of the Friends of Chopwell Wood. Since I was elected Vice Chairman, I take my role of promoting Vice in the wood seriously; I have to make the effort to attend. Yesterday however was significant as I was also chairing the meeting for the first time. All in all I tried to be fair and I hope that I allowed everyone the chance to say what he or she needed to say. It did have me feeling a little stressed and I had, had quite a bit of work to do in the last month as well.

Therefore, I particularly wanted to get out today to do some practical work in the countryside as it’s a great stress relief valve for me and it’s a lot of fun too.

As I had been so busy I had not really had the chance to hear the news yesterday so it was a surprise to hear of the fresh outbreak of Foot and Mouth. Add to this it was not until this morning while having my task fuel of porridge that I read that today’s task was at a wonderful community farm at Bill Quay. I already knew of the farm as I had visited previously and had lived near there before moving to this village.

I had great fun; the task was clearing out vegetation from a small wildlife pond and wetlands area. Its part of why I do like the Farm is that everything is on a small scale and is full of great examples of how things can be done.

However, I was quite mucky and tired when I got home, and I tried to rush around to get ready for another meeting tonight. I had to cancel attending. Apart from the fact that I would be late, it occurred to me that several of the people there would need to be taking “Bio Security” measures as protection against Foot and Mouth. As I had been working at a farm, all be it a small one, the risks are the same no matter what the size. And even though there are no known cases of Foot and Mouth locally, I couldn’t justify the risk that I could inadvertently carry the infection to others.

I just hope that it doesn’t take long to eradicate the infection this time.

Preparing for a transformation

Here in my local wood we are on the brink of a new era. As the wood is a plantation that sits on the site of an ancient wood, it has been decided that it will be replanted with the native hardwood trees that would have been part of its natural mixture long before it was used as a plantation. Thus I find myself in the luck position of being around to see this happen. Or at least the start of it happening as it will continue long after I have departed.

What makes me so pleased is that if we, the Friends of Chopwell Wood and the Forestry Commission get the management right, we will be regenerating a habitat that has been in rapid decline for years. Therefore we will be helping in preserving many rare and endangered species for future generations.

At the moment I am busy trying to collect seeds from the trees that we will need to grow on and plant in future years. My back yard already looks like a mini forest with hundreds of Oak seedlings in there. I expect that while these will be planted in November, watch this space for details, and there will be a new mini forest in my back yard for years to come.

In the picture you can see the trees marked with coloured dots are the trees that are to be thinned.

A full complement of Volunteer

Yesterday was the rescheduled task of painting the Coal Tubs on the Tub way. I was feeling quite tired even when I got up, but as I was leading it, I of all people couldn’t afford not to turn up. Therefore I had to fuel myself up on portage, make my sandwiches and a flask of tea. The Tea and my telephone I left on the kitchen bench, so that was a good start. Personally I blame to post woman calling at that point causing me to forget to put them in my bag. Well I have to blame someone, it cant be the Mouse’s fault, or can it?

It was a great day weather wise, so walking to the Forest classroom, the meeting place for the volunteers, was a real delight. Had I just been out for a walk it would have been a perfect morning to just stroll around, but those tubs needed to be painted.

The difficulty for an organisation that relies upon volunteers to carry out any works or task it that you never know how many people will turn up. It became clear that I was it. The Friends’ are blessed with having some very good and reliable people who do give of their time so freely, but most of the regular volunteers yesterday were away on holiday, Mick enjoy your time in Malta, we have work for you when you return. Also as this was a rescheduled event, rain having prevented play previously, it was just possible that folks had other things planned. So it was left to the Mouse to paint these tubs. As an extra safety precaution I informed the Ranger, who was on her Day off, that I was working alone.

Now I don’t mind painting, but it can be boring, so I decided I would just do as much as I could manage. And I would work systematically, and used a wire brush to key the surface, as the plan was to do the work to as higher standard as possible, so that the minimum of future maintenance was needed in the future. Painting the wheels first, I wanted to ensure that all the fuddle bits were done and then I could take time with the large flat surfaces.

The work progressed well, and I even had time to stop for my lunch, and dreamt of my flask of tea I knew was at home. I even had visitors in the form of various dog walkers and a group of walkers. Even the Ranger came along to check on me, I think she was just making sure I was actually working and had not skived off.

Eventually, I just ran out of paint, with just a little bit of the coal to paint. Well its rock made to imitate coal, if we had used coal it would have lead to the brainless ones either stealing it or setting it on fire.

So with just the sign writing and a bit of coal left to paint I was happy but amazed that I had done so much. While I had been careful, I still got my hands covered in paint, well at least I wont go rusty now, I had the problem that I had to return the tools and ensure I informed the ranger I was finished. What made that a problem was I was really knackered and my home was in one direction and the Forest Depot was in the other.

At least I was able to check on the work as I went home eventually. The wet paint sign was still there, but it was gone by today. It is one of these things that amuse me. The tubs are in an area that is closed off to the public, with a viewing area at the top of the cutting. But to ensure we don’t get sued, we have to put up signs to warn the brain dead ones that the paint is wet. Just in case “Little Johnny” traverses into a place he shouldn’t be, and gets paint on his best designer shirt, and “Little Johnny’s” mother sues us as this hypothetical shirt is ruined. Personally I think that in these sorts of cases the people being sued should counter claim the cost of repainting because “Little Johnny” has ruined it. That would stop this sue for everything culture.

Well as you can see the Tubs are all shinny and black again. But someone else can finish them off!

Dealing with damage and creating something special

While I am a strong believer in allowing open access to the countryside, I also realise that there are some people who don’t care about the environment and come into the natural environment set on causing damage. The photograph of this damaged tree is just one example of the damage that irresponsible people do.

Today, the Mouse and the Chair had to complete the cementing in of the rocks in the Coal Tubs. This was becoming urgent as already the mindless ones were trying to destroy the work already done. Some of the content of the tubs, not concreted in, had been removed and the rocks used as projectiles to attempt to damage the tubs and the work already done.

It would be all to easy to become despondent, but with a pragmatic attitude, we worked to complete the task and ensure that there is little that can be damaged. I personally have never understood the drive or motivation to destroy. I suppose that because it’s easier to destroy something than to create, it must provide the brainless some form of creative outlet.

With that task completed we only need to get our willing band of volunteers to join us to paint the tubs now. You are welcome to join us.

That done, the Chair and myself were not finished as we also had the job of dealing with the wildflower meadow.

As the British landscape is an artificial one, created by thousands of years of human intervention, the traditional wildflower meadow is a habitat that requires careful management. In the past, meadows would have been clearings created when trees were felled to provide hay and herbage for animals and livestock. Because there was no active inputs into the soil from manure, as would happen in a pasture meadow, and the grass and herbage are removed, the soil remains poor and denuded of nutrients. This makes the land poor for growing crops, but a perfect environment for the wild flowers, as the grasses are not able to take over.

Thus with the changes that have occurred in agricultural practice over the last fifty to sixty years, many of the traditional wildflowers have become scarce. By recreating a wildflower meadow, we ensure that the flowers exist as well as the insects and the reptiles and amphibians that feed on the insects. While the biodiversity is much grater than just that, it gives you an example of why these areas are so important.

But, as people no longer keep the odd pig, or a house cow, or even a goat or two, traditional meadows are no longer a part of the agricultural necessity. Thus managing them becomes more labour intensive. Thus the work falls to us volunteers to do the work.

Fortunately, the Friends’ have some good contacts and supporters and we got the woman who has the Alpacas in to cut the hay. But the real work is raking up and removing the hay. That is what the Mouse and the Chair did today.

The benefits to the wildlife were obvious right from the start as there were several common frogs Rana temporaria in the area and as the herbage was raked up they were hopping away to find cover. Also as the ground was cleared a large number of vole and mouse holes were revealed too.

While all of this was hard work, the benefits to the natural environment were obvious and while it is harder to create something worthwhile, that effort is justified.

Encounters with Bats

Wherever I go, no matter whom I talk to, people do have a love of wildlife. People remember their own encounters with wildlife and can recount when and where they saw something or other.

Last Night I was lucky enough to go out on a “Bat Walk” with a real expert, not only on Bats but on Chopwell Wood. The event was organised by the Forestry Commission and there were over fifty people who turned up for the event. The weather and conditions were perfect for watching and it was a beautiful moonlit night. Even walking across the woods to the assembly point was a great experience with the soft golden light of the evening painting shadows across the landscape.

Going on any event like this does pose a dilemma for me, as while I am there to learn myself, I am also there as a representative of the Friends of Chopwell Wood. Therefore, I cant just be like a little kid who is excited by the experience, I have to remain, a bit at least, like a responsible adult. That doesn’t stop me enjoying the experience of learning.

While I do have some pre-existing knowledge, it is always a joy to garner more from others that have an in depth knowledge of their topic. I did learn quite a bit, and I also realised that I knew more than I thought I did too.

Last night we saw half of the six species of bats that inhabit Chopwell Woods; Common Pipistrelle, Nocturnes Bat and Daubenton's Bat. The Last I spent half an hour trying to photograph, unsuccessfully I suspect, but I will have to wait until I get the film processed. I went towards home with a real buzz and a spring in my step. It was a good job as it was up hill all the way in the dark.

Stopping off in the pub on the way home, I was asked where I had been, upon telling people, I was regaled with other people’s accounts of their encounters with bats.

To Task or Not to Task, that is the Question

One of the difficulties that the Friends of Chopwell Wood has with the work that in undertakes in the forest is simply the availability of volunteers. Every one of the volunteers that come out on days when there is practical work to do puts in an amazing amount of effort. However, as an organisation we always have more work to be done and not enough “volunteer days” to do and complete the work.

The task last weekend was a case in point; because of the weather we could not fully complete the work that was scheduled. Thus the Chairman of the FoCW and this mouse decided we would try and get some of the important elements done between us.

This does create a dilemma for us as an organisation as by doing the work between us, we can reduce the opportunities for people who genuinely want to help. However, with the job not fully completed, there was a real risk that vandals or other intent on destruction could undo all the work that had been completed. As the main reason why the task was necessary in the first place was due to an act of destruction, placed the site at risk. Therefore we needed to get the work to a point where it was at less risk. This is what this mouse and the Chairman did.

The rest of the work will need to be completed soon and will be rescheduled as an additional task thus providing the opportunity for volunteers to help.

This one of the greatest challenges for any organisation that relies upon the help of volunteers, that of ensuring you can provide them with interesting work. I know myself when volunteering with the BTCV, there were some tasks that were just plain monotonous. The work was necessary but boring. Therefore, we, the Friends of Chopwell Wood, need to be aware that we don’t just do all the interesting bits ourselves and we keep all our tasks open to the public.

It may surprise some of my readers (Okay Reader), that we are open to anyone. Volunteers do not need to be members or to become members, but we will try and get you to sign on the dotted line. As a small organisation we do not have enough members who are capable and willing to undertake some of the work required. For instance, one of the tasks that will be occurring soon (Watch this Space) is the construction of hibernacula for grass snakes. Because of the location of these structures it will require some manual digging. Not everyone is capable of such hard labour, but by being open to all, we may find that we have some very capable people on the task. Also volunteering for a task like this does mean you get into bits of the wood you never normally would have access to. It is one of the aspects I love about doing stuff like this myself.

Therefore, yesterday the Chair and the Mouse did some of the heavy work on the Tubs Task rescheduling the rest for the weekend of 1st September. So if you have nothing to do…

Tubs Task Day Two, or here comes the rain again

Yesterday was supposed to be the second day of our task to restore the coal tubs that sit on display in Chopwell Wood, but like a cricket match, rain stopped play. While we do have access to a couple of Gazebos courtesy of the NEFA (North East Free Ride Association) lads, any rain would have ruined all the good efforts put into restoring the Tubs so far. This would only have lead to us needing to carry out further maintenance sooner too.

Calling off a task is never an easy decision to make, but if the work cannot be done properly then it becomes pointless trying. Although for me safety will always be the other major consideration as volunteers are far to valuable to risk injuring, we just don’t have enough to spare!

While this work is not conservation in the natural history sense, the local history and especially the industrial history is important to many local people. Thus the work is important as it preserves the work that the friends of Chopwell Wood have already done. Further, it provides some amenity for the people who visit the forest.

Personally though I think the woods are beautiful in themselves and worth visiting for that reason alone. But we live in a time when people need to have allsorts of reasons to visit a place and everything has to be explained to them. I my opinion it stops people from thinking and wondering. This mouse loves to try and discover things for himself; it’s the child in me, that sense of wonder and discovery.

There is though a great sense of discovery with the additional elements that have been placed in the woods. There are a number of sculptures in the wood and it can be a delight to just stumble upon them as I did when first exploring the woods. I now know my way around well enough that I can head for them and to us, the people who know the topography of the woods reasonably well, they can provide useful reference points when discussing layout or encounters in the forest.

Well as the work has been postponed, it looks as though another task will have to be arranged to complete the work. I just hope that we still have the enthusiasm of the people involved this time on the next attempt to complete the work.

Tackling the Tubs Day One Part One

Today was an important milestone for me as this mouse was leading a task for the friends (Friends of Chopwell Wood) for the first time. While I have experience of leading conservation tasks in my past, getting lumbered with this was almost an accident.

During a previous meeting it was decided that we, the Friends’, needed to do some work on repairing the coal tubs that we have on display in the woods, as they had suffered from vandalism and the local kids had empted them out several times in the past. The last indignity had been that a stolen car had been pushed or driven into the cutting where the tubs sit before being torched. Therefore we, as an organisation, needed to do something that would stop this looking like an eyesore. Also, we needed to plan the work so that hopefully we could prevent the vandalism occurring again, or at least minimise any effect.

So like a complete berk this mouse piped up and said he would look at the site and access the work that needed to be done. Thus myself, and two of the other friends were assigned this duty. Having worked out what work we needed to do, a written plan of works was drawn up. However, because of the Forestry Commission rules that the FoCW have to abide by, suddenly one of us needed to stick our neck out and not only take charge of the task, but ensure that all the risk assessments were completed so that the work could go ahead. At that point I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and instead of scuttling away to a dark corner, I became task leader.

Now, today was the first day of this two-day task and it has gone well so far, I don’t think that I have misplaced any volunteers, nor have we injured any. More importantly the work has progressed at a cracking pace and we reached a point where over half of the task is done.

There was a moment when due to finding a nest of Wood mice Apodemus sylvaticus in one of the tubs we had to stop work to relocate them, but even this has not caused any real delay. The most amazing part though was the effort made by the volunteers that means that we probably will get the work completed, something I was having my doubts about only yesterday. That success today was in no small part due to two new volunteers. The Friends of Chopwell Wood have always been open to everyone, and recently one of volunteers has been learning British Sign Language, and is regularly available to provide translation support. Thus we have acquired two willing volunteers from the deaf community, who if today’s efforts are anything to go by, are hard working and capable. Here in the Friends’ we are not prejudice and welcome everyone, especially when they work like Trojans. But more importantly they enjoyed themselves, and that for me is what all this is and should be about.

The picture at the top is what the tubs looked like a week ago.

A Shared Love of the Countryside

Today has been a rather interesting day for me as I am to become a local countryside ranger. As the readers of my previous Blog will know, but my new reader will not, I am actively involved with trying to do my bit to help look after the local environment and the countryside I love. Further rather than just complain about this or that not being done, I get involved with taking practical measures to keep the natural environment a great place for the flora and fauna as well as for the people who I share it with.

This lead me to apply to become a local countryside warden/ranger, the titles are interchangeable as the only real qualification is to be foolish enough to want to get stuck in to doing the messy work. However, for this I have had to undergo a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check. Now I have nothing to hide nor anything to fear, as this purely about child protection. The only difficulty is trying to get all the dates right of when I lived at different addresses. As my life has been somewhat peripatetic get those details right can be difficult. For people that stay in the same place all their lives, it is no problem, for me it is. I don’t always have the best memory for dates and an anniversary as it is (Is that why I am Divorced?) therefore trying to remember that sort of detail is difficult to say the least. But with that done I can at least start doing more practical conservation undertakings.

Then quite by chance I got on the bus to go home and found my neighbours on there too. I have not that long moved to my present address and I am lucky to have some good, no great, neighbours. They are an elderly couple, and while on the bus from talking I discovered that we shared an interest in wildlife and the countryside. Further they now understand why I have been seen wandering about in the early mornings or late at night looking like an extra from Springwatch!

This is not the only bit of practical conservation work that I am involved in either, as this weekend, there is a task that I am leading for another organisation called the “Friends of Chopwell Wood” (FoCW). It will be the first one that I have lead for this organisation, but I have lead tasks before when I volunteered with the BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers) in London. However, this will be a whole different ball game as with the FoCW we only have a small core group of volunteers to carry out the practical work, and we never know if any of member of the public will turn up to help. Incidentally if anyone reading this wants to help you are welcome to come along to Chopwell wood we meet at the forest classroom at 10 am. (Blatant Plug over)

However my activities today has prevented me from getting out and taking one of my regular wildlife walks. I am lucky as I do live in a wildlife rich environment, and while there is no guarantee that I will see wildlife, I must say that I normally do see something worth commentating on. It was this fact that initially prompted me to start keeping an on line journal in the first place.