Longwood Village Group

AN UPDATE ON ONGOING WORK IN PIGHILL WOOD

RECENT FELLING OF DANGEROUS TREES

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.

REBUILDING OF DRYSTONE WALL ALONGSIDE THE STEPS FROM THE GOLF COURSE

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.

View of the newly rebuilt wall as you ascend the steps from the golf course.

FUTURE PROJECTS

PROPOSED SITE FOR A HAWTHORN HEDGE

It has been proposed that we plant a Hawthorne hedge on the left hand side of this short footpath that links the main track through the wood with the track that runs from the golf course up into the central field.

We are exploring the possibility of obtaining the hedging plants from the Woodland Trust.

A Hawthorne hedge would serve as a barrier but would also provide a suitable habitat for nesting for several species of bird.

RECONSTRUCTION OF TOP SECTION OF STEPS

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.

On Sunday 10 th October three lads from the 33rd Slaithwaite Explorer Scout Group, who are working towards their Dof E award spent 4 hours in the wood clearing and tidying fallen trees and branches, felling smaller dead trees, marking out footpaths and rebuilding fallen walls.

They will be returning at a future date, weather and Covid permitting to continue with their work.

It was a pleasure working with them and hopefully this is just the start of a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Thank you Tom, Michael and Daniel.

Since then Tom , Daniel, Jacob and Alfie, all from the 33rd Slaithwaite Explorer Scout Group have worked along side Raymond (our Chairman and Woodchip Project leader) in clearing all the encroaching brambles and other vegetation off the track that runs from Moleshead to the main entrance to Pighill wood.

We have received numerous messages of thanks both verbally and on social media, praising them for the work that they have done in improving access along this track.