As a result of having a "wall to wall sunshine" workday today, Ranger Simon suggested that instead of doing the original task of ditch clearing/digging and footpath clearing in Stockton's Wood, which would have been very hot for us all, we instead balsam bashed on another part of the estate which would be in the shade and cooler for us.
So, after the six MNTV volunteers met Simon in the main car park at 10am we carried our gear part of the way back down the drive, through a field with some beautiful Southern Marsh orchids and over to a pond where we started pulling up the Himalayan Balsam and snapping the roots off so it didn't regrow.
We worked our way around the pond and had moved further away to a nearby field by break time where we stopped to have coffee and cake!!
After some more balsam bashing, moving further down a wire fence on both sides clearing the balsam, we had lunch and Simon nipped off to get some of his other jobs done.
By the time he came back, we finished up, took our gear back to our cars, changed our footwear, dropped off our rucksacks and joined him by the Tudor hall that Speke is famous for. After he'd taken a group photo we were invited to have a look round the hall in our own time before heading home.
Simon was delighted by what we'd achieved and we were pleased to start our season of balsam bashing unexpectedly early :-)
Sue
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