FoPV Work Morning Roundup - Thursday 13th November 2025

Hello Conservation Volunteers

Wow, what a great turnout for our latest work morning around Forge Dam - it might be easier to write about what we didn't do, but here goes - apologies if I miss anything out to those who took part!

Our main task was to tackle the steep patch of bare earth down the side of the slide with some low maintenance ground plants and sow wildflower seeds. To this end the Parks team of Andy, Darron and Luke were to bring in some topsoil, however, things never go quite to plan. When they turned up at the Botanical Gardens to collect some, they found the 20-tonne pile was blocked in by all the equipment from the previous weekend's firework event so couldn't be dug out! (Probably just as well with the deluge which came down the following day, the soil might have ended up being washed away downstream!)

The rest of the plan went a little smoother, with the main group of volunteers getting down to split out geraniums from the flowerbed opposite which were to be re-planted on the bank, as well as giving the area a good tidy up at the same time with some weeding and thinning out. John G had also brought in some approved plants from home to supplement the geraniums and the Parks team set about planting everything in the bank. The yew tree was also trimmed and for a final hurrah the two little dry stone raised beds by the store were rebuilt and weeded.

The post and rope fencing along the driveway needed some attention and the four girls from IQVIA who were on their work's annual volunteering day with us quickly jumped in to do that along with Dave C on the entrance end, with another group tackling the end near the cafe. Not a straightforward task as the rope had to be unthreaded, broken posts removed and the new ones drilled, knocked in and finally the rope rethreaded. The IQVIA girls seemed to be in their element!

Mandy, Rowena and Helena meanwhile took to sweeping up the leaves, mud and debris in the playground to leave it spick and span ready for the little ones.

At the top of the slide above the railings, Mike with a team of Charles, Marcus, Chris S and Martin were installing some of the leftover plastic grids that had been previously removed from the cafe sit out area. The plan here was to fill in the gaps underneath the railings which had been "excavated " a little by the little ones(!) allowing them to climb underneath, plus, it was not helping with the soil erosion in this area with water diverted down these cuttings. After digging out the team buried the grids and created a raised bund to hopefully divert rain run-off water away instead of down the bank. Finally, it was all covered in leaves - nobody would know it had been touched!

With all that going off, a couple of us removed some self-sets growing near the playground and also on the south bank of the dam to prevent damage to the dam wall. Next to tackle was the drainage ditch by the path on the west side of the dam which clogs up with mud and leaves. Water coming out of the Wet Woodland then overflows onto the path, which at this time of year becomes a thick wet mass of slippery leaves, and then freezes making it even worse to walk on. The full length of the west side path was cleared.

Mandy the baker had been busy again and provided some delicious date bakes, and with renewed energy both her and Rowena decided the laurel near the cafe needed a good trim!

The final task of the day was for Rebecca, John and Marcus to scatter the woodland seed mix over the newly planted bank. As usual whenever we do any seed scattering, we have torrential day the day after - hopefully some will have stuck in the soil on the bank, but at least the transplanted plants will have a good watering in! (see the seed mix below)

A massive thank you to everybody who came along and helped make a real difference.

The next work morning is on Tuesday 25th November. An email will be sent out nearer the time with details.

Lyndon

A Selection of photos from the work morning

Getting ready to start, rope being untied on the fence

Rope undone with some new posts installed. Ian can be seen carrying the post rammer up to the entrance end for the girls with other volunteers gardening

IQVIA girls in action! Julia drilling whilst Nicola looks on with Dave C giving words of encouragement!

....and knocking a post in with the post rammer

Dave with the IQVIA girls - Sarah, Nicola, Jill and Julia

The playground before clearing

Mandy and Rowena clearing leaves in the playground

....and after clearing (you've missed a few leaves ladies!)

Charles, Marcus, Martin and Chris S preparing to install the plastic grids....

....and all installed and covered with leaves. The raised bund to divert run-off can be seen

Playground clearing, railings team and Parks team all in action!

Rebecca in action clearing the path and drainage ditch

The cleared path and drainage ditch

Laurel before....

....and after a trim by Mandy and Rowena

Rebecca, John G and Marcus scattering the wildflower seeds

And finally....looking up the driveway at the end of the morning

Woodland Seed Mix

Latin Name	English Name	Mix Composition
Agrimonia eupatoria	Common Agrimony	5%
Alliaria petiolata	Garlic Mustard	8%
Allium ursinum	Ramsons/ Wild Garlic	3%
Angelica sylvestris	Wild Angelica	5%
Campanula trachelium	Nettle Leaved Bellflower	3%
Digitalis purpurea	Wild Foxglove	5%
Filipendula ulmaria	Meadowsweet	5%
Galium mollugo	Hedge Bedstraw	5%
Geranium robertanianum	Herb Robert	0.5%
Geum urbanum	Wood Avens	7%
Hyacinthoides non-scripta	English Bluebell	12%
Hypericum hirsutum	Hairy St. John’s Wort	3%
Primula vulgaris	Wild Primrose	1%
Prunella vulgaris	Self Heal	8%
Silene dioica	Red Campion	7.5%
Stachys officinalis	Betony	5%
Stachys sylvatica	Hedge Woundwort	8%
Teucrium scorodonia	Wood Sage	5%
Torilis japonica	Upright Hedge Parsley	4%
19 Wildflower species		100%