FoPV Work Morning Roundup - Thursday 10th July 2025

Lyndon
Jul 14
2 min read

Hello Conservation Volunteers

It was a bit of more of the same for our latest work working, balsam pulling and preparation/painting of railings!

At the top of the slide at Forge Dam the painting crew were back at work on the railings. As any DIYer knows, preparation is the time consuming and worst part of decorating (as well as cleaning up and washing brushes!) and it's no different on the railings with the crew back scraping off the old flaky white paint in readiness for painting. They are doing a thorough job ensuring it is correctly prepared, and this week having almost completed the preparation have started to apply a coat of red primer (who washed the brushes out!). It will soon be ready for its final coat of special green paint.....

Himalayan balsam pulling is a perennial summer job to keep it under control otherwise the valley will slowly start to be covered in tall plants with pink flowers (just look further down the Sheaf and Don!). We've had both the Fulwood Explorer Scouts and Scouts having a go the previous week but there is still more to pull, mainly in the Wet Woodland. We are now further up in the less boggy area where plants are in clumps usually within a patch of brambles making it harder to reach.

A couple of volunteers concentrated on the area around the river where clumps and individual plants had grown in some unusual places. Where debris had washed down in the floods and been caught up in exposed tree roots, balsam was found growing in the leaf and mud debris above ground level. In one area a clump was found unexpectedly high up on the riverbank.

Linda, Barbara and Helena ventured downstream of Forge Dam on the lookout for any balsam which had taken root, and once spotted Barbara and Helena climbed down the banks, crossing the river if necessary to pull them out. Apparently neither had wellies on so must have had wet feet! They eventually made their way down to the crossing at Whiteley Woods removing any balsam on the way.

Many thanks to everybody who came to help and also to Mandy for providing the walnut coffee squares - delicious as usual!

We also shouldn't forget our volunteers who cannot make every work morning but are always on the lookout and pulling balsam when they spot it, finding loads at Ibbotson Dam and a huge one in flower by the stepping stones in Endclifffe Park!

The next work morning is on Tuesday 22nd July. An email will be sent out nearer the time with details.

Lyndon

A Selection of photos from the work morning

Ted, Dave and Emma scaping off the old paint