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We had a good turnout of volunteers yesterday so with 12 of us we were able to tackle two projects, the path from Milesmere to the Green Ride and more work on the Bee Garden.

Brian led the Milesmere path project finding and laying replacement edging logs and laying the fresh woodchip. Barry led the project on the Bee Garden, clearing the weeds getting ready for some fresh planting and clearing out around our trees, giving them room to grow.

 

Woodchip previously carried up from the other end of the Bluebell Circuit by Ian Robinson, all laid

   

Damp path with rotting log edging  Fresh path with replacement log edging pegged down

Trees buried in the undergrowth now given room to grow

Partially completed from last project being worked on by our team hard at work

Weeded and cleared ready for fresh planting

The TMAEG Bee Garden and Fernery is next to the bridge on the footpath between Sone Hill and the High Street, just past the pond.

Nine of us braved the damp weather on Saturday morning and, as it has been a while since we were last there, plenty needed to be done. All areas were struggling with weeds so we set to to remove what we could and clear some areas for new planting. Fallen tree was removed from the Fernery and our new trees were cleared from being overgrown by brambles. Paths were cleared to make the are look a lot more cared for.

Despite a damp wet day, we got a lot done but plenty more to do on the next visit.

Bee Garden before and after with Simon finishing off

Fernery before and after, all weeded and fallen tree removed

Before with our new trees overgrown with brambles and after all cleared for our trees to grow

Our workers all hard at it and Mike surveying all the litter he had collected

 

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Stone Hill Pond on Saturday morning, braving the pouring rain !

We sheltered for a while in Chris Gossops garage looking out and then it eased off and we got started.

Three of us were in the pond clearing out fallen leaves and branches to help maintain the ponds depth, whilst others were on the bank spreading out the rotten leaves to mulch down on the banks. One of the trees had fallen down which Ian and Chris were able to reduce in size and move out the way to maintain views of the pond. The ditch opposite the pond was also cleared and paths were swept, so despite a very dubious start to the day we achieved quite a lot.

Pond before we started

Work in progress

   

 

Well deserved coffee break

Completed project with view of the pond opened up by Chris and Iain removing the fallen tree

   

We had a great morning working on the Bluebell Circuit.

Finished off preparing the ground for new planting in the wild garden area and repairing the log path between the green ride and Milesmere.
Mike was also out collecting litter again, unfortunately a never ending task in Two Mile Ash !

 

We had a very productive first session of the year and a fantastic turn out with 17 of us !

Working along the Ash Brook Corridor we split into two groups, Barrys working between the High Street to Clay Hill and Steve’s working between Clay Hill and Downland.

We cleared around all the trees we have previously planted, cut back a dead tree next to the bridge, removed several broken tree branches, tidied up the “Magic Garden” and collected a huge amount of rubbish. Thanks to Rex Exon for arranging the rubbish collection with the council.

Brian at the entrance to the Magic Garden                Mike and Rex hard at work !

     

Before – the dead tree by the bridge                             After – now it’s been cleared

     

17 of us getting a well earned cuppa                     Mike clearing out the gulley

     

Area surrounding the trees cleared                       Huge amount of rubbish collected

     

 

 

Thanks to all who came along to the Community Tree Planting on Saturday. We had a great time working with Community Trees MK for the first time, planted over 400 trees from 19 different native UK  species, to enhance biodiversity. They have quite a following of their own but there were some local volunteers from TMA and some new interest to work with TMAEG