Environment Matters 2020

Essential Maintenance

May 2020

Our rainbow tribute to the NHS Photo: Steve Webster

With normal work parties suspended due to COVID-19, it’s been a pretty quiet time since the end of March. But we still have plants to care for, especially in the long period of drought, and paths to maintain, so huge thanks to:

Peter and Jeanne Buck and Mick McKee for getting bowsers filled, taken out and emptied to make sure that saplings, Rose Willow, Gallows Wharf, Falkland Rd sites have all survived - that's HOURS of work!
Peter, Jeanne and Aileen for weeding Gallows Wharf and Rose Willow
Bill McDougall and Mick McKee for, respectively, keeping the paths at Fosseway and Summerhill clear of brambles, etc (and doing so as lone workers, so perfectly within the COVID-19 guidelines)

Aileen and Margaret watering plants at Bobbie's Bend

Margaret and Aileen filling some gaps in the hedgerow

Our wonderful founding folk, Eric and Doreen, had nurtured some horse chestnut saplings which I collected a few weeks ago and which we thought ideal to infill gaps in the hedge alongside Pound 27.

Quite forgetting that we’d had to drain down Pound 27 for the emergency repairs of some seepage I went there to plant them, thinking I could do the previous trick of chucking a watering can on a length of rope into the canal to get water to water them in. Stupid me! ...and the ground like concrete due to weeks with no rain!
We cannot get a bowser down there as the towpath is too narrow. Who should come along as I ponder but Phil, a Scout Leader from 7th Lichfield Scout Group which would, before lockdown, have been doing more work with us. Knowing that Scouting activities have been closed down until September, I asked “Phil, have you got any aquarolls?”

Result: we now have 2 x 40 litre aquarolls on loan which have been used by Aileen, Margaret and me on the last two Saturdays to water the saplings and also the lovely “Bobbie’s Bend” commemorative space for Mike Battison’s late wife. So HUGE Thanks to 7th. Lichfield Scout Group!
We’re now in the process of carefully opening up work parties, so more next month!

Christine Bull

Peter's trusty bow saw soon reduced this fallen branch to manageable sized pieces which could be dragged off to clear the towpath at Borrowcop.

A visitor reported a fallen branch at Borrowcop Locks Canal Park. Peter made short work of removing but it didn't go to waste. Our green wood carver friend David Edwards has already hand carved this ladle from it, using only a knife and axe. David made the Woodland Trust plaques for us and he's hoping to make us some more from this wood. We love reusing and recycling!

Hand carved ladle by David Edwards

Mick McKee keeping the paths clear. Please dont walk along the canal though, the mud may look dry but it’s wet mud underneath and over a foot deep. Photos: Brian Golding

Jeanne Buck watering Rose Willow

We thought Rose Willow was looking lovely but she's even better now! Over the weekend Jeanne removed weeds and has planted perennials to fill the gaps. She replanted some of the 'weeds' in the wild hedgerow and margins which we are creating along the new Tamworth Road Heritage Towpath Trail. She watered the plants generously with the aid of the Trust's water bowser, which is equipped with an onboard pump to allow us to use canal water to keep all the plants in tip top condition. Jeanne broke off from gardening to pick up the dog mess and litter along this length of the Lichfield Canal.
....and then she watered the Garden of Reflection at Gallows Wharf and the Fosseway Queen Narrowboat on Falkland Road as part of our watering regime though the Spring/Summer months. Thanks Jeanne, amazing work!