On a warm June Sunday, 13 of us, including a new
volunteer, Andy, joined members of Nettleham Woodland Trust to work at the
new Ashing Lane nature reserve near Dunholme.
Money from the gift aid programme of Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd
(WREN) enabled Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Nettleham Woodland Trust to
purchase fields next to the existing LWT Pickering’s Meadow and Watts Wood
reserves, to create the much larger Ashing Lane Nature Reserve. Over time,
the fields will be transformed into flower-rich meadows and broadleaved
woodland (to be called Monk’s Wood).
Our Group was involved in the planting of thousands of new trees last year,
and we returned to do some maintenance work.
In the morning, some of us spread a bark chipping path along the main ride
leading into the reserve while the rest of us dug small drainage ditches
across the paths where the heavy clay soil is causing drainage problems in
wet weather. In the afternoon, we pulled up a lot of ragwort plants, as they
are poisonous to some animals.
It was lovely to see so many new trees and to see that most of them, and the
developing wildflower meadows, are flourishing.
We hope to return to this reserve in the winter to do some more planting.
Jude
www.lincstrust.org.uk/reserves/nr/Watts Wood
www.nettlehamwoodlandtrust.co.uk/
More Photos on the LCG Picasa site