Stepping stones in the wood.

Myself, Leila (our Academy Ranger) and Sarah (one of my regular volunteers) tackled a heavy job last week. We shifted some huge logs onto a trailer to take them round to Cockshot Wood to use on the new play trail.  They were cut from a Scots Pine that had just reached the end of its life and had been brought down during a storm some years ago. 

You might wonder how just three of us could move these but the photographs show how ropes, pulleys, ramps and some hard graft can do it.

Now that we have it in the wood, I want to use it as stepping stones to lead people on from the fairy ring and thrones even further into the wood.  I’ll soon be meeting up with my regional volunteers so digging those in will be the project for their visit.  The play trail is really developing quickly now so we are looking forward to seeing many more children following it and playing in the woods.

Elsewhere in the week, Leila and I went up Cat Gill to deal with a situation before it becomes a big problem.  Some time ago the Trust laid a pitched path up there for walkers and runners to follow but unfortunately some have started to take a short-cut down a steeper slope.  The problem with that is that eventually the short-cut will begin to cause serious damage to the slope with heavy rains and foot traffic combining to erode the area.

One solution is to fell some small trees across the short-cut so that use of the pitched path is the easiest option.  I had taken a chainsaw to do this but it was too windy to do it safely and accurately so I’ll need to go back to this.

Whilst we were up there, we took a look at a project that Leila will take on.  It will improve some fencing and access but I’ll let you know more about that in a future blog.

Daisy here.

I’ve been helping with some big bits of wood and I’ve been up Cat Gill.  Cat Gill’s great.  You can run and run and run and nobody cares.