Friends of Buntings Wood
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Friends of Buntings Wood |
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Media Coverage of Friends of Buntings Wood
THE "FRIENDS" USE HORSE POWERTwo years into the pond restoration project at Bunting's Wood, Thorne, The Friends of Bunting's Wood are hoping that Roddy can help. Roddy, a Clydesdale from the newly formed Axholme Heavy Horse Company will be assisting the volunteers on Sunday 21st October 2001 from 10am onwards. The Friends are facing the problem of how to remove Willow stumps from the pond bed. Having explored the possibility of modern machinery we decided that equipment was not feasible because of possibility of damage to the pond bed. A chance meeting with Jamie Quinn of Axholme Heavy Horses evolved into this joint operation plan of using traditional forestry methods to overcome being stumped by this problem. Craig Nicholls, the Chair of Friends of Buntings Wood, stated "the volunteers are quite excited about this. This environmentally friendly approach will assist immensely in ensuring the future survival of Sammy Roy's pond. If all goes well we will look to be using these traditional methods again". The only stumbling block now is the weather. As Jamie Quinn points out "if it rains a lot before the 21st the ground will be too soft for the horse to work effectively and could damage the pond bed". A site inspection will take place a few days before. Any one interested in seeing Roddy at work, or to find out more about Buntings Wood, can call for more information on 07799 740350. On a less positive note, the recent cases of fly tipping down Bunting's Wood have been seen with concern by users of the wood, Thorne-Moorends Council & DMBC. It is the intention of the Friends to pursue offenders. RODDY IN THE RAINOn a rather wet Sunday morning 14 volunteers from the Friends' of Buntings' Wood, and one rather large horse, Roddy, gathered at Sammy Roy's pond, Bunting's Wood, Thorne, to commence the stump extraction as mentioned on the front page of the Thorne Gazette last week. The weather over the preceding days had resulted in water-logging and the rain on the day did little to ease the extraction. The ground condition did restrict Roddys' ability to get into the pond, however with Roddy operating from the bank and volunteers operating in the mud, a start at stump clearance was made. At the other end of the pond a chain-saw operator and volunteers were busy clearing out more invading willow. Despite the atrocious weather conditions all felt it had been a very positive day and a major step forward towards the pond restoration had been achieved. As Eddie Kelly, 'The Friends' volunteer co-ordinator stated, "it is the intention to have Roddy returning to the pond …… with one condition. It is drier!"
RODDY'S RETURN
Continuing the work done last year when Roddy the Clydesdale carthorse helped the Friends of Buntings Wood with Stump removal in their work to restore Sammy Roy's pond at Buntings Wood, Thorne. The Axholme Heavy Horse company once again provided the goods (or the horse should I say). The weather was a great improvement on the downpour last year, and the conditions were much drier, mainly due to the dry weather over the preceding weeks. The volunteers were able to walk on the pond bed safely, and the horse could pull more effectively, which meant that the work of removing the willow stumps progressed well, although a lot still remains to be done.
In all a very successful work party which shows that the light is visible at the end of the tunnel as far as the restoration of this pond is concerned. Far more was achieved than the Friends had hoped, despite some of the stumps being determined not to be lifted. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who participated, and to Jamie Quinn who handled the horse. This was a very successful event and will help to restore one of the jewels in the crown of Buntings wood. |
Contact: postmaster(at) buntings-wood.org.uk. Copyright © 2011
Friends of Buntings Wood
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