By the session leader:
Maybe it was
not quite hot enough to melt tarmac. Nevertheless,
it was 19 degrees before we even got started.
The task,
for Earth Trust, was clearing weeds (nettles, cleavers, and thistles) from around
a hedge, which was laid a year or two back, to give the hedge some light, water,
and a fighting chance.
Step 1: find
hedge.
With slashers
and a wooden rake, the team soon found the subject to be protected (notice in foreground
jumper discarded already):
Today’s new
tools were Austrian scythes. The warden
instructed us on how to sharpen them – carefully (one of our volunteers already
has an interesting gash from cleaning a scythe on another job):
Notice the
bucket of water, with its sheath hanging on the rim for dipping in the
sharpening stone.
Wielding the
scythe became easier with practice. The
trick is to take it slowly and steadily.
Then it becomes calming and quietly effective, inching forward through
the undergrowth:
Tea break
came none too soon. We were hot!
Once
refreshed, we could begin to take a little more notice of our
surroundings. Where were we? Down by St Peter’s church, Little Wittenham,
near Days lock:
And after
tea, we tackled the far side of the hedge. Yes, in amongst all those eye-level nettles:
Here’s our
pathway through, at the end of the session, giving the hedge its breathing
space:
To wrap up
the session, the warden showed us round the public exhibition of Improving Visitor Facilities at the
Earth Trust Centre. This provoked some
challenging discussion. What do you think?
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