We had to each travel in our own cars as we aren't able to car-share at the moment, due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
We walked to the field we'd be working in and Izzie showed us the volume of Gorse, interspersed with a small amount of Silver birch and Broom, that needed to be removed so that the hedge which was behind it and was completely hidden could be laid at some time in the future. The original plan was that we might get chance to burn the Gorse that we'd cut, but we were disappointed. As the Sefton Coast is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), including Formby National Trust, permission needs to be obtained from Natural England to be allowed to burn on the site and to work on the hedge. Although this had been applied for, it hadn't been granted by today, so Izzie asked if we could leave the Gorse in piles in the field, so it could be burned once permission was granted.
Izzie then had to leave us so we got going....each selecting a different area to start cutting with bowsaws and loppers, so we could be socially distanced. It was a chilly day but we soon got warm and, apart from a short coffee break at 11.30am and a lunch break around 1.15pm, we worked hard until 3.30pm when the light started to fade, knowing we still had to load the cars and travel back home.
Izzie and Lexie had popped back to see us just after lunch and Izzie seemed really pleased with what we'd already achieved at that point.
Towards the end of the day we seemed to be working even harder and faster as we desperately wanted to get the whole job done before we left. Disappointingly we had to admit defeat and had to leave some of the Gorse untouched. Another volunteer or another hour of daylight would have done it but, "c'est la vie" - we'd still achieved a lot and were delighted with the progress we'd made:-)
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