JANUARY Sunday 9th Mile and a quarter footpath, Whitewebbs Park (9) This was the first task of the new millennium. Nine people had recovered enough from their celebrations to venture out on a sunny day in Whitewebbs Park. This is an ongoing project for ECV. The embankment of the New River (Old Course) has lots of cowslips that will grow and flower if given enough daylight. Regular coppicing and shrub clearance is necessary to keep the light level up at ground level. The Hawthorn bushes that grow here in abundance can be cut back to ground level. They will regrow again into healthy shrubs again and it is quite possible they could be here many decades to come. A few coppiced trees here may even make it through to the next millennium celebrations. A good start to the New Year with a whole new programme of tasks to look forward to. John Mayo Sunday 23rd Pymmes Park (10) In January 1999, ECV made its first visit to the island in the lake in Pymmes Park and now they returned to continue with the habitat improvement. The ten volunteers, including one new member, were split into teams performing different tasks. Steve Mathieson FEBRUARY Sunday 6th Gough Park (7) Following on from our visit to Gough Park on 24th October last year, 7 of us spent a useful and enjoyable day coppicing some of the hazel that we were unable to get around to last time. Bob Phillips Sunday 20th Forty Hall Park (9) Today we returned for a third visit to the pond that we visited a year ago. The platforms created by the Rangers and us were still standing strong, so we concentrated on creating a living willow hedge around one side of the pond. We made this by cutting willow saplings or offshoots of more mature willows and inserting them into the ground to form interlocking hoops. These were then tied together with more willow off-cuts to make it strong until it has grown, which it will quite quickly since willow easily roots, especially in the wet ground we were putting it in. Eventually these willow hoops will grow vertical branches, which at another visit we will curve down again to create yet more hoops, so making the hedge thicker and stronger. Robin Herbert MARCH Sunday 5th Whitewebbs With the demise of elm trees due to Dutch elm disease, we are often left with regrowth from the stumps that are unhealthy and need to be removed. The site can then be replanted with other species such as hazel, which will not be troubled by the elm bark beetle. Sunday 19th Trent Park (7) Sunday 19th March saw Enfield Conservation Volunteers back in the Nature Trail woodland in Trent Country Park. The object of our visit was two-fold. Firstly, to enlarge the lower kissing gate to allow access to children’s buggies and the wheelchairs of people with special needs, and secondly (and perhaps more important), to deal with the sea of mud which had rendered the kissing gate and adjoining footpath impassable to anyone without waterproof footwear. Bob Phillips APRIL Sunday 2nd Trent Park (10) For our second visit this year to the Nature Trail woodland in Trent Country Park we had a somewhat larger than normal team of 10 volunteers. However, because this happened also to be Mothering Sunday, our numbers fell sharply around lunchtime and by the afternoon there were only 4 of us left. Bob Phillips Sunday 16th Houndsden Spinney (8) This Sunday we re-visited Houndsden Spinney near Grange Park to continue building a boardwalk started a while ago. The boardwalk is covering a footpath used by local residents for recreational (and dog) walking in this small green space. Since the spinney is in a sheltered area as well as being very low, it tends to get very wet, making footpaths impassable at times. With the addition of a boardwalk, people can still walk through the spinney without destroying the surrounding vegetation. Today’s task about doubled the already existing 30 metres of boardwalk. During this task we also cleared back surrounding vegetation that was threatening to overgrow the boardwalk. Today’s attendance was 8 volunteers. Robin Herbert Sunday 30th Trent Park Nature Reserve (5 +4) On a very wet day 5 ECV volunteers were assisted by 4 members of Greenwork to install a 5-bar gate at the University end of the path. The young Greenwork team led by a member of ECV set up a carpentry shop under the shelter of the trees. They drilled holes and fitted the hinges and closing mechanism to the posts and gate. Cross members of wood were also cut and nailed to the support posts to prevent them moving when in position. The youngsters quickly completed this work and spent some time watching the ECV volunteers working in the rain from their shelter. Judy Mayo MAY Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th Town Park (5) Walkers who have ventured along the path beside the New River Loop recently would have noticed major works going on. The London Borough of Enfield is restoring the banks, river and footpath, with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A two-day task was carried out on the section of the Loop between Carrs basin and edge of Bush Hill golf course. Before the work started on the Loop our midweek colleagues Groundforce removed reeds and Irises and placed them temporarily in Carrs basin to protect them from damage. The weekend task was to lift the plants and replace them back into their permanent location. The contractors carrying out the main work had been instructed to create a soft bank on this section rather than the hard timber revetment that had been used on the rest of the river. They had achieved this by installing gabion baskets on the line of the bank and then filled them with soil at a depth that would place the baskets partially in the water. John Mayo Sunday 28th Whitewebbs Due to heavy rain, it was too dangerous to clear the aqueduct, so this task will have to be left until a later date. JUNE Sunday 11th Hillyfields (8) The small Yellow Meadow Ant requires light at ground level, hence the need to keep the undergrowth cut back. Eight volunteers, including a new recruit, ventured out to tackle the silver birch and oak, but a return visit will be required to cut back more of the trees. Sunday 25th Forty Hall - dismantling the Battle of Forty Hall Bridge (6) About seven years ago ECV was asked to put in a temporary footbridge over Turkey Brook to last three days whilst a show was on in the Park. The bridge had survived floods and vandalism. However, because the bridge laid low above the water and caused logjams during flood conditions, the Environment Agency asked for the bridge to be removed. Six members turned out to dismantle the bridge. It soon became clear that even though it was built as a temporary structure the original workmanship was not of a temporary nature. John Mayo |
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