Birch bashing at Bickerton Hill, 1 June 2014

Nine of us spent the first day of summer in warm sunshine at Bickerton Hill with five volunteers from Chester NTV, pulling up by hand or cutting down with loppers birch regen.  We piled the cuttings in the surrounding woodland where they will rot down.  The Trust's long-term aim is to eradicate all birch from the hill (including all the mature trees) and return the area to its natural heathland habitat.

At elevenses Gordon treated us all to ESAFs (Experimental Spiced Apple Fairycakes!).  They were very good - tasty and moist.

Jon Twigg (Ranger) thought we'd cleared approx 15% of the birch regen during the day.  The Chester "Tuesday" group returns on 3 June and will resume where we left off.

The birch is the tall thin vegetation in the foreground

We saw some unusual wildlife: a dozen of the Welsh and Dartmoor ponies, several buzzards (one being mobbed by crows), a Common Lizard and a small frog (a long way from water).

After we'd finished work most of us walked the 400 metres up to Maiden Castle (the Iron Age hill-fort) and enjoyed the magnificent sweeping views across to the Welsh border hills, Chester and Liverpool.  Truly we do live in a green and pleasant land!