Creating line of sight
The fencing project with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust continued with final clearance of scrub between the two tensioning posts at the top of the field, which are 100m apart.
The idea is that we need a dead straight line between the tensioning post in the middle and the two ends. There is a slight direction change at that middle point into the field.
We want to leave at least a 1m clearance on the other side of the fence. That will allow easier construction and also make maintenance of the scrub on the other side a bit more manageable.
We cut a few more branches and bushes that were in the way, and continued to stack up the dead hedge which is back in the mature tree line. We pretty much have a 100m line of dead hedge now, which will make great habitat for hedgehogs and other species.
We also managed to start ramming in the intermediate fence posts 3m apart. There are 90 more to do, but now the area is clear, it should be relatively straightforward to progress that part of the project.
I also took a look at the nearby wildlife pond, which we worked on last year. There was still water in it, although frozen over. But importantly, you could see the surface was bathed in light, which is important to encourage the aquatic vegetation. The dead hedge and stock proof fence was also still firmly in place so hopefully that will scrub over more this year and hide the pond from view.
