Today we had 7 volunteers, an employee of Froglife and 3 TCV members. It was a crisp September morning which to me was a good sign it was going to be a fun day. The main purpose of the day was to put in a chestnut paling fence around a pond Dawsholm Park – the pond is protected by Froglife as it is a potential SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). There is some interesting amphibious species around the area but dogs brought into the Park by locals etc… have been disturbing the pond therefore not allowing life to flourish. This will be what the chestnut paling fence will look like when completed below.
We started the morning by getting to the site and measuring the distance between the pond and the fence making sure all the wooden beams were the right distance apart and creating a nice circumference around the pond. We then arranged all the tools in an order – when everything is grouped together it stops mess and confusion and produces a smooth running operation. Once the wooden beams had arrived that stabilise the fence we immediately started getting to work. Firstly squares needed to be dug that were roughly 21 inches in depth and wide enough that we could fill the space around the 3×3 beams but not use up too much post-crete.
It was very hard work but we managed to get most of the holes dug out before lunch and some posts in as seen above. After lunch it was just a case of double-checking the width and depth of all the holes and getting as many posts in with the post-crete as possible. It felt satisfying getting a good amount of work done and getting the volunteers involved as much as possible with the processes of the day. Explaining the processes gives people confidence and skills for work and life situations.
Everybody seemed to have so much fun that time passed fairly quickly meaning we finished slightly later – nobody seemed to mind and everyone still got dropped off at roughly 4 oclock. This project has gotten me really excited at the possibility of bio-diversity finally having a chance at growth – the project also has everyone constantly on their feet and adapting to pressures of the time scale.