On a warm and dry October morning the Beggarwood volunteers met as usual for their monthly working party, but this month their numbers were swollen by the addition of 14 Hawk–Eye Innovations Ltd. employees who are part of Sony Europe.
There were two tasks on the cards for the day, the old favourite of clearing the ditch to encourage burrowing bees to nest and the removal of the dreaded Dogwood, which seems to grow faster than it can be removed!
The group were therefore split into two teams with the larger team, led by Ildi tackling the Dogwood while the smaller, yet no less important team, leapt into the ditch to scrape away the vegetation.
The Hawk-Eye guys all more than pulled their weight, especially Peter who couldn’t wait to pick up the biggest and heaviest Popping tool (used to pull out the Dogwood by the roots) and get stuck in.
Team Dogwood
The removed Dogwood was moved to the area just below the playground and was used to build a dead hedge with the help of Charlie (B&DBC Community Green Spaces Officer).
The dead hedge has 2 purposes:
- provide habitat for insects, invertebrates & small mammals
- stop litter getting blown down from the playground into the bushes & trees at the bottom of the hill
Team Ditch
By the time the teams had finished, much had been achieved, so all in all it was a very satisfying mornings work.
The Beggarwood contingent then moved to the Holly Blue for their annual AGM, where they were treated to coffee and cake, along with Charlie and Gill (Natural Basingstoke).
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