Good News – Not much balsam bashing needed this year

Good News – Not much balsam bashing needed this year

by | Jul 31, 2020 | Volunteering

Having walked the areas where we usually need to do balsam clearance, we found very few plants this year. The conservation volunteer leaders Judy and Keith, socially distancing with Roger decided that we could clear the offending plants in one session without involving anyone else. We duly visited the sites at Wooburn, Glory Mill and the Rye and collected about 20 balsam plants in all.

On Kingsmead, where we normally have a big battle, the wetland area still has river running through it and this has stopped the balsam and the nettles from growing. There is usually a group of balsam plants on the opposite bank, but this is now being looked after by the owners and has no sign of balsam.   This year it looks as if we’re winning !

 

River Wye Conservation Volunteers at Holywell Mead

River Wye Conservation Volunteers at Holywell Mead

by | Nov 19, 2019 | Volunteering

Just after work was started we remembered to take a ‘before’ photo !

Eleven River Wye Conservation Volunteers met today in the wetland area of Holywell Mead to clear vegetation and pull nettles. The result was an area cleared for the Spring emergence of native plants which we are encouraging to develop in the area. The nettle pulling was greatly helped by all the rain and river overflow that we have had recently. Volunteers were encouraged in their efforts by the provision of coffee and shortbread to keep them going, and the result was a clear area and four big piles of vegetation which WDC will collect later in the week.

Almost Finished

 

The ‘after’ photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clean Up of the Back Stream in Loudwater by Revive the Wye and other Volunteers

Clean Up of the Back Stream in Loudwater by Revive the Wye and other Volunteers

by | Nov 22, 2018 | Volunteering

Revive the Wye volunteers have just been joined by volunteers from  Loudwater Forum and St Peter’s Church in tasks on 8th, 10th and 17th November to improve the back stream alongside Kingsmead Road, and the Wye within boundary park. around 50 volunteers were involved over the three half day tasks.
The work was very labour intensive.  Some  involved removing vegetation – mainly brambles to reveal the fence beside the road and give views of the river. Other people worked in the river which was fast flowing in places and deep with a very silty unstable bed.  Two of the experienced river workers managed to each get a wader full of water during their efforts. The banks were steep and river vegetation had to be handed up through cut channels to volunteers who then had to remove it quite a distance to the rubbish pile.

Thanks go to all those involved, including Chepping Wycombe Parish Council which made this work possible by agreeing to fund the removal of the green and other waste generated by the task following its completion.

Balsam bashing 2018

by | Aug 26, 2018 | Volunteering

We’d like to thank all the  RtW volunteers who helped with this year’s balsam bashing tasks.

Ten sites were identified this year where Indian Balsam plants were growing and could be accessed, and we had a very good response from our volunteers when we suggested 10 possible work party dates in August.  In the end, it took six tasks to get through all the work.
We are definitely making good progress in our aim of eradicating the plants from the river banks where we have access. There were only a few plants on the Rye, in Wye Dene and at Boundary Park this year, and the number of plants at Kingsmead and in Wooburn Town was much lower than in previous years. The number of plants removed between Cores End and Wooburn Town, and between Holtspur Lane and Glory Mill Lane was similar to last year, and the number of plants in Wooburn Park had increased. Two new sites, one at Glory Park and one at Knaves Beech were included in this year’s programme.

Good News – Not much balsam bashing needed this year

Days and days of balsam bashing

by | Aug 18, 2017 | Volunteering

Over the last few years we have succeeded in removing vast swathes of Indian balsam from the river banks mostly on WDC land, all the way from the Fire Station to Wooburn. Every year there are smaller and smaller patches of new growth, all in difficult to reach places. Because of the danger of working in deep water and awkward places, we have not been able to run ‘balsam bashing’ volunteer days. Instead, two of our Volunteer work party leaders and an enthusiastic volunteer who is used to working (fishing) in deep water, and in one case a Wycombe Wildlife Group member, have spent many days clearing all the reported patches.

The following areas have been cleared:

July 16th  The Rye
July 24th  Wye Dean, Pizza Hut, Bucks Free Press, Boundary Park, Glory Mill
to Holtspur
July 25th  Wooburn Park, Wooburn Town
July 29th  Kingsmead, Wooburn Park
July 31st  Kingsmead

River improvements at Bourne End

by | Mar 23, 2016 | Project, Volunteering

The Chilterns Chalk Streams Project in partnership with Chiltern Rangers CIC, the Environment Agency and a hardy bunch of volunteers completed work to improve habitat along a 150m long section of the river adjacent to Bourne End Recreation Ground in March.

The river at this location had become degraded through past management practices which had led to it becoming straightened, over-wide and heavily shaded by bankside trees. As a result the river lacked the habitat features normally associated with healthy chalk streams.

To address this, the CCSP working with partners under the banner of Revive the Wye, a local community initiative dedicated to improving the condition of the river, developed a plan to restore the river for the benefit of fish and other wildlife.

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