Another rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 20th September 2015

We had a good sized group of 13, plus Gary the Ranger and a youth Ranger who joined us for part of the day.

We continued the work done by MNTV the previous Sunday along West Drive and also by some mid-week volunteers who had been in to cut back and burn more rhododendron ponticum!

As the ground was dry, we were asked to work on the sloped area, keeping the flatter area at the top of the slope for any groups of volunteers who might work when it was raining or just after rain, when it would be too slippy to work on the slope safely.


the fire on the lower level slope

We split into 2 groups, one group started up a previous fire-site on the lower level and got the fire going quite quickly. The other group walked up the slope and started a new fire part way up. This is always a bit tricky as you have to be careful that the fire doesn't get too big and start to slide down the slope!

working on the higher slope

We stopped for 11's and had Sue's home-made banana cake. The work was going well and everyone was happy with the group that they were in and the task they were doing:-)

The weather was good for us and lots of people walking their dogs or cycling along West Drive talked to us to find out what we were doing.

After our lunch break we discussed a time that we should stop putting rhody on the fires to give them chance to burn down a little before we left around 3.15pm. It was a good day and we could certainly see the difference we'd made just in the few hours we'd been there.

We managed a group photo of most of us, including a 'new recruit' who'd joined us for the first time:-)