Today was the completion of the path work and wildlife garden at the church – it was a satisfying day in many ways for me and the volunteers. This blog illustrates the hard work the volunteers have done over the past 8 days at Giffnock. Today was relaxing as the only task for the group was to giving the wildlife garden some TLC by removing large unwanted vegetation and rubbish from the plant beds and corners of the garden. Also using the futuristic tank that is the wacker plate to try and compact the grey wind dust to give the path and garden a solid flat finish (mainly for wheelchair access). The guys made very short work of the tasks, they could have been spurred on by the fact the rain miraculously stopped when we arrived – I realise I sometimes mention the weather a lot, but it is our biggest foe. Below is some shots of day 2 at Giffnock from my previous blog.
Pathway cleared for the type 1 gravel.
Filled with type 1 gravel and maintained over several days.
Pathway cleared for the type 1 gravel.
Built by our Green Gym leader for wild flowers to be planted later.
Built by our Green Gym leader for wild flowers to be planted later.
Built by our Green Gym leader for wild flowers to be planted later.
Here is some photos of the finished product on day 8.
Grey wind dust smoothed out by wacker plate
Finished wildlife garden
Nice shot of the group as we were just finishing for the day
Plant beds to be filled with wildflowers
The machine, the myth, the legend that is the wacker plate
The plant beds are going to be filled with wildflowers at a later date by the Green Gym, to attract lots of lovely pollinators.
I shall finish the day by revealing that we had a group of students from the University of Durham visit on site. They were interviewing myself and our volunteer development officer as well as all the volunteers to try and get a sense of why we are interested in environmental conservation. They were a great group of guy (one guy) and gals who were very polite and bright – they genuinely seemed inspired by some of the responses. I feel strongly about sharing my passions as a source of inspiration for others to get involved not only with conservation or TCV but with any projects their local communities might run. I hope they got some great feedback for their project and seen how important and helpful volunteering is for some people – I know it has changed my life for the better. I wish the guys good luck in what ever sector they go into as their futures look bright.
P.S. They choose the right subject for Uinversity.
To finish the blog a lovely photo of the gang with the students just after lunch.
Everybody plus the students from The University of Durham.