Grimsditch 16th March 2014 (Work Party Peg Work)

Following a break in the work party schedule this weekend saw a great turn out of willing club members and plenty of materials ready for a productive day of peg reconstruction. And a productive day it was, everyone seemed in good spirits and keen to get stuck in as the friendly banter flowed it was easy to explain what was wanted when anyone had a question or if I had a suggestion to make.

Most of the existing pegs apart from being well past good condition are wooden box type constructions with huge great steps at the side mostly leading to the water rather than the actual “pegs” The basic idea really is to be rid of all the ugly and unnecessary “boxes” in favor of simple peg fronts and safe steps leading to these fishing positions.

As you can see some pegs were pretty hazardous with the amount of scaffold poles protruding from the ground :

This peg now looks like this from the same angle :

And like this from the other side of the pool :

The next peg along was left looking like this after the last work party with most of the metal and rotten steps removed :

It now looks like this :

The next peg was left looking like this and I was glad it wasn’t finished :

It now looks like this :

A different angle :

I have not got any before shots of these next two pegs but they were not pretty and now look much better with easier access too :

And finally the large car park peg has had a dressing of stone and wood chip :

So a brilliant day and lots of quality work done with most folk staying well after the minimum required overstamp time too!

Grimsditch 2nd March 2014 (Taking Shape)

Things are shaping up nicely although not so many turned up for the last work party. The steps to the large peg have been re-built.

Work has also started on the pegs, the plan is to remove as many as is possible of the scaffold poles and rebuild the steps and pegs using wood. So far only two pegs have been completed but I think they are much better than the previous constructions.

Before

After

Before

After

A few rails have been put in place to encourage folk not to trample down any flora.

I have to say I am very relieved to have finally finished planting nearly 350 bare-root plants today plus another 50 container grown plants. Most of these have been used at Grimsditch and any extra plants have been used to plant the island at New Pool (after some serious bramble root removal) and a few at Lymmvale and stock pond.

Before any plants were ordered I had noted what species were already established on the site, plants like Elder, Ash, Alder and various Willow were not to be included on the wish list.

I have carefully considered the positions and spacings of the plants to avoid any unnecessary future problems and now look forward to seeing them grow.

The Trees

I have planted several Silver Birch (Betula pendula) and Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) some of which I will cut off when ready to produce smaller multi-stemmed trees.

Also Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), Field Maple (Acer campestre), Hazel (Corylus avellana) and Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) are other small trees used. Some of these will grow as trees and some can be treated as hedging depending on position. Hazel can be coppiced periodically too.

The Shrubs

A good mixture of shrubs has been used some to grow as mature specimens some in groups for better pollination and impact and some as mixed hedge/screen but all produce berries or hips.

Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus), Spindle (Euonymus europaeus), Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana), Field Rose (Rosa arvensis) and Dog Rose (Rosa canina).

The only other plant used is several Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia cespitosa) plants from my own garden.