SPRING ARRIVES IN THREE CORNERED COPSE

Anyone who has visited Three Cornered Copse in the past week or so will have noticed that a green carpet has been laid through the woodland recently, lining the worn paths and covering the mud and rotting leaves of the forest floor.

It is, of course, the beginning of the season of cow parsley, where this ubiquitous plant shoots up within a week or two and dominates the copse before the trees come into leaf and prevent the light reaching these hungry plants. It's one of the welcome signs that Spring has arrived after a cold, wet Winter this year.

Another sign is the deafening cacophony of birdlife which can be heard. I recommend a walk shortly after day break. Last week, within 5 minutes, I had spotted 12 or so different varieties darting through the foliage-free trees above.

It's also pleasing to see that our 400 or no hedge-whips are coming into bud. We planted these in the deepest winter, and it looks like all have started to take root and thrive, helped by the stakes and collars we installed to help them get going. One or two of the collars have been liberated by some passing fingers, but the majority remain and we're looking forward to seeing the hedge begin to form over the coming months.

Another week, and another workday has gone by. This time the team spent some time building a habitat hedge, by collecting the fallen branches and weaving them into a low fence which insects and birds can use, held in place by a few strong stakes. We also cleared the adventurous bramble creepers that slide across the recently cleared areas at the edge of the woods, ready for mowing. And of course, we also picked up some litter. It appears that the council have spotted our recent litter picking activities, and have launched a scheme called "Tidy Up Team" (details on the council website). This will be aimed at our green spaces to collect the plastics and litter that is dropped. This is a genuine encouragement for people to give up spare time and attend a training session on how to use the various tools that would be provided, (presumably, a litter picker and a plastic bag), before being let loose on the parks and verges of our city. Anyone from the Tidy Up Team is welcome to join our workdays, (or anyone not in the team, too).

Details on our website: http://www.threecorneredcopse.org.uk/

Simon Baxendale