On Wednesday 23rd September Hazel Hill Wood hosted a group of 6 volunteers from Lloyds Banking Group in Andover. As part of the company corporate responsibility scheme, each employee is given a day or more to volunteer time working with local groups and charities.
Our day began with an introduction to the Hazel Hill Trust and an essential cuppa before the set about learning how to construct a fence. They dug in two strainer posts by hand using a variety of tools such as a drain spade (or Spit spade, an old term used in gardening: Spit: meaning the measurement of the spades depth!) to dig the hole, a post hole digger to get out the loose soil, a fencing tamper to whack down the soil and rubble used to secure the strainer post and a post hole driver, a very heavy tool for driving in the intermediate posts. The hard grafters managed to dig in 2 strainer posts and drive in 10 intermediate posts….all before lunch!
We had a lunch break and in the afternoon worked on tree thinning an area of Birch. Jason, director of J Turner Forestry joined us and informed the group that cutting down some trees is an essential part of woodland management. The area where we were working was overrun with Birch so we took out the smallest trees. This allows light to enter for other plants to grow, providing food and shelter for the wildlife, and to allow the natural re-generation of other trees, such as oak and hazel, which are already growing there.
To finish their day the group from Lloyds had a tour of the facilities at the wood, including the famous ‘Ark’!
Lloyds have kindly donated £140 worth of new tools for Hazel Hill Trust and we greatly enjoyed having them join us for some brilliant conservation work.
For more information on Corporate Conservation Days please contact marcos@wellspringchange.com