A fabulous 5 of us this eve helped out at the lovely Dacres Wood nature reserve. There are some parts open to the public, including some lovely cobbled paths. Unfortunately it was weed central between the stones but luckily we had some miniature scythe/weeder things which were very useful. And John had kindly thought to bring along some cardboard for our knees!

We each tackled a small area before Nick came past with the brush. By the time we were finished it was looking great and much tidier. We'll be back I'm sure...

Top job & jog everyone.

Today is a big day for the Cator Park friends group - they've got their Green Flag award assessment. They've put an amazing amount of work into making the park a work of art so fingers crossed they get it 🤞🤞

That meant that our group run last night was all about tying up some loose ends.

We kicked off at the Bridge House with our top celeb interactions - quite the selection! - and then took an adventurous route to the park.

Catherine was already there barrowing mulch and it was nice to see Linda, Tim and George too!

Our main task was making "tree circles" around 4 of the new-ish saplings. They're all doing pretty well but the grass around them is taking the goodness and water from the soil.

Linda gave us some great tree knowledge - Summer roots are wide and shallow to catch the occasional summer rain - 1.5x the canopy distance from the trunk, and winter roots go deeper for when the ground is more sodden.

We pulled out the grass, chucked it to the side, and then Catherine and James swooped in with some mulch to keep the water in and the weeds down.

Top stuff, team 🙌

Anyone remember the 90’s TV ad?

I get a chick out of you

First up, we named ourselves and our favourite chicken-y thing from creme eggs to spatchcock to the rooster who’s been waking Catherine up all day!

We also welcomed Mohammed to the crew 👏👏👏👏👏 So great to have you with us.

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Our task was a brand new one for the folks at Dorset Road Allotment. They’ve got an old and overgrown chicken run which they want removed so that they can use the space for community activities.

We met Jaime and Ann from the committee who equipped us with tools from screwdrivers to bolt cutters to shears and we headed round to the chicken run.

It was huge. Harry was convinced something other than the nettles and brambles lived in there. 👹

We cracked on with various tasks:

✂️ Trimming back the nettles and brambles

🛠 Cutting the netting down and rolling it up

💪 Yanking off some big corrugated panels

📢 Moral support

It was kinda dangerous work but everyone got safely stuck in.

I think Mohammed won the prize for energy input! 🏆

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A half-dozen kilometres, some beautiful golden hour snaps from Cat, and a good deed in the bag.

Nice one team 💪