Painswick stream woodland

Met up with Stroud Valleys Project to the complete the wet woodland which we started on Monday. There were more of us today and about 250 more trees to plant in the same area.

We were joined by a film crew who are producing a national documentary about trees which will be released in about a years time. I was interviewed for it, but who knows if that will stay on the cutting room floor.

It was a crisp, clear day with amazing light. But so very cold on the feet. I had three pairs of socks in my wellies, but still couldn’t feel them after about half an hour.

We quickly spread out and the bulk of the work was done before the morning tea break.

The Painswick stream is home to the threatened White-clawed crayfish which is under threat from porcelain disease, caused by the Thelohania contejeani fungus carried by the invasive American signal crayfish. It is devastating to the native crayfish population, so we carried out biosecurity measures on our boots to make sure spores are not brought in from other places to this stream.

By the time we broke for lunch around 1.15pm, we only had 10 guards left, which limited the amount of work we could do after.