Having burnt all the arisings we had created on the north side of Ecclesbourne Meadow last Friday, this week on Thursday we started on the scrub on the southerly, lower side. Blackthorn and bramble mixed made for slower progress but it will have the added effect of widening the path where it is at it’s narrowest, making it easier to drive round.

Today, Friday, for a change we started removing the old fence posts that have been exposed by both last year’s work and this year’s. With most of the rails long gone and those remaining being broken, this fencing serves no purpose any longer and will just get in the way of future management of the scalloping. Using the winch on the 110 Land Rover we removed 45 posts, leaving them by the path for the Estate Rangers to pick up with the tractor and trailer.

Earlier in the week on Tuesday I bumped into Taughtus in the Quarry and with his help, finally got a photo of a gorse shield bug!