Foolishly HWT decided that it would be a good idea to ask me to write a blog. I can only assume that they believed that as I had volunteered for an organisation that champions the preservation of the natural world, I must be closely related to some great zoologist or natural historian. Sadly, this is as far from the truth as could possibly be.

But then this illustrates the point as to why, a well-meaning, averagely intelligent, somewhat flippant, reasonably healthy individual (I use the word 'reasonably' advisedly here), but frankly less than knowledgeable person (of all things flora and fauna) might want to volunteer for HWT.

There are several reasons and some of those reasons will resonate with others amongst the band of HWT volunteers and some will not.

I could write a prosaic script detailing those things that attract me to working with HWT and what motivates me but instead I felt it better to relate a diary of the last few months of volunteering and let you, the reader, draw out your own conclusions as to what makes volunteering for HWT, at least for this humble diarist, something to look forward to every Wednesday.

To give a little background on who I am:

Name: Jeremy Stobart

Age: 58 years old

Employment status: Too complicated to explain without a 10-minute PowerPoint presentation and stick figures but basically retired but still dabbling in property.

Time with HWT: Just over 2 years as a Work Party volunteer (working mainly on Wednesdays)

So, what do the work party volunteers do, why do we do it, and what do I/we get out of it.

Well, read on dear reader (if you've got this far), and some but not all of these things may be revealed.

Date: 03/02/21

Location: Titley Pool

Volunteering Team: Lewis (Nature Reserves Officer), Nic, Matt & Myself

Weather: Cloudy, wet under foot.

Mission: Coppicing area next to Titley Pool to open up more habitat (sounds like I know what I'm talking about!?)

The last time I was at Titley Pool, Nic and I were in chest high waders clearing the sluice run off from the pool of weeds and other detritus which were blocking the overflow. Lewis tells me that he has some lovely pictures of me in this fashionable garment, albeit from a distance. He has threatened that the pictures may end up in a newsletter. I am unsure if this is blackmail or a well-meaning promise. I am not sure what I need to do to prevent this happening but I suspect that my pleadings not to publish, may go unheard.

This time round we are clearing a small area of sapling and more established hawthorn, Elder and blackthorn that has encroached. Both Matt and Nic are chainsaw qualified/certified (as is Lewis), so I am the 'grunt' (which I love by the way) to their tree felling skills; moving the 'brash' into piles to make a natural boundary at the edge of the field. Keeping up with them keeps me on my toes, and as best I can, I try to not get in their way. Lewis has asked that the larger pieces of wood are stacked 'Jenga' style. I've never played Jenga so my pile is more like another game..'Pick up Sticks'.

In the 5 hours we are there, the 4 of us make short work coppicing this area even if Nic has to occasionally say to me, ever so politely 'Errmm Jeremy... do you just want to move to the left a bit so I can fell this tree?' Always happy to oblige, I step into a rabbit hole. Nothing new there, I do this all the time. None of the others comment and I haven't see anyone roll their eyes. Area coppiced..just about (only a few trees left). So, Job, mainly, done.

Date: 10/02/21

Location: Wessington Wood

Volunteering Team: Ian (Nature Reserves Officer), Nic and myself

Weather: Very soft under foot but no threat of rain!

Mission: Re-securing plastic fence surrounding area closed off from deer and also removing tree guards.

During lockdown, numbers have, for obvious reasons, been reduced and average work party sizes are circa 2-3 volunteers. Work party sizes pre covid were around 10-12 and hopefully this will return once 'normality' (whatever that looks like) ensues.

So, no complaints, just missing some of the 'gang', albeit they may not feel the same way about being jammed into a minibus next to me. They may be using Covid as an excuse? Who knows?

We clear the tree guards first. Wessington Wood is a fairly sizeable Reserve, so there is a fair walk to get to the area where we need to clear the guards. Ian has brought 5 bin bags to collect all the guards. It soon becomes apparent that we may have underestimated the task and having created a 1:10 scale model of the Malvern Hills out of piled up tree guards, good sense prevails and it is uniformly agreed that we will collect the tree guards at a later visit once we can get a vehicle into the reserve (currently the ground conditions are very soft).

Onto re-securing the deer fencing using 'Pig Rings'. I have done a lot of post and wire and post and rail fencing in my time but have never come across this natty tool which is pretty much as described and crimps a ring onto a wire fence. I know I sound like a caveman coming across a mobile phone here, but this is what volunteering does, it shows you things you haven't seen before.

Ian and I finish off the second area and make an impressive repair to a dilapidated gateway opening into the enclosure. Having made an architectural marvel out of wire and wood it dawns on us that we need to get inside the enclosure to finish off re-securing areas of the boundary fence. So the Heath Robinson gateway has to be delicately dismantled to gain access. Let's say that it doesn't look quite so impressive, albeit equally functional, as the 1st iteration. Tree guards corralled and fencing re-secured along with gateway, thanks to Mr Robinson. Job done!

Date: 17/02/21

Location: Holywell Dingle

Volunteering Team: Lewis (Nature Reserves Officer), Matt, Nic and myself

Weather: A lot of moisture in the air. Not actually raining but there has been a lot of rain in the last few days..and weeks. A lot of rain!

Mission: Finishing off laying of hedge round this 'compact' reserve and burning residual brash

This is my 2nd visit to Holywell Dingle. The previous visit was a great learning curve in all things hedge laying. There are apparently over 30 regional styles of hedge laying. Lewis gave us all a short but informative lecture on the style of Hedging we were going to be adopting (Midland style I believe - but I am happy to be corrected, derided etc.), which involved placing stakes about two feet apart (using the distance between the end of your hand and the tip of your elbow as a measure) at a slight angle juxta positioned to the direction of the tree to be laid in the hedge (all clear so far.. I doubt it!!). The trees are laid predominantly on one side of the stake and are cut with a combination of chainsaws and billhooks to lay the living hedge. This is finished off with Hazel binders at the top of the stakes to make a sturdy, stock proof fence. We were carrying on from works started the week before by the Thursday group.

All fine you might say but how good were you Jeremy? Well I thought OK. My job was positioning the stakes for Nic to cut and angle the trees to. Yes, admittedly, Lewis was following behind me adjusting some of the angled stakes, removing some and re-positioning them but on the whole it seemed to have gone ok.

Armed with this new-found skill I returned home to 'have a go' at a short section of hedge around my own ground which needed laying. After a few hours labor, I stood back to admire my handiwork. My wife arrived with a cup of tea and an "Absolutely perfect darling" on observing my work.... God bless her! Fabulous woman my wife and a consumate liar apparently. She fully understands the fragility of masculine pride. I realised that this was a historic moment and I had added to the over 30 regional styles with one I am going to call "Dog's hind leg".

So, I digress. My mission this week was to start a fire to clear the residual brash. Nic, Matt and Lewis were carrying on finishing off the hedge.

So, light a fire. A simple task you might think. The more observant of you may have noticed at the top of this rambling diary entry that I have given a bit more detail in the weather report than previous reports. I am getting my excuses in early here. The brash was wet... very wet.

After 4 and half hours... no fire! Not my finest hour or day for that matter. If there is such a thing as the Pyromaniacs society of which I would almost certainly be a member (There is a Facebook group for The Theological society for Pyromaniacs if you're interested... no... moving on then...), I would have been struck from their mailing list and my membership would have been terminated. The Fictional Arsonists Association would also not be impressed.

So a little dejected, I departed. I think Nic, Matt and Lewis had a very productive day by the way but the gods were not on my side. The lesson here is that things don't always go the way you expect when volunteering but there's always next week to look forward to.

Date: 24/02/21

Location: White Rocks

Volunteering Team: Ian (Nature Reserves Officer), Nic and myself

Weather: Wet under foot. Cloudy.

Mission: Continuing with coppicing an area to open up habitat

Still smarting from last week's abject failure in the fire lighting arena, I arrived at White rocks with enthusiasm renewed. White Rocks is a pretty little reserve near to Symonds Yat. The Reserve was once a land fill site but the land has recovered over the years to be a useful habitat for a broad spectrum of species (I am straying into Terra Incognita here and you the reader may think I do in fact have some floral/faunal knowledge.. Not so!)

Nic and Ian were on chainsaw duties. I was acting as Nic's gopher clearing brash to create natural 'boundary lines' of piled brash. Ian is working on the other side of the small coppice.

 I am missing the gym but the work is definitely keeping my fitness levels up. I look over at Ian who hardly seems to take breath as he fells hawthorn trees and saplings and stacks his own brash. The joy of youth!

 No fires permitted on this reserve. So, a saving grace for your narrator, Red Adair, here.

You can tell this fire thing is praying on my mind and at mid-morning break and lunch I berate Nic and Ian with my frustration. Much like you, dear reader are doing now, they are trying to appear a) interested and b) sympathetic (with phrases such as... "we've had a lot of rain" and "Tricky things fires") but to no avail. Men don't do sympathy well, especially to some neurotic pyromaniac.

Back to the coppicing and we are doing well. We pretty much finish off our coppicing duties and Ian and I set to felling some of the bigger Hawthorns, stacking the wood 'Jenga' style... mostly.

So job done. A much more rewarding day.

Date: 03/03/21

Location: Holywell Dingle

Volunteering Team: Lewis (Nature Reserves Officer), Nic and myself

Weather: Cloudy but drier than two weeks previously

Mission: Bonfire to clear brash!

I have returned to the scene of the crime (see 17/02/21), my Waterloo, my nemesis. The slightly charred, unburnt pile of brash stands like a brooding woody memorial to my shortcomings.

The making of fire goes back to the dawn of time. The knowledge of the triangle of fire (oxygen, fuel and ignition)  is endemically imprinted on the primitive brains of all humans. I obviously didn't get the memo.

However, this time Lewis is taking control of fire lighting. Result!! Nic has gone down the hill to collect Ash twigs (an excellent fire fuel), so everything is running like... well... a well-lit fire. What of our hero aka your diarist I hear you cry? Well I seem to be taking on a quasi-management role mainly because my very fingers still seem to be dripping with carbon dioxide and fire retardant.

Undaunted, the fire is lit and miracles of miracles... stays lit. All the brash is cleared and the reserve looks presentable once more. On my departure, the lady who lives in the cottage bordering the reserve complimented me... well us... on our work. If only she knew... but I take on the praise with due modesty.

10/03/21

Location: Common Hill

Volunteering Team: Pete J (Nature Reserves Officer) not to be confused with Pete T (Volunteer), Nic, Brian(Chair of Trustees) & Margaret (His wife) and myself.

Weather: Slightly cloudy but reasonably clement.

Mission: Bonfire to clear brash and coppicing!

I realise that bonfires are becoming a common theme (no pun intended) in this blog, but 'tis the time of year. Fortunately, there was a Tuesday group who started a fire and so I simply have to agitate the embers and hey presto!

The job is to clear a long section of fence line with over hanging hedge and drag to the bonfire, so plenty to do.

It's great to see the two Petes again. I haven't seen either for a while. In no way are they a double act but their presence buoys my joie de vivre in different ways.

 Peter T can send some well-deserved insults my way and Pete J can add to my repertoire of jokes.

We set to work, Nic and Pete are on chainsaw duty. The rest of us clear brash. Early into the morning I overhear Nic, Pete and Brian having a high-level discussion involving the trustees.

"Oh... are you involved with the Trustees, Brian?" I ask in all innocence.

"Brian is our Chair, Jeremy." Nic responds.

Some minutes previously I had narrowly missed swatting Margaret with a large piece of brash so I have managed to nearly injure Brian's partner and insult the Chair of Trustees all in less than 5 minutes. I'm doing well!

We clear a good section of brash but due to the length of the fencing run the fire is now some distance from the work area. Having cleared about half of the run, we call it quits. Plenty for Thursday group to do but they will need to set a new fire. I'm not on speed dial to provide this service apparently.

Summary

So dear reader, I hope this gives you a flavour of what I find enjoyable when being involved with the work party group. Although my rewards and contribution maybe less erudite than those perhaps enjoyed by others; being a work party volunteer is enjoyable, physical and worthwhile work with a group of likeminded people.