Monday 18 August 2014

Scythes proving useful in different locations.

At the beginning of August Jim and I were glad to welcome Jack along to help us cut and rake this mini patch of grassland at Standlake Church for the secind year running; as even though we started at 8 a.m it was getting quite hot by the time we  finished at 10.00.
It was lovely to see how some good areas of knapweed are developing and Alison said there had been a few cowslips in the spring. We also found a toad and spiders with their nest webs in the grass and bushes full of miniscule baby spiders.

Today Jack and I were joined by Nancy in clearing the bridleway from the A415 to the Windrush Path at Cokethorpe. The scythes worked really well on  nettles and himalayan balsam to clear the path up to the bridge over the Windrush in a very short time.

Nancy's first try at scything

Jack keeping his scythe sharp

Jack and Nancy carried on to help me clear the footpath at Hardwick that was really overgrown with hawthorn and nettles.


 
Many hands make light work and an hour later the footpath was walkable again.