Woodland Conservation
- Oxleas Volunteers
- Jun 30
- 2 min read
Friday, 20th June 2025
Castle Wood Meadow
An evening walk in Castle Wood Meadow this week showed it off in its full beauty, with a varied selection of grasses swaying in the breeze, a range of wildflowers poking through the dry earth and beginning to establish themselves, plus a scrub area at the top providing both habitat and food sources for wildlife. None of this is an accident, however, as all habitats need managing and our team of volunteers have spent many hours here over the last few months.
What a very hot, humid day it was for our latest Friday, Woodland Conservation Session. Our twelve volunteers returned for our final visit of the summer, and were split into three groups, the first making sure we have prepared the meadow itself (as much as possible) for its upcoming mow in September. Fingers crossed that we won’t have to carry out any more clipping of woody material before that date.
The Eastern tarmac pathway
A second group worked in a little more shade, perhaps, and a further 100 metres or so of footpath has now been reclaimed. Not only has the path been widened, meaning visitors can now comfortably walk two abreast without eroding the meadow edge itself, but also beneath the half metre plus of cleared vegetation covering the path, we uncovered a drain/manhole cover! Perhaps this will save someone a great deal of searching in the future!
A drain was revealed
The Dilapidated and Overgrown Formal Beds
A third group focused their attentions on what used to be the formal beds and pathways which provided a gentle route among the shrubbery up to the rose gardens. Here our volunteers removed two large dead branches which were growing across the pathway, hampering movement. Meanwhile, others cleared large amounts of earth from around the dilapidated circular bed and took preventative measures to stop further mud cascading down. Access has now been much improved for walkers.
What next?
While there is still a huge amount of restoration work to be carried out in this area, it will now have to wait another year as we turn our attentions to other areas, as much in need of management as this one. Great work, team!
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