RBS Volunteer Day 9th November 2011

The biggest stag loggery known to man

RBS/BTCV Command Centre

Building Dead Hedges and Clearing Bramble (a big and thankless task, so thank you)

Simon from the BTCV (British Trust Conservation Volunteers) came to me in the summer and asked if we could use some help in the form of Bankers in the Wilderness. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I spoke to the Head and we said yes! There was so much to do but really a concerted effort was needed and the volunteer day came at just the right time.

Our community RBS volunteers came from as far as Leeds and drove down for the day for the team building exercise in our Wilderness.

They did a grand job and cleared, created and worked as teams. Sometimes a little too hard but the Wilderness needed a good clearout and that is what it got.

The dead hedges are crafted and not just throw together and the stag loggery is like nothing I have ever seen before. The scale is immense!

Well done you volunteers and I hope you enjoyed your day with us and please do come back again.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

The Hiatus is over

Bluebells to be planted here

The Pond with beach and the deck taking shape

Jeff the Carpenter

Phewweee I have managed to get back to blogging. There are too many passwords in my head and for a few days they all eluded me. Anyway now back on track and so is the wilderness.

The wilderness, from a whirlwind of activity, ended up a couple of days ago with no one on site. But our lovely contractors have managed to pull it back a little and will be finished by this weekend. It's on record now so lets see if it happens Ken!

The beach is forming and the deck is going down so my mind has been working on ordering English bluebells for the front of the site. There is a wilderness action day at the beginning of Nov , just after half term, to plant these, so I have to get them ordered for delivery by then.

And we have tree planting week at the beginning of December so I also have to get the trees ordered for that with all the accoutrements and making sure it all fits into the agreement set out by the Tree Council as they had promised us a grant. There is a lot of red tape and a great deal of juggling with money to make sure we come in on budget.

Wish me luck!

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Friday 17th Sept 2010 - The liner goes in!

The pond was contoured and the first layer of sand went down over old carpets as the ground underneath had revealed many treasures including marble posts and a big mound of concrete foundations. The carpet was laid as an extra measure to make sure that the pond liner does not get a puncture. Next layer sand; then a geotextile layer, then the Firestone EPDM liner, then the next geotextile layer. This was then topped with overturned turf in the centre of the pond and then buckets and buckets and buckets of pea gravel over the rest of the pond. Phewweee the guys have definitely worked their socks off today.

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Wed Am - River Stones At Adrian Hall

River stones were discussed and Ken the contractor thought they might be a good way to differentiate between the shallow beach area and the deeper parts of the pond.

They look Great! They are in.

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Contouring of the pond

Now before I go any further i have to apologise to Ken for making him a Dale instead of a Daly. He is, and has always been a Daly and as a new Numaira (as of this week in the Richmond and Twickenham Times) in the paper i know how annoying it can be to have your identity changed.

Also NSP Landscapes have been contracted to work on site but Ken has his own company which goes under the name of Healing Landscapes. So please come to www.redscapedesign.co.uk for me to design your garden and then we can get Ken at Healing Landscapes to build it.

Lovely. So, down to business, today was a big day, as they all seem to be. Kevin our Newts expert came and looked at the contouring of the pond and told us all that the shelves in the pond must not be too steep otherwise the newts spawn will fall down the slopes and never be seen again. So more a little fine tuning took place and an extra pair of hands were found on site in the form of Cameron. The pond liner also turned up this afternoon.

Jeff the Carpenter came down and we discussed at length if I had made the right choice in picking a new recycled decking product. We have had a few miscommunications with the suppliers and well frankly it was all getting a bit much. It is, I think all sorted now and we will have deck boards and carpenter on site at the same time next week.

And lastly I had to make a mad dash to Adrian Hall and Wickes to pick my favourite gravel (I know!?). I had one in mind and had been carrying round a sample from Bushy Park, which one of the gardeners there had let me have. Even the man who works in Adrian Hall looked at me in a funny way as I brought out my nappy sack full of genuine Bushy Park gravel to find a match.

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The Diggers have been in!!!

Ken and Jimmy, Keep digging!! Timetabling Meeting with Jan Kuhn, Simon Hawkins (BCTV) and Anna Doeser (Hounslow Project Officer BCTV ) and Me, Humaira Ikram.

Well the diggers have been in! The contouring has taken place and is looking good.

Here above are Ken and Jimmy checking the levels of the new pond and making adjustments.

It is looking great, well I thought it was until my child came in and said "Oh mum, you've ruined it!!" Lets hope it looks better soon.

The other thing that happened today was a meeting with the British Conservation Trust Volunteers (BCTV) to discuss a timetable for the future. Which includes; when we will be planting bluebells, planting hedging, the planting up the pond, and the new trees. As well as all the ongoing maintenance and bringing the place back to what it was and more.

It was a great meeting with people who can help us get the most out of the Wilderness.

Shingle has been bought today and hedging has been discussed at length with the hedging company too.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk

Newts Moving Day

Kids and Newts

So today was a bit of a rush. Yesterday we had the idea that children from the school should be involved in the newts move and then we thought that maybe the local press would be interested.

So of course, this then had to be co-ordinated and somehow it worked!

all of the above came along at the same time. The kids, newts, toads and journalist from the Richmond and Twickenham Times all were together. The kids had a great time looking at the wildlife and we adults (thank you Lindsay for helping and holding and catching newts) remembered why we were involved in the hours and hours of work that it has taken to get even to this stage.

So the pond has been drained, the newts and toads have been moved to their temporary accomodation. Marking out should happen tomorrow with diggers on site Friday/Mon to contour the pond.

All in all a very successful if hectic day.

www.redscapedesign.co.uk