Your correspondent did not tell the team, but it was his birthday today! And it was marked with excellent weather.
We met at the Slabbering Baby entrance to the woods where Mary and Chris loaded up with litter picking paraphernalia and went off to clear rubbish – removing several bags of rubbish and a bicycle.
The Buck Stone: March 2012
The rest of us went off to the Buck Stone – a land mark shown on maps two hundred and fifty years ago. When we first worked on the Buck Stone, five years ago, it was completely obscured by an oak tree which we removed as far as we could. The stump of the tree still survives at the Eastern end of the Buck Stone and every year it sends out shoots which we remove.
Working on the remains of the oak tree
Our task today was to remove as much of the remaining branches and stump as we could, to pick up litter in the surrounding area, and to remove as much vegetation from around the base of the Buck Stone as possible.
It was a glorious morning, working to the sound of robins, chiff chaffs, wrens and great tits.
The remaining branches of the oak tree are all
Success!
rather thick and tough to remove using bow saws. The branch that can be seen sticking up to the right of David in the photograph, is a branch which we had tried to saw through on at least two previous occasions. Fortunately, persistent effort paid off and today we were able to complete the task – though we still have some mighty branches to remove. The team set to work on the next branch, but despite our best efforts – including in the end desperate efforts with an electric drill – this branch remains as solid as ever, even though we got three quarters of the way through it.
While all the sawing was going on, Brian was carefully removing grass and weeds from the Buck Stone, others were digging up brambles and other plants from around the base, and yet other members of the team were clearing brambles from nearby paths and picking up litter. It is clear from the sweet wrappers we uncovered that the original ground level around the Buck Stone was at one time rather lower than it is now.
Climbing to the summit of the Buck Stone, you find that it is a great place to sit and contemplate the world.
All in all, a very happy and successful morning, and a great way to start your correspondent’s birthday celebrations.
Friends of Adel Woods 