Picture credit: David Pottinger

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If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter and are keen to contribute and share messages this way, then there’s a concise intro to the subject here.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Baking Potatoes Ready To Go (Or Not As It Happened!)

The aim of this Sunday’s task was to clear the dense holly cover in the woodland between Gelvert Glade and Fugelmere Marsh. This makes way for sunlight to the woodland floor, encouraging plant diversity. The task also contributes to the objective of introducing grazing animals to this area next season.

It was hoped that we’d be able to have potatoes baked in the fire at the end but this unfortunately wasn’t to be! It took quite a while to get the fire going well (as all the material to be burnt was thoroughly soaked through) and even by 11 the fire wasn’t hot enough. However, weather allowing, we hope to have another attempt at this at the next meeting in January!

Starting The Fire…

The Half-Time Break Included Lots of Festive Treats…

Getting the Fire Really Going, Helped by Some Enthusiastic Pokes!

With All the Holly Removed – Quite an Enormous Difference!

From Eagle Radio today:

Hampshire’s park rangers are warning people to stay safe, and stay off frozen lakes.

There is no way to tell how thick the ice is on Fleet Pond, but there are reports people are taking to the lake anyway and skating during these freezing conditions.

Carl Westby is the Leisure Manager at Hart District Council. Speaking to Eagle Radio, he said there was a real danger skaters could fall through the ice, adding; “the temperature has risen to above freezing today and that means the ice on the pond will inevitable thaw. It’ll certainly thin and continue to thin […] we’re desperate for people to stay off the lake itself.”

There won’t be any park rangers working over the Christmas period and there are no public telephones there, so the worry is people could get in trouble in the freezing cold water and not get the help they need.

Colin Gray writes:

“Our task for Sunday 12th December will be to tackle the dense holly cover in the woodland between Gelvert Glade and Fugelmere Marsh. This replaces the planned marsh work because high water levels and low water temperatures would make work in the marshes very unpleasant. Holly creates a dense cover at the expense of woodland flowering plants so this work will help improve woodland plant diversity.

As this will be our last task before Christmas we hope to have a good fire and some more festive fare for the volunteers. Rain permitting we might even have a few potatoes to bake in the fire!”

Further information on the schedule and meeting arrangements here.