Wow!! What a scorcher! The Working Party met on the 7th July as we entered another heatwave in the South of England, and it was very warm even at 9am!
10 volunteers met at the Beggarwood Community Café with several jobs that needed to get done; after a discussion and allocation of tasks we all set off to get started. There has been an explosion of growth around the park and many areas needed cutting back and tidying up.
Pathway Clearance & Bramble Removal
The first group headed to the north side of the park to clear walkways in and around the woodland belt, luckily a little shady in that area. A second group attacked the park, entrances and walkways along the southern side and discovered a mass of thick brambles taking over. Always a tricky job pulling those out and not getting scratched to bits!
Tidying Around the Café Area
The live hedge bordering the Community Centre was starting to encroach into the car park so this has now been cut back and any large brambles removed.
Archangel Clearing
We have a real problem with Variegated Archangel in the woodland belt, this is a non-native invasive plant that threatens native species so this was cut back and removed from the site.
Seed Collection
A fifth group collected seeds of Oxeye Daisy, Cowslip & Yellow Rattle. These seeds will be used for sowing at Biodiversity Improvement Zones in Beggarwood and Hatch Warren. Any leftovers will be shared with other wildlife groups in and around Basingstoke. This helps to keep and spread our native diversity of plants which in turn encourages butterflies and bees.
Along the woodland the Broad Leaved Helleborines (woodland orchids) have just started flowering and are beautiful.
…and Finally
All of this activity helps to keep and develop Beggarwood park as an area of diversity to be enjoyed by the whole community. We are all volunteers so when anyone stops to chat to us or offer thanks in person or through email we really are grateful, honestly one thank you makes it all worthwhile, even on really hot days!
We always close with a thank you to The Holly Blue for providing cold drinks or coffee after we are done. It really is much appreciated and shows such a great community spirit!
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