Branchlines November Updates
BRANCHLINES AND OLD SCHOOL WOOD
Working Parties have resumed on most Wednesday mornings after the summer break.
Monthly Working Party; Saturday November 28th.
Winter working parties will include coppicing, hedge cutting, path maintenance. We hope to run another hedge laying course next February.
Volunteers meet as usual at 9.30am by the benches on the main track. Various tasks including aftercare for new trees, keeping paths and rides clear, perhaps some raking up; enjoying the fresh air, company and wildlife!
NEW VOLUNTEERS WELCOME. All tools and training provided. 11am refreshment break; bring a drink and dress for the weather.
Update.
October was very mild and we continued to mow grass as needed. Butterflies were still flying at least until 14th; eg red admiral on buddleia.
Ravens have been repeatedly observed flying and calling over the wood. I suspect they are now nesting nearby. This is a welcome return following similar reappearances of buzzard and red kite.
AGM 2027 is provisionally set for Friday January 29th.
I have completed a one day emergency first aid course.
David Taylor
ST LAWRENCE CHURCHYARD
Working Party, Saturday November 14th
We would value your help with ongoing general maintenance. Meet 9.30am in the churchyard. All tools provided, no special skills needed, and we stop for a chat and refreshments at 11am. It’s good for your mental and physical health to be outdoors with nature.
Last month we continued to remove brambles, elder, nettles and drooping branches. We ‘crown-lifted’ the scots pine and continued mowing.
Lots of other jobs waiting such as hedge trimming, moving soil, spreading the compost we have made, raking up the last of this year’s mowing.
New information signs are going up. Our church is in the ‘diocese’ (administrative area) of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. They have a website which includes information on churchyard management for the benefit of people and wildlife. In the older part of the churchyard, we have war graves and protected trees. Important and uncommon wild flowers include burnet saxifrage, meadow saxifrage and wild clary, which thrive in grassland managed as meadow. The new graveyard is managed as lawn. Prohibited items are being removed in line with regulations.
Please keep dogs on leads in the churchyard. Dog poo in the church wheelie bins makes them pretty smelly, so could it go in the dedicated bin on The Street opposite the Old School House please – only 30 yards away.
David Taylor
