A wood-working week.

Once again I’ve been working down by the lake alongside the Trust shop.  My volunteers have been working with me on resurfacing another section of footpath and installing more riven oak post & rail fencing.  Hopefully this will make it look inviting and accessible so that more people will use the amphitheatre area.

I also had to go out and deal with a damaged tree branch that was suspended above one of our most popular footpaths down by the lake.  It had snapped between 4 and 4.15 pm on a Saturday afternoon and I was on the scene by 4.20 pm to tape and cone off the area for safety.  Our tree surgeons came in on Monday to remove the branch and make the tree safe. We check all our trees on popular routes every three months and this one had shown no obvious signs of disease or damage.  After the fall we discovered some signs of fungal infection at the top of the tree and the branch just broke away.  No matter how often we check, trees just carry on growing, ageing and eventually decaying and the ‘wear and tear’ is not always visible.

On Sunday I came upon a man who was lifting his small daughter over the safety barrier of two sets of tapes and cones so that they could walk under the tree.  I was flabbergasted that he would put at risk what I guess is one of the most precious things he has.  When he saw me arrive, he quickly left the danger area.  Safety barriers are always put in place for a reason even if it is not immediately obvious to passers-by what the risk is.

Daisy here.

I’ve been to the vet.  I’ve got swimmers’ tail.  It really hurt but the vet is lovely and she sorted it out for me.