Today there was a work party held up at Ilott Wharf to try to assess the state of the saplings we planted a few years ago. They had become somewhat overgrown by grass, brambles & other weeds making it hard for them to get sunlight and also making it difficult for us to see which were doing well, which needed attention in order to be saved and which just plain need replacing.

Unfortunately the weather was not too kind as the horrible unseasonably wet, cold & windy May continues to bear down on us but in traditional ACA style and with just 3 volunteers (Arran, Dave and new volunteer Alan) we put on our hats, zipped up our coats and managed to clear the worst of the overgrowth around the saplings giving them all a much better chance of survival for the ones still alive. For the ones that didn’t make it we were able to get an idea of how many we need to replace at the end of the summer.

We will need to return soon to tackle some of the nasty brambles etc that remain in the surrounding areas close to the saplings and also to maintain the area that we have just worked on but now we have gently cleared around the delicate saplings we can take a slightly more heavy handed approach to what remains.