Dry Sandford Pit, Saturday April 29th 2023

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 This weeks' blog was written by Eleanor D

This Saturday we were at Dry Sandford Pit, which is managed by BBOWT. Our tasks were to widen a path to be used by the stock trailer by cutting back the encroaching vegetation, mostly brambles and briars, to clear a corner by the cliff face next to a gate and to cut runnels in the fen.

Most people went to do the first task, while Kevin and Philip tackled the second, which required using the tree popper, and Jim set to work on the fen with his scythe.

Break time was fine and warm and we enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine. After the break some people went to rake up the vegetation the Kevin and Philip had cut. There was also a lot of clearing to be done on the fen where Jim had been scything, but unfortunately only one person volunteered for that task so it remained unfinished.

The fen is a rare habitat, so BBOWT tries to discourage the public, particularly dog walkers, from accessing it. We have helped to do this by constructing barriers of branches across the most obvious access points. 


scything the low levels at the start of the path

clearing vegetation higher up


hard at work





tea time in the sun for some

tea time in  the shade for the others

announcements for next weeks activity

hard at work after tea


next bit to do!

the end results

plenty of room now for the trailer

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