How many times have we run along the river path without paying any attention to the amazing wildlife oasis that is quietly being nurtured in Chapter Meadows alongside us? It's a project that's being coordinated by Tom and we enjoyed hearing about the latest developments in the nature reserve as we all ran down from The Hive. The newest residents are Shetland Cattle that will be used for controlled grazing as long as they can be convinced to stay in the right place!

Our job for this evening was to give some tiny saplings a helping hand. Hundreds of trees were planted last winter and they now needed space to grow. We all sat pulling up undergrowth around each one then gently laying it back around the base, which Tom explaind helps in 3 (tree?) ways: It reduces the competition for nutrients and light The dead grass turns to mulch to help feed the sapling The mulch helps to hold moisture near to the sapling. A simple but very effective way to make sure this patch of rough grass will one day be a beautiful copse.

I'm not sure how many trees we worked on for but there are hundreds left to be sorted out so we will definately be needed again. I don't think any of us will mind given how pleasant an evening it was.