Overgrown and rotten
So what was it that made this a first? a hot sunny day – no we have had some of those before; dry ground conditions – no that too has happened before. Perhaps it was all the team working hard? No they are a very hard working group! You will have to read on to find out what made this session slightly different.
Keen to start!
The team of Paul, Richard, Neil and Keith met up at The Green Man and headed up to Dayhills to replace a very tired stile. The day was promising to be very hot but fortunately the stile was under the shade of some elder trees so working conditions were comfortable.
The old stile was quickly removed (it was quite rotten below ground) and the old wire cut off and folded back. The position for the stile posts was then marked out using a template recently constructed using a design supplied by Neil, our project manager.
Marking the hole positions
Digging of the seven 800 mm deep holes (or 2 foot 6 inches to us oldies) then commenced while the stile and dog gate were prefabricated ready for dropping in to the holes.
The ground was a mixture of stones and clay and quite dry near the surface so progress was slow, made worse by the bottom of an old oak stile post which did not want to come out. We also broke one of our two digging spades, it had survived our abuse for the last 4 years but finally gave up.
Keith supervising operations!
Keith leaning on the new stile while Neil works hard!
Once the stile was fixed in place we fixed new stock fencing across to make sure any lambs could not get through the stile and then proceeded to install the steps. Direction signs were attached, the dog gate finished and all that remained was to make good the wire fencing to the next post in the corner. Then clear up the tools and off to a well deserved pint in the Green Man.
Richard, Neil and Keith inspecting the finished job
All the fencing made good
Paul, Richard and Keith
So what made this session different? Neil was digging a hole and suddenly stopped. He said there was a creature at the bottom of the hole. When he finally managed to catch it, it proved to be a field mouse which ran off into the bushes.
Our second field mouse
On starting work following a break for coffee, Richard also noticed a second mouse (or the same one foolish enough to fall in again) in the bottom of a different hole which he was about to make deeper. Once again catching it proved very difficult and eventually it virtually ran up Richard’s arm and off into the bushes. So now we need to check every hole for wildlife before digging.
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