Outwitting sheep!

Like much of the country we have been enjoying a spell of really good weather recently so we took full advantage of it to do a lot of outdoor work.

The first big job for me and my volunteers was to join our forest ranger Maurice planting trees on the Raise Gill slopes of Watendlath valley.  The ground is pretty stony there so it took considerable effort to create holes for the planting.  The prolonged dry weather hasn’t helped either.  But, as you will have realised if you follow the blog, my volunteers are not easily discouraged.  Eventually there will be 2.5 thousand mixed hardwoods planted to re-wood an area and stabilise the slope.  You can see from the pictures just how many were planted and protected with tree-guards – sheep pay no heed to our efforts so we have to thwart them somehow!

We now need some rain to give the trees a good start.  We have had some snow and rain but it is still so dry that we have to be vigilant about the potential fire hazard on the fells.  We hope all our visitors will be careful but we do have our fire-fighting kit ready.   A good downpour soon would dampen everything down to reduce the fire risk and would also be good for the growth of the vegetation. 

Later in the week, I worked with a different group of volunteers litter-picking on the Derwentwater foreshore.  We cleared a large area on the isthmus (near Keswick) of a trailer of litter and also cleared a trailer of wood which we will use for a beacon.  To celebrate the Queen’s jubilee, we are planning to have a beacon on Catbells and another on Crow Park opposite Theatre by the Lake.  We were working with the usual foreshore volunteers and also with Keswick Army Cadets. 

It was glorious weather and we were able to enjoy our lunch on Crow Park with views down Borrowdale and with Skiddaw at our backs.  What could be better?