December 2013 and January 2014 work days

December 15th 2013 was a combined work day and cake sale. Essex Wildlife Trust held their Christmas Event and we had a table selling home made cakes. We made a reasonable profit although it would have been higher if the weather had been better. This money will go towards our insurance costs. Although we are a voluntary group we have to take out and pay for our own insurance. The rest of us continued weeding and mulching in the areas planted with native shrubs and trees earlier in the year close to the visitors, centre. We did as much as possible until we were rained off. The pile of mulch doesn't seem to be getting any smaller!

Several hundred  bulbs have been planted each side of the track leading up to the Walled Garden which should provide a nice splash of colour later in the spring. Will also provide some much needed nectar for the insects. These were planted by the SEETEC guys who have been working with Havering Council for some months now both within the park and in the Walled Garden.

Our January work day was on  the 12th. Again we continued weeding and mulching. The pile of mulch still doesn't seem to be getting any smaller ! Also some pruning was carried out on the lime trees along the track that leads up to the walled garden. The 'epicormic' growth on the trunks and around the base of these trees hadn't been cut back for many years and was beginning to encroach on the track. In the afternoon we cleared away a couple of large branches that had fallen over the ditch and across the main drive that leads down towards Lower Bedfords Road. We continued south and around the main lake litter picking. The lake was, unsurprisingly, quite high due to all the rain we've been having.