Monday 26th April saw us back at Rosneath to do a bit more willow spiling. We were delighted to see that our previous efforts back in January had started to sprout greenery! Even the posts had green shoots on them, something we weren’t expecting. The whole section was very natural looking and looked like it had always been there.
The new section was a little further down the river and the bank had been eroded a lot more than the section we did in January. This meant more back filling which therefore meant more shoveling of soil. We set to work and drove the willow posts into the river bed.
We began weaving the first few rows of willow into the structure and then back filled with soil as we went to provide purchase for the willow rod. Each ‘butt’ (thick) end of the willow is driven a short way into the bank and then the length of the rod is woven in and out of the upright posts. Where the rod ends at it’s ‘tip’ we go back to the previous post and repeat the process, driving the butt end into the soil of the bank and weaving along the posts. The willow is always woven along the flow of the water.
After 3 days hard work of weaving and back filling with soil the spiling was complete!
Hopefully we can come back in the future and see these willow rods sprouting too”
