Thunderstorms are forecast for later but 12 volunteers turned out to a sunny maze this morning. It was quite a physically demanding work task – shifting palettes, clearing some paths of stones and rolling some of the heavier ones out of the way. Some stiffness forecast for tomorrow I should think!
Thank you to everyone who came. We were surrounded by birdsong (I was trying out my new Merlin app) and there were lots of tadpoles and newts lurking in the puddles around the edge of the site.
We were making another drinking pool for turtle doves on our work task this morning, the ground was stony and there were a few troublesome tree stumps but this one was important to create as the doves return to the forest in a matter of weeks. The pool will be filled with water this week and while we were there we checked on the first pool we created last year and cleared the edge back to bare earth as the doves like to have walk in access to their water!
Thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their Easter morning.
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.
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?
It was a beautiful sunny morning in the forest as we embarked on our work task and latest project – Drinking Pools for Turtle Doves. Mattocks and spades were the tools of choice (it was quite stony!) as we made the first of a series of drinking pools.
The Turtle Dove is one of our most threatened breeding birds, and it has suffered a very serious decline in the UK. There are various pressures on them such as unsustainable shooting on their migration route, habitat loss in their wintering grounds but also a lack of breeding success here.
Once they return to the UK (usually from late April), Turtle Doves rely on water – much more than other farmland birds. This is because their chicks are fed a ‘crop milk’ of water and seed, so it’s important that they have access to summer-long clean water sources with walk-in access. FoDF will be making a series of drinking pools to support the population that we know returns to nest every year in Dalby.
We banked up unused spoil alongside one side of the pool and sowed it with wildflower seeds which should encourage some butterflies later in the summer.
Thanks to everyone who came along today! A brilliant effort!
A special shout out should go to all the bird watchers who took part in this year’s ‘Michael Clegg bird race’ which raised the funds to allow us to get the tools and materials for the pools and get the project off the ground.
If you would like to support our bird projects, then you can donate to our GoFundMe. https://www.gofundme.com/f/drinking-pools-for-turtle-doves-in-dalby-forest
Thank you to everyone who came to today’s work task and stayed to attend our in person AGM afterwards (thanks to the cafe who provided tea and coffee and amazing lemon cake!).
We continued to tidy up the forest garden, tackled the small willow structures in the park and did a bit of cutting back and reinstate the view from David’s seat on the Yellow trail which had become quite overgrown.
David was one of the original FoDF committee members when the Friends were first formed and the bench was placed here in his memory when he died in 2012. Take a moment next time you are passing and enjoy the view once more!
It was a cold and frosty Dalby morning for our first work task of the year. In previous years, we’ve often had to split the willow task across two days, but we had a brilliant turnout of volunteers so we managed to give all the structures a haircut and get them under some sort of control!
We cut back most things by hand but were rather jealous of ranger Holly’s mechanised loppers! We also said goodbye to Simon, our go-to ranger for everything these last few years, as he moves roles within Forestry England. We’re sorry to see Simon leave, but he can definitely come back anytime if he brings more of those cakes for breaktime!
No helping with the Christmas tree sales or festive crafts for us this year, but it did mean we had our first December work task ever! This year we spent it at the maze which was new to a few people including Andrew who is joining us as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award.
It was very muddy (as usual) but we had mince pies at break time and managed to prep more areas and clear paths as the last circle starts to take shape.
Merry Christmas!
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.
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!
Friends of Dalby Forest 