15 February 2022
Toby Pillatt of SCC Forestry Team, led and organised this event, which in spite of the rain and muddy conditions, was great fun, a huge success and seemed to be enjoyed by all. In addition to familiar faces, it was good to see five members from Abbeydale Rotary Club (in high viz clothing), parents, grandparents, children aged from primary to secondary school, Greener Greenhill and Beauchief Environment Group followers.
The community spirit of sharing anchors the whole sense of purpose. A big thanks to Toby, the supporting team, and to all who managed to come along to help towards creating a more diverse habitat.
Toby instructed us all on how to plant whips properly, which were all native, including hawthorn, holly, elder and field maple, Other planting included a few more established trees, such as the lovely small leaved lime (Tilia cordata) that has lovely, sweet scented flowers before the leaves appear. Other tree whips suitable for wetland including alder, elder and willow were strategically planted, some parallel to the newly planted hedging alongside Beauchief Drive wall, with others further towards the scrape, in the field.
It is hoped that further wetland marginal plants will be added such as grasses, sedges, forget-me-not and yellow flag iris, around the recently formed Scrape, which on cue, had filled up with rainwater. It will be interesting to see how soon beetles, dragonflies and other aquatic species will be spotted.