Ok… well technically we are. Or at least the long, long conifer row thinnings are completed. But we are still at Beecraigs and there are still trees to be felled!
And maybe you are getting a bit tired of tree felling and fence removal …but trust me, its a nice change for me (the last week I was up in Wester Ross assisting with a residential project on restoring sand dunes) – so its nice to get back to some *slightly* destructive work!
Tuesday was Beecraigs (i think, wasn’t there). Here’s what it looks like at the end of the long coniferous lines…
Wednesday was the final day at Easter Craiglockhart Hill. As such a good job had been done last week – getting all the numbered markers in the correct locations – there was only some vegetation cut back, path resurfacing and step maintenance to be done.
We were joined by Rob (now sponsored by Vodafone – so essentially no sense out of him for the next two months) who is now coming out on Wednesdays. Throughout the day there was a constant clash between Egyptology and Vodafone-ness…as each thwart to compete each other for the most attention/annoyance. (Despite many threats, Rob didn’t actually end up in the pond…but it was close at times…).
The group was split three-ways on the tasks. The hardest part of the day was trying to locate the ‘hedge near a wall’ which we were supposed to be cutting back.
The wall turned out to be a tad higher than most had expected, and well.. to call it a hedge…was pushing it. But regardless, we trimmed it back (not cutting it down) and it now looks much better. This was confirmed by locals who occasionally tried to get us to cut down different sections for a variety of reasons (‘because we can see it over the wall’; ‘to let the window cleaner in’ etc).
Lunch was spent on the steps by the pond…in the SUN! This was followed by further work on hedge/path/steps. We then took a nature walk around the hill – namely to see if a) the posts were in the right place; b) to see if they could be removed – by..say..a well placed foot..;and to test tree knowledge and identification. REMEMBER! Rowans have whitish-black buds!
Thursday was spent back at Beecraigs. Continued working on fence removal and tree felling – although different trees in a different place. The group was split, between the tasks. This time we were felling all coniferous trees in the small semi-circular area near where we’ve been having lunch. All trees were to come down unless: a) it was suitable as a (exceedingly large) Christmas tree; b) the top couple of metres could be used as a Christmas tree or c) the area round-about the tree was sufficently sparce. Easy! It was suprising how closely the trees were packed in this small wood!
Given that the proximity to working near public footpaths was fairly close…out came some crime-scence tape (sorry, ‘hazard tape’) and some new ‘Danger’ boards.
Different sections of path were shut off during the day to deter walkers.
By the end of the day, everybody was doing the tree felling – we had left a sufficiently large one for Pat – who had ended up on the fence removal team.
Dedication prize goes to Martin, who drove to Beecraigs after his bike lock failed!
Its called an addiction when you can’t get your daily/weekly fix of conservation work!