Tag Archives: volunteer

Working Party update: Pushing back the tide above Shirehampton Park

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Encroachment  of scrub and bramble over much of the estate has been long identified as one of  the biggest threats to the historic designed parkland. Whilst KWAG has sought  to help in small areas, it remains the Council’s duty to deal with the issue at  such a wide scale. Our July Working Party was one small element in addressing  the issue.

Our work focused on the far east end of the meadow overlooking Shirehampton Park. Here, just on the west side of the Iron Bridge, two Public Rights of Way (PROW) join. The one coming directly uphill from Shirehampton Roads being the focus of our attentions.

The view downhill towards Shirehampton Road before and after volunteer work last month

Our work focused on the far east end of the meadow overlooking Shirehampton Park. Here, just on the west side of the Iron Bridge, two Public Rights of Way (PROW) join. The one coming directly uphill from Shirehampton Roads being the focus of our attentions.

What’s called the “definitive map” that shows PROW indicates that this should travel in a direct line between the bottom of the bank to the steps behind the Echo, but successive years of sloppy mowing had allowed scrub to grow, progressively pushing the PROW off its legal alignment and threatening the open grassland. Worse, the path itself was threatened with being blocked by the growth.

The view in the opposite direction looking along the Public Right of Way heading towards the Echo.

Work focussed on removing this scrub, mostly elm regrowth, Old Man’s Beard, and sloe, and pushing the edges back to their historic extent. The turnout on the day was perfect to tackle the relatively modest area, and we exceeded expectations in how much we’d achieve.

Across the slope, with Shirehampton Road to the left. The treeline has been pushed back to its 2012 extent.

A huge thank you to everyone who made it on a scorching hot day. The group managed to get the work done quickly enough to avoid the worst of the heat, and we were able to retire for a well earned early lunch.

The results speak for themselves. Although the track still meanders around the distorted route, it’s clear and the way opened out to allow the important meadowland more space to regenerate.

Another view looking downslope illustrating how close the path was to becoming blocked

Working Party update: Hot and bothered in Penpole Wood

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The summer always see our working parties operate with diminished numbers; holidays, sport, and hot weather have all taken their part this season. Nevertheless, a small band set to work on cherry laurel regrowth that’s been gradually making its way back into the area since 2016; yes, it really has been a decade since we removed the forest of invasive species form the natural woodland.

Before and after views looking in the direction of the avenue into Penpole Wood from the edge of the main path through the same.

Surprisingly, ten years’ growth was not as bad as might be imagined. Effective treatment of the laurel stumps by the Council back then appears to have held them back. Despite that, there remained challenges.

The growing cherry laurel had offered the perfect climbing frame for brambles, and pulling these from the bushes was a challenge in its own right. Still in bird nesting season, we didn’t tackle any that were dense enough to support nests.

The panorama from the main path through the woods looking south. Laurels here were nowhere near the size of those felled a decade ago, but threatened to get out of hand once more.

The final effect was not as transformative as the original felling, but has retarded the cherry laurel again, perhaps for another decade. The area is, again, more open for native species to flourish, a number of specimens of the one-tree-per child planting scheme still growing strong.

The view westwards through the area, in the direction of Penpole Point

Wildflowers return on Napier Miles Road

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We’d rather assumed that the wildflower seed we’d sown along Napier Miles Road had been suffocated by the blue-flowered Green Alkanet that had taken immediate advantage of the freshly-tilled soil. However, plenty of perennials have persevered and have started putting on a show this year. We’re really pleased with this and we’ll endeavour to keep it maintained, hoping that eventually the Green Alkanet will become less dominant.

Working Party update: Jubilee Clearing progress

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Looking in the direction of Kings Weston house across the lost clearing.

Last month we continued work on the restoration of Jubilee Clearing as a more diverse habitat and as the historic site of the arboretum and the later Scouts camping ground. The invasive snowberry was cleared in March leaving a blighted forest floor. Anywhere overshadowed by the snowberry has suffered from suffocation, only ivy and moss have been able to grow and further retarding any natives that might grow.

With the area exposed to the sun the drier conditions will no longer be supportive for moss, and the ivy continued to suffocate any other growth. Volunteers worked to clear back the whole area to encourage greater diversity of species.

The clearing from the north, looking in the direction of Penpole Lane

Raking-off the worst of the material, the way was prepared for the re-seeding of the area with a native woodland-edge glass and flowers. Whilst these are a new introduction, the area has been so long covered that a viable seed-bank in the soil is unlikely.

Raking-off the worst of the material, the way was prepared for the re-seeding of the area with a native woodland-edge glass and flowers. Whilst these are a new introduction, the area has been so long covered that a viable seed-bank in the soil is unlikely.

The clearing from the south-east, looking in the direction of Avonmouth

Working Party update: Jubilee Clearing cleared!  

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Jubilee Clearing has long been a memorable spot for local people from Shirehampton and Sea Mills. After the death of the last squire, Philip Napier Miles, large parts of Penpole Wood and fields beyond were sold to Bristol District Scouts. Between 1937 and 1947 the clearing became the favoured campsite of the district’s scouts.

The view on entering the clearing from Penpole Lane on the south edge.

Since the compulsory purchase of the Scout’s land by the Council, little has been done to protect the character of the woodland clearing – until now. The Snowberry that’s invaded the area is not native, and had obscured the open character of the area. With the recommendation of the wildlife and woodland officers, the restoration of the clearing for both heritage and ecology is a project we’ve been keen to engage with.

A good band of volunteers set out to clear the invasive shrub from the area in mid-March. Knowing that bird nesting season was upon us, we were exceptionally careful in approaching the task, though, with the Snowberry yet to leaf, there was little cover to attract birds.

The view east across the historic clearing. Some of the original imported evergreen specimin trees can be seen on the far edge. 

The removal has been surprisingly effective. The transformation now hits you immediately you enter the area, views through and across it restoring the sense of openness. We recognise that the snowberry is a tenacious plant, and will need repeated cutting, but this is a major step in restoring the character. The ground-cover beneath it is largely moss or ivy, the only species able to grow below the dense coverage. This month we hope to try and improve the biodiversity further by preparing the way for seeding of suitable shade-loving grasses and wildflowers.

Looking across Jubilee Clearing from the south, before and after work. 

Working Party update: Bramble rooting on the lime avenue 

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In retrospect, perhaps February’s working party was a bit of a challenging job. We hoped to root out a large patch of brambles, the first along the ancient avenue of lime trees leading towards the house. Through a combination of limited resources and tools that were less than ideal, we struggled to meet the target we’d set for ourselves. The poor ground conditions, clinging wet mud, and rain hardly helped matters.

Animated image showing the scene before and after work. The drive down the lime avenue is on the left.  

We did manage to complete a significant part of the work on the day, but had to admit defeat when the rain began in earnest later on. Fortunately, a few volunteers were able to donate more of their time a couple of weeks later to complete the job.    

Now the two recently replanted trees on the avenue are better revealed, and there’s a definite improvement in the open character between the main drive and the open lawns leading to the house. It’s our hope that, having taken the brambles out by the root, we’ll have a much better chance of them not returning with such vigour this year.

Before and after work on the brambles looking from the lawn back towards the drive and the Circle beyond it. 

Whilst this will stem the encroachment of only a small part of the avenue, we’ll be unable to continue this work during bird nesting season. This will also give us time to rethink how we approach the job.

Animated image showing the work on the lime avenue looking towards Kings Weston house on the right. 

Working Party update: A decade’s growth restrained  

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It was invigorating to see so many new volunteers join us in January to re-cut cherry laurel regrowth close to The Circle. It was 2016 when we last went through the compartment to fell the forest of laurel that had grown to choke out natural species. Gratifyingly, it’s been slow to try making a comeback, mainly due to the Council following through with poisoning at the time.

Above: Looking into the woods westward from The Circle 

However, the laurel remains a persistent weed and has begun to get going again, so last month’s work helps to knock it back again.

The area sits at the northern, back, side of The Circle, a patch lined on the south with the Avenue to Penpole and the north by the main path to the Point. Most of the work could be done with loppers, but there were a few extra bits that needed the saw taken to them again.

Looking back to The Circle in the direction of the car park from the main path through the woods.

We also took the opportunity to get back on top of some natural spacing, clearing competing saplings around trees that stand a better chance of maturing. This should keep the avenue to Penpole clear and in good shape for a little longer.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out, and we hope to see you all this month.   

A broad panorama from The Circle looking west towards Penpole

Working Party update: Slopping-out at the ponds

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December might not be the favoured time of year to be splashing about in ponds, but that’s just what we did at the tail end of last year. Our plan was to continue work that the Council had begun with a mini-digger, but by hand. It hadn’t been possible for the digger to reach into the middle of the pond and so the Council turned to our volunteers for help.

The two ponds are concrete-lined and probably date to the 1960s or 70s. The lower pond, the larger of the two, had to be emptied of water so people could get in to do the dirty work of shovelling-out mud and hauling branches away. In the event it worked out easy to scoop the water up into the top pond, from where it would need to be transferred back afterwards.

There was a great turnout for the event with some new faces, so a big thank you to everyone for making this such quick work. The lower pond was certainly an easy job and was finished in a brief space of time. The debris was carried away as far as possible, continuing piles already set up by the Council workers.

The top pond, however, was more of a challenge. Once most of the water had been thrown back to fill the lower pond, there was a dirty sloppy silty mess that was more challenging to scoop out. With most of it poured into buckets and taken away we called it a day at about 1pm, a job well done.

The next phase in the restoration of these ponds as natural habitat will be the erection of a small fence to prevent dogs disturbing the  wildlife and discourage rubbish being thrown in again.

Working Party update: Back into the woods for cherry laurel clearance 

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In July this year, we made a start on clearing laurel from an area at the foot of the steps down through Penpole Wood, close to the Point. This location is at the far eastern end of the Eighteenth Century pleasure walks through the woods, an important route long-neglected. Last month we returned to continue efforts to stem the tide of this invasive species.

a wide panorama looking up the slope from the Middle Path, before and after volunteer work.  

We were a little depleted in numbers in October, but set ourselves clear targets of two areas either side of the path. The steep slope here proved challenging and sapped energy in requiring a steady footing and the transport of the cut material towards waste piles.

Cherry laurel is pushed back from assailing a beech tree along the Middle Path.  

With just seven volunteers, we managed to achieve most of the task at hand. Unfortunately, by the time everyone’s energy had lapsed, we were left with a mess. Having managed at least to clear the path, it was down to the efforts of one of our volunteers to tidy everything into piles over the following weeks; a huge effort that we’re enormously grateful for.

Perched on the slope and looking westwards, with the Middle Path leading into the distance. 

More light laurel pruning below the Echo

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The issues of invasive cherry laurel are well known; outcompeting native species, leaching toxins into the soil, and contributing to soil erosion, are just three reasons that many hundreds of hours of volunteer work have been devoted to its removal. Whilst it was once maintained as a decorative landscaping plant, it’s now run wild and is having a seriously detrimental impact on the woodland and the soil.

the cherry laurel regrowth long the mid-18th Century pleasure walk 

The last two working parties this year returned to the area on the north-east side of the Echo path, sections of the estate we originally felled laurel in around nine years ago. Whilst much was poisoned by the Council in the wake of our work, the areas closer to Kings Weston house weren’t treated and have more quickly regrown. This was the target of March’s working party.

With a good team of volunteers, we carried on the surgical removal of the laurel whilst leaving the native species that have begun to recolonise the area. Starting from the twin ponds, work progressed downhill throughout the day though, sadly, we didn’t manage to clear as far as the boundary with the house; this was left for a few volunteers to clear away later.

The area behind the two ponds before and after volunteer work. Many native bulbs were planted here in the autumn of 2014, many of which had been hidden. 

In the process of opening the area back up many of the saplings and native bulbs planted in the area have been revealed. In February we found the snowdrops lost beneath the laurel growth, and last month the bluebells and miniature daffodils were rediscovered, now better able to reach the sun! Eventually, when the laurel toxins have eventually leached out of the soil and the forest floor has matured further, it will ensure that rainwater run-off from the slope will be more effectively captured.  

the view from the pleasure walk along the garden edge looking towards the main Echo path and the lawns beyond.