Boars Well UWR

Removing Himalyan Balsam

Today we continued with our management programme at the site. Some members of the team cut the borders of the path and maintained the pathways so they are open and able to be used by people using the site. While others concentrated on the path up to Bolton Road, which after repeated work is beginning to be more accessable. The rest of the group tackled the invasive species of Himalyan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed.

Today there were 16 volunteers. 

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smiling in the drizzle Today we began our summer management programme to ensure access to the Reserve is good, and to help the biodiversity of the site by controlling the Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam. Luckily it was raining in the morning so we were dressed in long sleeves - this protected us from the worst of the nettles even though many of us complained of sore wrists by the end of the day.

The Japanese Knotweed, though significantly reduced from when we began our campaign many years ago, is still hanging on. It would be good to explore injecting herbicide into the hollow stems to try and tackle the last bits as the task gets more unpleasant the more other species are colonising amongst it. We would not want to spray it on the leaves as this would be detrimental to the other plants.

One team of volunteers cleared over hanging branches and mowed the path edges.

It was pleasing to see that the yellow rattle seed that that we sowed last year has germinated and the plants are flowering. We will need to poach the soil later in the summer so new seed will germinate.

13 volunteers were involved today.

Thinning treesWe made our first visit of the year to the the urban wildlife reserve. This gave us the opportunity to carry out litter picking, clearing the main entrance way, the steps at the Bolton Road entrance and then some thinning of the tress in the woodland. This will provide better access for people using the site and allow the trees in the woodland to grow and develop into stronger and healthier trees. As can be seen from the pictures the rain was persistant throughout most of the day.

Today we worked with 13 volunteers.

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Meadow area cut and raked 

Today we carried out a number useful tasks that will improve the potential for wildlife for the site. The two remaining meadow areas were cut and raked following the management technique of an upland grassland, the wildflowers and grasses will of set seed and removing the vegetation will allow them to regrow next next year. Further work was carried out on the pond removing the dominant species which will give more open water to allow insects to visit the habitat. We also tidied up the trees that had been chopped down poorly by vandals, these were coppiced to a suitable hieght that will allow them to regrow.   

Today we worked with 11 volunteers.

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Pond clearing

 Today carried out pond management to remove the dominant plants and create an improved habitat. We also continued our work to remove the invasive Japanese knotweed on the site, cut and raked two meadow areas which will improve the potential for wildflowers next year and in one area planted locally sourced Yellow rattle seed to add to the diversity.

Today we worked with 11 volunteers and introduced our new long term volunteer Raquel seen in the pond who will be working with BEES until July 2010.

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Mowing the path edges

 Today there was a number of people who were new to the site, so we gave a general introduction to the site and walked part of it pointing out the main features. Then we tackled more of the invasive plant species and concentrated on keeping the walkways open. The main path egdes was mowed, overhanging branches cleared, the central entrance way was tidied up and more work was carried out on the Bolton Road steps.

We were joined by 12 volunteers.

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Day of the Triffids

Another wet Friday but 10 volunteers successfully completed tasks to maintain open pathways and to remove invasive species. 

BEES have been cutting Japanese Knotweed in several areas of the Reserve for 9 years. Although we can record success it does still continue to grow. The task of controlling it is now made more difficult by the colonisation of other species - nettle is dominant and makes the task uncomfortable. 

We also work to control the Himalayan Balsam. This plant is easier to get under control than the Japanese Knotweed but eradication will be difficult as many of the plants are on inaccessible slopes. The site was once used as a rubbish tip and the ground is uneven and unpleasant.

 Not much sign of the wildlife that we usually enjoy at the Reserve today, all sensibly hiding from the elements.

Cutting Japanese KnotweedToday we commence our annual programme to control both Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed on the site in order to encourage greater biodiversity. We found that Japanese Knotweed was particularly vigorous in a number of areas, as can been seen from the picture it was taller than we were. The difficulty of the work from stinging nettles and the terrain have been rewarded as the areas of Birch planted six years ago and the Rowan more recently are now growing well enough to compete with the Japanese Knotweed, but we will still knock it back. We mowed the edge of the path for the site which has a good effect on the meadow and opens up the width for the public. A group also cleared the path up to Bolton Road.  And I am pleased to report the amount of dog fouling has reduced in response to our efforts to talk to dog walkers and place signs at the entrances.

Today there was 13 volunteers.

See photos of the meadow and Birch trees taken on the day 

Boar's Well 1st May 2009

 After carrying out a site visit during the week we found that the meadow area contained a number flower species like Kidney vetch that would not of benefitted from a cut of the grass and this would of affected the butterflies that feed on them. However there was plenty to do on the site as we found out. First we started by clearing the pathways in our attempt to maintain them at their original width, this involved the unpleasant task of clearing the dog mess and general litter picking. We placed posters at the entrances to request that dog walkers clear up their dog's mess and we spoke to as many dog walkers as possible. Spink's Well was given a clean up and the photo shows this historic feature. We then turned our attention to the central steps and carried out weeding and topping them up with crush and run. Our final task was cutting of Japanese knotweed near the Coleman Street entrance which was bigger than this time last year as we remember, which gives a clue as to how we spend our future visits.

Today we had 6 volunteers.  

See more photos of the day in the gallery.

Boar's Well 27 Feb 09  

Today we continued with the repair of the steps in the central area of the Reserve and now they are almost complete. We had to replace some risers, continue weeding and refilling with crusher run. We pruned back the dogwood that grows over the steps.

We also worked in the woodland area on the slope above the entrance. This area has not had any managament done for several years. We started by clearing the blackthorn that was blocking the gate and then selectively thinning some dead and crowded trees. We high pruned others and will continue with the thinning task next winter.

Some of the volunteer group at the end of the taskWe completed the task of removing the large fallen willow. This was quite a challenge with only hand saws. More dogwood was removed and we worked on other areas of the path to cut back hedge, shrubs and bramble to ensure the path remains accessible and inviting. We also used the auto-sycthe to cut along the path edge and clear grass and seedlings from the 'picnic area' near the centre of the Reserve. We welcomed 3 new volunteers today, amongst a group of 10 volunteers and 2 staff.

Visit the gallery to see other pictures from Boars Well

Coppicing cornus at Boar's Well  Today we worked with 5 volunteers and have been clearing an area of footpath that has become overgrown, on one side by a large willow tree that has fallen over, and on the other side by a dogwood shrub. The willow was cut back so that when it grows back it will grow straight. The dogwood was coppiced so that when it grows back the new growth will give impressive colours to visitors of the site. As the task was large we have not completed the work and we continue this task next week along with clearing encroaching vegetation on other parts of the site.

To see more images of the day visit the gallery page and in particular look out for Tschillis with a South African home made rake!