New year mud!

The snow and ice stopped our planned task for December but the weather was kind today as the Friends of Dalby Forest gathered for the first task of the year. A small party worked at the Forest Garden brushing, tidying and cutting back, while the majority decided they were very happy to get muddy!

Before. Removing the reeds

After. Good effort everyone!

This second group’s efforts were focused on our Drinking Pools for Turtle Dove project and spent the morning removing reeds from former animal ponds up near Ebberston Common. Turtle Doves prefer walk-in access to water and they don’t like steep-edges. We did this in two areas as well as creating a smaller third ‘scoop’ which will hopefully fill with water with the next rainfall.

Reed removal – the wet way

Reed removal – the muddy way

Weed removal – the chatty way

It was a very physical task to start the year off and it was not a day to worry about your clothes! Thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help including three new volunteers Colin, Diane and Mike. We promise tasks are not always this mucky.

The task next month will also be followed by our AGM at the visitor centre at noon, to which everyone is invited.

Before

After. This pool started filling up naturally within minutes of finishing

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Volunteers in the Mist

With Autumn in the air, our work task this month got off to a foggy start, and we completed the last 25m of the task we started last month. We then moved on to some round barrows (dating to the Bronze Age) in a clearing a short walk away. It was a satisfying task and should mean that the features are free from tree growth for at least a few years!

Past, present and future Dalby

We had a great task this morning. We cleared vegetation (mostly pine saplings) off a section of one of the many scheduled (protected) archaeological features that sit within the forest. In this case, it was a post medieval enclosure/ boundary, which probably sits upon an even older pattern of land division dating back to the prehistoric period. The bank and ditch feature has not been excavated, so keeping it clear of tree saplings means the stratigraphical information it contains remains intact and preserved and is part of the long term management of the feature. Bit more of a busman’s holiday than usual for me this time since my day job is in archaeology!

Little frogs, beautiful clusters of fungi and birds’ nests provided some extra highlights.

Cooling off under the trees

Today’s worktask was thankfully in the cool under the trees at the Enchanted Wood at Dalby Forest. The Enchanted Wood is a natural play area that we help to look after that is specifically for the under 5s. We replenished materials in the barefoot walk, repaired parts of the stone wall & remade the nature art area. The woodland tiny folk have also moved in! Can you find all their doors on your next visit?

Cooling off under the trees at the Barefoot walk

Nature art area

Little door. There are 5 in total. Can you find them all?

Jerry Noddle’s Turtle Dove Puddle

We spotted this tweet by Andy Malley last week so we know that some turtle doves have already returned to Dalby. And so it was with some renewed vigour – the beautiful sunny morning also helped – that we made a start on another turtle dove pool, this time at Jerry Noddle. See our previous post as to why we’re doing this!

Dalby Forest: 2 Turtle Doves purring this morning while doing Forest Bird Study Group survey. First Early Purple Orchids I’ve seen this year, also Dingy Skipper and Slow Worm. pic.twitter.com/27ysznBoXK

— Andy Malley (@MalleyAndrew) April 30, 2022

We’d no bowser this time so will return to fill the pool next week – as it certainly looks like it’s not going to rain any time soon. We make the pools deep enough that ought to mean they should not need to be refilled but it’s an exposed spot so it’s possible we might need to tend to this one a little more than others. This one will now forever be known as Jerry’s Puddle at Jerry Noddle!

Planting hope

Some of our volunteers helped to marshal at the Dalby Dash this year, so we were smaller in number than usual so just 6 of us were in the Forest Garden this month. We tried to tackle more of the creeping buttercup, but also cleared the area that’s been under cover for a couple of seasons. We prepped the area and have sown some wildflower seed with the hope for some woodland colour in the spring. It was warm and it almost felt spring-like in the sun but those seeds will need a bit of frost before they get going. We look forward to seeing how this area develops over the course of the next few months.

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Barefoot walk (pt 2) with a spot of forest bathing

Thanks to all the volunteers who turned out early on a sunny morning for a task at the Enchanted Wood, we have finished off the barefoot walk we started last month. We added two new sections of gravel and pine cones (apparently not quite as torturous as it looks!).

We also rebuilt a section of wall, installed a bench and laid out a platform for a spot of forest bathing, ably demonstrated here by Martin! We also welcomed new volunteers Ruth and Andy.

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A new barefoot walk

Thanks to all the volunteers who turned out to our work task this morning where we have started a barefoot sensory walk in the Enchanted Wood at Adderstone.

There are now sections with bark, sand, straw, large pebbles, connected with stepping logs and stones. We will be adding new sections for small stones, a mud area, and maybe even pine cones at a future work task.

Alongside the path, we also installed some cute metal bird sculptures. Hope you like the new additions!

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Orchids everywhere

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A small group turned out to the bird feeding area at Staindale this morning to lay some woodchip to surface the area and give better access to be able to fill up the feeders. We have more plans for this area so keep your eyes peeled. The new feeder frame looked to be weathering in well.

We then we did some clearing along the paths around the lake. The orchids were everywhere!

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A bench with a view (again)

Our last work task was in October, but a keen if rusty band of volunteers turned out to a work task in Dalby this morning. Armed with saws and loppers, we were reinstating the views from the benches that line the path from Crosscliff to Jerry Noddle. Hot, sweaty work!

It was lovely to be back in the forest. There remains a limit in working party numbers (so new volunteers won’t be able to start with us just yet) but fingers crossed it won’t be too long.

Jerry Noddle – Before

Jerry Noddle – After

Our first album cover!
Ranger Simon with 5 of the work party at Jerry Noddle. Photo by Judith W – once again avoiding the camera (just the way I like it!)