Land Manager's Diary: Read it here>

BOOK onto one our upcoming workparties>

---

It's been nearly a year since we held our grand opening of Dam Mire Wood, kindly gifted by resident Mike Hambrey and time we gave you an update on what we have been up to. Many of you kindly gave us your thoughts for the site, and we have been working these up to take some forward. 

Over the last year, we have been working with Threlkeld School children who have helped plant 60m of new hedge along the southern boundary. Threlkeld Brownies and our volunteers have helped manage the new trees, removing grass to aid tree growth and the ensure the stakes are upright.

Pictured: Threlkeld School children help to plant 60m of hedge

We have extended the path and created an informal circular path around the wood which many people are now enjoying. We have put up bird boxes and soon an owl box will be going up. We may even be able to get some camera footage of any new residents... An ecological survey has told us which plants we have and it gives us some recommendations for further work to enhance habitats for wildlife. We have already strimmed off an area and planted some hay rattle seed to reduce the grass. 

Pictured: Strimming an area and planting hay rattle seed to reduce grass growth

Looking ahead to our plans for this year, we have workparties scheduled for 13 June, and 22 Nov, so if you fancy joining us, put the date in the diary for now! Once summer comes, it would be fantastic to know if anyone would be interested helping out by strimming the path for us once a month so that the walkers can continue to enjoy it.

We have plans for some simple benches so everyone can enjoy the tremendous views, and are also looking at designing and planting a willow den with the school children. We hope to put up a very simple shelter for those keen on bird watching or just sitting enjoying the views out of the rain. Later in the year we may put in some plug plants to add to the floristic diversity of the site and help our pollinators. 

If anyone wants to join us on workparties, help in any way from strimming to doing surveys for us, or you have some burning ideas to pass on, please get in touch.

Jan Darrall   [email protected]