Supporting A Vibrant Community
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.
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.