In addition to chainsawing, we did a lot of tree planting at Green Farm. I realised that there was, in fact, a right and wrong way to plant a tree. It’s not, as I thought, just digging a hole and plonking the tree in; you have to use a ‘T’ cut. This opens up the ground for you to put the tree in and then you press the ground around it with your feet to make it as compact as possible. We helped to plant a mixture of tree species, such as oak, rowan, hazel and wild cherry.

From woodlands to wetlands! I have also spent a lot of time recently at Upton Warren, making sure The Flashes are completely fox and badger proof. It’s important that we have the fox fence around The Flashes to protect the birds on site. The Flashes is a saltmarsh, an important and rare inland habitat that attracts birds not normally found in land-locked counties.

Derren and I joined reserves officer Ellie for the day to strim around the perimeter of the reserve with brushcutters, while Andy B walked around checking for any holes in the fences. It was hard work strimming around the outside but once we finished, it was good to see the results of our work. A few weeks later, we returned with the roving volunteers to help finish off clearing the rest of the fence, as you can’t get too close when using the brushcutters.  We had to be particularly careful as the marshes are very wet and can swallow up your wellies very easily (as rover Sam found out!).

Jack joined us as a conservation trainee, after developing a love for wildlife through work and studies.