Well it’s not every year that November 5th falls on a Conservation Day so today at Hastings Country Park we just had to have a bonfire! Plenty to burn as we had 3 days worth of cutting to get rid of.

Despite the recent rain we got the fire going quickly using a pile of dead blackthorn that we had sorted out for that purpose.

Overhead we saw a peregrine being very territorial with a pair of ravens. Pausing briefly for a tea break we managed to get most of the brash burnt before stopping for a well earned lunch for which Andy had kindly provided sausages and rolls plus hazel sticks to warm the sausages over the coals and we washed these down with hot soup.

Fishing for sausages

This just left us to push the fire in and wait for it to burn down and we were able to get packed up and away before the promised rain arrived.

Next week we’ll have another cut on Thursday and burn that and what was left today on Friday.