Longwood Village Group

Some dangerous trees in the top part of the wood have been felled, one of them was completely hollow up the centre and exploded into fragments when it hit the ground.

The thinner branches will be removed to tidy things up when the leaves have all died back, but the felled trees will be left in situ to rot away naturally.

Some new saplings will be planted in the area to replace those trees that have been felled.

We would ask visitors to the woodland to ensure that they keep to the footpaths in the wood to allow these new saplings to become established and to allow the undergrowth to regenerate where it has been exposed to the light. 

With professional help, the dry stone wall central to the steps that run through the wood from the golf course, has been completely rebuilt.

A large section of this wall was completely missing so the job entailed the moving of stone from redundant walls in other parts of the wood to provide the stone for this work.

Also stone was recovered from where it had been scattered all over the woodland in the past.

It is hoped that this wall will help prevent inappropriate access to the area on the left of this path and notices are being prepared to ask people to refrain from enterring this area which will be protected to allow the woodland floor to naturally regenerate and provide a peaceful haven in which wildlife can flourish.

Further rebuilding of walls is currently taking place at the bottom of the track that leads from the golf course up in to the central field in the wood.

When this has been completed it will leave a small corner area in which it is hoped to propagate a wild flower bed.

UPDATE.... This section of wall has now been rebuilt and four oak tree saplings have been planted behind it.

The top section of the steps that run from the golf course through the centre of the woodland up onto the central track are in a very poor state.

Several of the slabs have been displaced and the situation is so bad that a complete reconstruction is required.

This will require the involvement of several people to provide the manpower that will be required to reposition these large stone slabs, and may possibly be a job that requires professional input and help.

It is fifteen years since the fencing down the side of the central track was first put in place.

Several of the fence posts have now rotted away to the point that they desperately need replacing.

New fence posts have been purchased and we are just waiting for lock down regulations to ease sufficiently  so that it would be safe for volunteers to work together to get on with the job.

UPDATE... During lockdown Raymond and Christine set to and replaced all 32 of the intermediate fence posts along this stretch of fencing, so hopefully the fence should last for another ten to fifteen years with only the minimum of maintenance being required.