We approached this task with some trepidation, after my visit the week before revealed that the work site was very small – more a glade of trees than a wood – and there was very little physical work to do. We were also worried about disturbing nesting birds, or frogs and newts around the pond. However, the site owners, the equine welfare charity Bransby Horses, were more interested in ideas about how to improve the site for wildlife as they wanted somewhere they could take schoolchildren and other groups to learn about wildlife or where individuals could find sanctuary, sitting quietly in a green space. So – a path, seats, bird boxes, a greater variety of planting … 

​The tools we needed were rather different too – we had the usual loppers and bow saws, but we also had tape measure, flip chart paper, ruler, pens, pencils and lots of highlighter pens in different colours.

​There were six of us on the day and we were lucky with the weather – dry and generally sunny. Our first action – tea and biscuits! (Thanks for doing the brew kit, Niamh.) We then wandered around the site, discussing what could be done. The intrepid Jonathan hacked a narrow path through tall nettles so we could see the pond as it is down a steep bank near the entrance to the site – quite large but at that time with very little water after weeks of dry weather and almost completely overgrown with pond plants. 

​We marked out a possible route for a path – snaking through the site to end in a little glade where a seat would offer a view through a gap in the trees and out towards the fields of horses. Another seating area would give views across the glade. Both would have sun and shade at different times of the day. The area surrounding the proposed path was suitable for woodland floor planting, e.g. bluebells, lesser celandine, wood anemone. 

We also identified more open areas for woodland edge planting, where visitors walking past the glade could see the flowers, or they would be in view from one of the seats. We recommended laying a hedge between the woodland and a neighbouring field, ideally over three to four years, to provide a more varied and dense habitat. Finally we identified some options around the pond – a viewing platform, a dipping platform, or a boardwalk across it leading to a dipping platform on the lower bank on the other side. ​Nick’s and Jonathan’s construction knowledge and Nick’s knowledge of plants were invaluable. The rest of us were willing labourers.

​Nick drew detailed and colourful plans for the woodland area and the pond. I’m sure it was hard work – lying down in the grass, surrounded by paper and all the pens! Gill, Anne, Jonathan, Niamh and I cleared invasive plants like nettles and brambles from the proposed planting areas. 

​We all agreed that we enjoyed this workday as it gave us a chance to do something we don’t often do – stand back, look at a site, see how it can be developed and put together some ideas and plans. 

Kirsty, the volunteer coordinator at Bransby Horses, has thanked us for our work (‘it looks fantastic’) and the estates team, who oversee maintenance work, have our plans. We hope they will be implemented to create a little wildlife haven.
​
 Jude