Aftermath Work

Today was a day of trying to finish off from the Winter Worky day at the weekend. This time it was a matter of clearing pre-cut brushwood and continuing the process of allowing more sunlight to reach the woodland floor.

This is never an easy job, fairly physical and very labour intensive. Below you can see the amount of clearance from over the weekend and today. Bracken and brambles were cleared around the Hazel, and crowded young trees were thinned out to allow for more structured growth, this will also improve flower and fauna at ground level.

When removing a tree guard from a sapling we discovered this White Legged Snake Millipede, it was probably 40mm in length. They love leaf litter and other dark decaying vegetation, but also climb trees to browse on mosses and algae.

Dales School were a great help with the large amount of brushwood to be carried to the fire site….

.....where Stuart was kept busy feeding the fire.

While the heavier work was going on down by Risedale Beck, Peter continued on the more delicate bank thinning out the Hazel and other growth to allow more sunlight to the bank where Bluebells and Primroses grow, all of this needs to be done before Christmas as after that damage by footfall could be done to the fragile shoots.

Some of the trees that had to be felled were Common Alder, which when cut is off-white in colour, but it soon changes to give a beautiful red/orange hue.

Insects are not that common at this time of the year so we tend to note anything that are found crawling. Here is a variety of Mirid or Capsid Bug. These tend to be herbivorous feeding mainly on seeds and fruits. As yet we are unable to pinpoint the exact name of this little chap.

Thank you to everyone who helped today.