Hare Hill on Sunday 13th April 2014

What a fantastic day - admittedly a bit cold when the wind was blowing, but otherwise dry and sunny for a mixed day of work at Hare Hill with Julia the NT Ranger.

Ten of us (including 3 out with us for the first time) spent the first hour just outside the Hare Hill car park, cutting tree branches that had already been felled or had fallen during the high winds, to a more manageable size. We used loppers for the thinner branches and bow saws to cut the larger ones. These were then dragged or carried to nearer the car park railings and out of the way of the main gate where the NT vehicles gain access to the lake. The ground is quite boggy in places in front of the gate and, without a larger area to drive over, the jeeps could easily get bogged down in the mud.

Once this was complete, we walked down to the lake where we looked at the copse where we would be doing a rhody bash after our morning coffee break. When we got back to work, Gordon got the fire going really easily and it wasn't long before most of the volunteers were busy cutting down the rhododendron ponticum and burning it on the fire. We managed to burn all that was cut down (that was the remit, so no cut rhody was left around, in case the cows ate it the next day) and left the site nice and tidy.

 

There was also a job to do painting the railings around the lake but most people were having so much fun with the rhody that only Adrian and Julia volunteered and went off to do this task.

It was a super day and a good time was had by all:-)