FoPV Work Morning Roundup - Tuesday 27th October 2026

6 days ago

3 min read

Hello Conservation Volunteers

With all the recent storms it was looking a little ominous for our upcoming work morning in Endcliffe Park, but fortunately it was a bright, sunny and calm morning where we were working with the Parks team and Councillor Peter Gilbert to create another wildflower bed along the railings on Rustlings Road. Another 30m x 3m strip a little further along from the area we did last year had been identified for this second area.

When we arrived Andy and his Park team were already at work using the mechanical turf cutter to cut the turf into strips.

(Question - how many of the Parks team does it take to use the turf cutter? Answer in the photos! To be fair the bank is a tad steep)

Once the turf had been cut it was time for our volunteers to start removing the turf. Whether it was the fact the turf was wetter or appeared to be a thinner cut than last year, but instead of being able to split into a reasonable length for rolling up it was breaking up into pieces which were loaded into the two Parks 4x4 Gator vehicles.

Down by the riverside a bare area had been identified earlier to put the cut turf and Hugh and Chris "volunteered"(!) to stay there to receive the turf being delivered by the Gators. Once unloaded they then had to distribute and lay it out.

Unfortunately, the turf cutter had struggled on the bank, and the top section had not been fully cut which needed digging out and required a bit more effort.

Once all the turf had been removed it was the turn of the rotavator. (Guess how many of the Parks team it takes to use it?!)

After that it was time for a break. Hugh and Chris rejoined us which was fortunate as Hugh had brought a selection of chocolate and plain digestive biscuits, and we all went for a coffee at the cafe.

After the break it was back to the wildflower bed to rake it all over ready for the next stage sowing, and our volunteers had now completed their work.

It was now ready for Gerry Firkins and Peter to take over....

Gerry had measured out a selection of 24 different wildflower seeds into containers for each 3m wide strip i.e. 10 in total. It was at this point we found that only 22m had been cut out and not 30m! (Presumably the turf cutters had had enough!). So, instead of 10 x 3m strips ready for sowing, 10 x 2.2m strips were marked out, and Gerry had to adjust his containers accordingly.

Peter had arranged for local children to come down to sow the seeds and a group of tiny tots from NEST also enjoyed Peter's talk about Gerry being a botanist.

Once they'd all sown the seeds the Parks team raked it all over and it was ready for nature to take its course....

Many thanks to everybody who came along - the FoPV volunteers, Andy and his Parks team, Gerry, Peter, and not forgetting the children to help create this second wildflower strip.

The next work morning is on Thursday 12th November. An email will be sent out nearer the time with details.

Lyndon

A Selection of photos from the work morning

Two men at work turf cutting on the steep bank!