Conservation volunteering, Dacres Wood tomorrow, Tues 25th

Tomorrow morning, I and some other volunteers will be doing some conservation work at Dacres Wood Nature Reserve, including using the rubber dinghy so kindly given us by @Anotherjohn to clear duckweed from the deep end of the pond

Apart from that we’ll be pulling more reeds out of the pond, maybe digging out some brambles,clearing litter. Come along at 9.30 if you want to help, and I’ll go through the health and safety stuff and / or contact me by PM here or the contact form on our website

if you are interested in this or any other way to help.

BTW, we’re having our July Open Day this coming Saturday, 1.00 to 4.00 pm - I’ll post about that later

Photos of Tim in the dingy please!

Or me emerging covered in green slime after I capsize? I’ve offered that one to @pattrembath for the Sydenham Society Autumn newsletter!

As requested

The idea was to paddle round as large a loop as possible, encircling the duckweed, trailing a boom, made from some thickish nylon rope, supported at intervals by floats, made from half filled 500ml plastic water bottles with a waist, where the rope could be tied round with a clove hitch. (I wasn’t in the scouts for nothing!) Then, back at the landing stage, we gently pulled in the boom, bringing in the floating weed You can see this working with some clear water behind the curve of the boom in the third picture here. The pretty solid duckweed sludge brought in could then be scooped out by hand, although a colander we found lying around was more effective. In either case, we ended up fairly wet, and covered in weed, even though neither of us fell in.

However, there is still plenty to get rid off, and we’ll be repeating the operation during our Open Day this coming Saturday afternoon, 1.00 to 4.00 pm. I think the boom could do with some more floats, so I’ll be looking out some more drinks bottles. A light rake to help bring the weed in would also be helpful, and maybe another colander, if we have more volunteers helping.

Lots of fun, and a big thank you to @Anotherjohn for making it possible!

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