In a slight change to the advertised work, 10 of us arrived at Hartsholme Country Park to help the rangers with a couple of tasks.

Seven of us headed for the wildflower meadow to start work on cutting back encroaching scrub that was growing up from the hedge line. During the hot summer this patch of meadow had caught alight and the ground flora and scrub were scorched, but it was pleasing to see how quickly the grass and hopefully the wildflowers were growing back.
We cut back much of the gorse, alder saplings and blackthorn that had grown a couple of metres into the meadow, as well as a central patch of gorse and some of the scorched lower branches of trees.

Three of the group worked with the ranger, Paul, by the side of the main lake, putting in some planks and supports to shore up small sections of eroded banks, backfilling with ballast.

The weather was warm and sunny, a bit too hot in the open meadow but nice to enjoy sunny weather before autumn sets in.
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Julian