Enfield Conservation Volunteers
|
|
Enfield Conservation Volunteers |
|
JULY 2002
Sunday 7th
Grovelands Park
A certain pathway in Grovelands Park suffered from bad drainage and resembled a mud bath. Seven volunteers turned out to try to improve the situation. The pathway was uneven, so the water gathered in large pools and did not drain away. Some members cut back the overhanging tree branches to enable the sunlight to get to the morass in an attempt to dry it out. Others skimmed the worst of the sticky mud off and tried to level out the pathway whilst the rest of us dug drainage ditches at the side of the path with runoffs from the path. It was during the ditch digging that we discovered the remains of some old broken pipework. A little more exploration showed these pipes were draining water down from a nearby rise and a storm drain was discovered in the undergrowth near the muddiest part of the path. Although not being engineers we did think there might be a link with running water, broken pipes and the resulting muddy path! Only time will tell.
Judy Mayo
Sunday 21st
Gough Park
Due to staff shortages with the Rangers at Forty Hall, this task was cancelled.
AUGUST 2002
Sunday 4th
Trent Country Park
The main purpose of our visit to Trent Country Park was to try to improve access to the Nature Trail Woodland by overcoming a drainage problem affecting the area around one of the bottom kissing gates. A previous attempt to get rid of the mud beneath a couple of trailer loads of hogging having proved unsuccessful a different approach was adopted. Taking advantage of the natural slope of the ground, 4 members of the team laid a drainage pipe in a trench running from the kissing gate out under the path and down into the woodland in the direction of the lake. The digging of the trench, some 10 metres in length and ˝ metre deep, turned out to be pretty much an all day job.
The other 3 team members, meanwhile, were busy down by the lake replacing a broken rail and attaching the last 100 metres of stock fencing to the post and rail fencing completed at the end of April. Begun in May 1994, the task of enclosing the Nature Trail Woodland has involved:
Over the 8-year period, Enfield Conservation Volunteers have made 48 separate visits to the Nature Trail and devoted 2,100 man-hours to work directly related to this project. The Management Plan, which we drew up in 1994, contemplated the completion of the fencing aspect by the end of 1998; the fact that we have over-run so badly is due to budget restrictions preventing the purchase of timber and other materials and our having to give precedence to more urgent tasks elsewhere.
The completion of the fencing does not of course mean the end of our work in the Nature Trail Woodland. There is much yet to be done – in fact we shall be back in there again on 15th September resuming our battle against the ever-invasive sycamore. It is a date to look forward to.
Bob Phillips
Sunday 18th
Whitewebbs Park
A return visit to Flash Lane where the disused aqueduct is situated. The aqueduct carried the New River over Cuffley Brook. The double span of the bridge that supports the metalwork of the aqueduct had one span completely blocked. After several visits the flow has now been completely restored. Seven members turned out for the tasks in hand. Some dug out the final section of gravel from the brook. The spoil was then taken away in wheelbarrows. The brickwork around the aqueduct has recently been restored by English Heritage. Other ECV members cleared encroaching greenery from the brickwork and the metal aqueduct itself. Keeping the site clear means that it is easier to observe the fabric of the site and stop trees and shrubs damaging the site. No doubt ECV will return here to keep up the maintenance of this important site in Enfield’s history.
John Mayo
SEPTEMBER 2002
Sunday 1st
Hillyfields Park
Today we returned to our favourite SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), a sunny hillside on the far side of Hilly Fields near Clay Hill. It's where a colony of rare yellow meadow ants have made their home, but it is being encroached upon by trees, saplings, brambles and other flora, preventing the ground from getting it's sunlight that the ants need to keep warm.
We used bow saws and loppers to clear the young trees and saplings, as well as cutting back the branches on some of the larger trees shading the area. We cannot remove the roots of trees and saplings from the ground as that would disturb the ants, so coppicing is our only option. We also used billhooks, slashers and rakes to clear away brambles and other plants that were covering the group.
Hopefully with this work we will ensure that these rare ants survive.
Robin Herbert
Sunday 15th
Trent Country Park
Today we returned to the Nature Trail Woodland in Trent Country Park, this time with winch and bowsaws, to continue our battle against the ever-invasive sycamore.
With a workforce seriously depleted by late holidays and other commitments, we could only manage to field a team of 3 regular volunteers plus a youngster on work experience. However, we were fortunate to have with us the LBE’s Countryside Development Officer, Christina Lee, who obviously felt that leading our mid-week sister group, Groundforce, was providing her with insufficient exercise!
The extra pair of hands was most welcome and between us we succeeded in cutting down and/or winching out a goodly number of sycamore, opening up quite a large area for eventual replanting. The last stump that we attempted to winch out proved to be something of a challenge with three sawn off trunks and a root system which extended for several feet all round. Fortunately, just as we were on the verge of admitting defeat, it reluctantly gave up the struggle and came out bringing with it half a ton of topsoil. For us the earth really did move!
Much later than usual, we headed for home, tired but with the feeling of a job well done.
Bob Phillips
Sunday 29th
Whitewebbs Park
On the western side of Flash Lane near the aqueduct, stands a patch of secondary woodland which Enfield Conservation Volunteers have visited occasionally to remove sycamore. The area had once formed the garden of a Waterway cottage and to enable the native trees of the surrounding woodland to re-colonise it, repeated clearance of the invasive sycamore is necessary.
Alongside this area there runs a footpath which followed a section of the complicated route of the old course of the New River. This path has gradually become eroded and is now quite dangerous, a stretch of it only about a foot wide edging an eight foot sheer drop into a ditch. Previously ECV had put up dead hedging as a barrier at one end of this footpath, but this had been pulled down quite quickly by vandals, so it was decided that today a more solid barrier would be constructed.
While some of the volunteers selected and felled sycamores with their bowsaws, others used billhooks to sharpen stakes and drove in a double line of them with a drivall. Trunks of the trees just felled were then laid in between the stakes to a height of around four feet and finally nails were knocked in at various points to make demolition more difficult. This fence was completed to a length of about twelve yards and while not intended to exclude anyone who was determined to tread the perilous path, it should be sufficient to ward off the unwary.
Steve Mathieson
OCTOBER 2002
Sunday 13th
Trent Country Park
The main purpose of our visit to Trent Country Park today was to replace a small footbridge along the Butterfly Trail in the New Fields area of the park. We had widened the bridge in June by the addition of an extra railway sleeper but had then discovered that at one end, the side of the ditch below was crumbling away and providing the entire structure with less than adequate support.
To achieve a firm base for the new bridge it was obvious that the load bearers at the end in question would need to be laid some two feet further back from the side of the ditch; unfortunately, because of the steeply sloping ground, it became necessary to dig out more than a few wheelbarrow loads of soil in order to obtain the correct level. Once that had been done and the load bearers set in place, we laid across them two parallel 12”x4” beams, 12’ in length, to which we secured the decking. Much of the soil which had been dug out was barrowed over to the other side of the bridge to bring up the level of the footpath, with two of the sleepers being used as shuttering.
We were not displeased with our efforts and words of approval from passing dog walkers rounded off an enjoyable day.
Meanwhile, the other 3 members of the team (there were 6 of us altogether) had the less interesting but necessary job of cutting back bramble and over-hanging branches from the nearby boardwalk and Butterfly Trail beyond.
We were indebted to Mark and Jordan, two of the Trent Park rangers who led the tasks and ensured that we had all of the tools and materials that we required.
Bob Phillips
Sunday 27th
Grovelands Park
Due to the storm force winds, we had to cancel this task on safety grounds.
NOVEMBER 2002
Sunday 10th
ANNUAL HEDGELAYING COMPETITION
The LBE’s eleventh annual hedgelaying competition was sited in the New Fields area of Trent Park, using a hedge which was believed to have been laid about 15 years ago by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. The section chosen for the competition consisted mainly of field maple, hazel and some small oak.
Conditions were not ideal, as heavy overnight rain continued throughout the morning. A small ditch behind the hedge was turned into a foot-deep torrent and even the grassy path in front was largely under water. However, the four pairs of competitors soon lost themselves in the challenge of the task and hardly noticed as the weather finally improved.
At 4 pm the completed length of hedge had an impressive combination of sturdiness, neatness and potential to regenerate. We were fortunate to have as judge professional hedgelayer Paul Wittey (a previous winner of the competition) who gave useful pointers to the strengths and weaknesses of each individual section.
The final standings were:-
| 1st | Peter Vaughan (Epping Forest Conservation Volunteers) Russell Vaughan |
| 2nd | Kevin Clark (LBE Ranger Service Forty Hall) Steve Notman |
| 3rd | Brian Usher (Groundforce Countryside Conservation
Volunteers) Mark Wheeler (LBE Ranger Service Trent Park) |
| 4th | Christina Lee (LBE Countryside Development Officer) Steve Mathieson (Enfield Conservation Volunteers) |
Former winners Bob Phillips and Harold King of ECV were also present to perform the necessary task of carting the cuttings away and feeding them into a roaring bonfire.
Steve Mathieson
Sunday 24th
Albany Park
Due to confusion on the Ranger’s part over start time, this task didn’t actually take place.
DECEMBER 2002
Sunday 8th
Oakwood Park
On this chilly winter day, 6 volunteers braced themselves against the cold to fell a number of elm trees which had succumbed to Dutch Elm disease. The day also included clearing an area of bramble and replanting with native whips – hawthorn and hazel, to create a small scrub area for wildlife.
Sunday 15th
Xmas Social
A walk along the New River with pub lunch is planned.