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| Update
- the year 2004 | Been
on a Green Team project in the past? Read updates from previous years - 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 |
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February 14-15th Muiravonside Country Park
February 22nd Craigmillar Castle Park
March
6-7th East Lothian Woodlands
March 21st Seafield
April 18th Dalkeith
Country Park
April 24-25th Carrifran
May
16th Gullane
June 20th Holyrood Park
July
25th Gorie City Farm
July 31st - August 7th Isle of Arran
August 22nd River Esk Musselburgh
October
24th Hermitage of Braid
February 14-15th Muiravonside Country Park
Our
first project of the year and luckily no snow to contend with. The team were working
at Muiravonside Country Park, near Linlithgow which is a new site for the Green
Team. The park is managed by the Falkirk Council Ranger service who were there
to greet the team and show them what work was to be done.
Our tasks were to clear the autumn leaves from the miles of footpaths, and collapse a recently dug tunnel of a badgers' sett. This may seem an unusual thing to do in the world of conservation, but our nocturnal friends had dug a tunnel which came out onto a dangerous forestry road, and the Rangers were concerned for the badgers' safety. The cold February earth made the task quite difficult but some progress was made. The team returned to the park in the evening to see if they could see any badgers snuffling around but were unlucky.
The project was certainly a success and we look forward to doing more work with the Rangers of Muiravonside.
Penny Radway, Green Team Manager
February 22nd Craigmillar Castle Park
On Sunday the 22nd February, a pleasantly sunny, but bitingly cold day, a group of around 15 Green Teamers met at the marvellous Craigmillar Castle Park. After everyone had arrived, some warm up and introduction games commenced. We played a personal favourite of mine called "gifts to the empty world" to introduce the team to each other, most of which were first timers to the Green Team.
After
a short, but incredibly crucial tool talk, we began the work of theday, which
was "beating up." This involves walking through the wonderful plantation
and finding any dead or burnt trees. These trees are removed, and new ones planted
in their place, complete with tree shelters to protect them from the rabbits,
and stakes to hold them up.
The beating continued for about an hour, and then the team stopped momentarily to embark on a wonderful picnic lunch surrounded by recently planted trees. After the relaxing lunch break, some more games were played, the best of which was the night-line, where we were blindfolded and followed a rope through the forest.
The team then did a bit more beating up of the plantation and covered quite an incredible area in the time given. The team gathered at the end of the day to conclude the project's most successful and influential events.
Johnny Agnew, participant.
March 6-7th East Lothian Woodlands
On
Saturday the team worked at Pishwanton Community Woodland, near Gifford, planting
a roadside hedge with a mixture of deciduous trees. The sun shone and we managed
to have a lovely tour of the site as well.
On Sunday we were working at John Muir Country Park outside Dunbar. Our task here was to remove sea buckthorn from the dunes. It is very spikey and spreads by undergrown runners so it is very hard to get rid of compeletely. We managed to clear an area of re-growth and still had time for some environmental art on the beach.
On Sunday 21st March the Green Team volunteered to help resurface the Spokes Cycle Path next to Seafield Road and the surprisingly pleasant smelling sewage works! I was one of around 20 people who turned up to help. We started the day with the usual name games but soon got onto the hard work. To start with we had to put some coarse gravel down as the base layer. Most of us ended up ferrying the gravel from one end of the path to the other with a lucky few at the far end spreading the stuff. Kindly the people laying the path the day before left the hill at the end to us….nice and kind of them! That lasted until lunchtime, punctuated by a nice long tea break. After a relaxing lunch, a chat about the John Muir Award and handing out of certificates to some people, it was back to work.
For
the second half of the day we had to put a fine gravely dust on top of the coarse
gravel. I was lucky and got a nice, less taxing job of shovelling the dust into
people's barrows. We managed to finish about halfway along the path after a lot
of hard work by everyone involved. The end of the day was spent down at the beach
having an art competition. Our group had to build a bike out of natural materials
while the second group had to build a Michelin Man pushing an Eiffel Tower on
wheels (a nice combo of ideas). Both groups made excellent masterpieces that have
been left for any art fanatics that happen to venture near.
Chris Filipiak, participant
April 18th Dalkeith Country Park
We
went to Dalkeith Country Park at 9.30. First we had a cup of tea and then
played the crow game in the rain (amusing). The first task was to take the protective
tubing off the trees, as they were too small for them. Then we used loppers and
bow saws to free the trees from ivy which was strangling them. After lunch we
cut down a huge rhododendron tree, then chopped off the branches and made a fire
of them. At the end
of the day we played another nature game and went on the adventure playground.
Marion Turner, participant.
April 24-25th Carrifran Valley
Having
finally found a driver for the minibus we set off for the Carrifran Valley. It
was quite a long drive but through very lovely scenery.
We were staying in the local village hall and stopped off there first for a drink and some biscuits. Then we went to the valley where we were planting trees to meet the man who would show us what to do. We carried the trees and spades up the valley a short way and set to planting.
We planted several hundred trees and also got to explore a bit of the valley. It was very hot all weekend and we had a great time.
Today the Green Team were helping to stop the dunes starting to move by planting spiky buckthorn on top to stop people walking on them and building fences near the entrance/exit path to keep people on the path. I started the day building the fence and we finished it by lunch.
After a nice lunch and a long jump contest we moved some buckthorn from the wrong places to the right ones on top of the dunes.A great day on the beach in scorching weather was had by all!
Today the Green Team visited Holyrood Park. We started the day pulling up a huge area of invading plants. After lunch we tried to get the graffiti off some of the rocks but it did not budge.After that we went to chop down nettles in the wildlife garden.
We went to Gorgie City Farm today to help renovate some of the paths in the wildlife garden. We started by pulling out all of the weeds on the paths and then after lunch we covered them in a layer of woodchip.
July 31st - August 7th Isle of Arran
This year's summer residential week was on the Isle of Arran and we all had a fantastic time. We had a calm ferry crossing and the weather was beautiful when we arrived. Our accommodation was a luxury bunkhouse called 'Shore Lodge' in the grounds of Brodick Castle and it was lovely. We settled in quickly.
Throughout
the week we carried out a variety of conservation tasks. We were rhododendron
bashing, cutting them down and burning the branches as they are very invasive.
Fence building filled two days, as we built the whole structure from scratch which
was quite exhausting but very satisfying when we saw our entirely finished fence.
We also spent a day taking down part of the old island-wide deer fence, as it
had been replaced by a new one and so needed removed. Our other task of the week
was clearing rocks and other obstructions from the drainage channels on the footpaths
up the slopes of Goat Fell, in order that water could drain away properly.
When
we weren't working we were still having fun, playing lots and lots and lots of
games! Cards, rounders, frisbee, and a variety of other random games and quizzes
kept us more than amused in the evenings. We also went to a pub quiz in Brodick
one night and went a midnight walk in the Castle grounds, where we learnt to listen
like a deer, walk like a fox and see like an owl. In the middle of the week we
had a day off work and went on a mystery tour of the island visiting the soap,
cheese and chocolate factories, as well as playing crazy golf in Brodick and walking
to the standing stones at Machrie Moor. On our last night we had a huge campfire
on the beach, making burn bowls, eating smores and toasted marshmallows.
Throughout the week we worked hard, and achieved lots but had great fun at the same time. We learnt so much that we didn't know about plants and animals and John Muir himself, and we were all presented with a Discovery Award at the end of the week. It was an absolutely wonderful week and I'm sure we'll never forget all we did and learned on Arran!
Laura Murray, participant
August 22nd River Esk, Musselburgh
At the River Esk in Musselburgh today we were helping chop down some Japanese knotweed that was invading the path and stopping the view to the river. We all chopped down a surprising amount considering we were only using 'slashers' (machetes on a long pole).
October 24th Hermitage of Braid
We assembled at Blackford Hill then walked up the hill with the tools, where the ranger showed us which trees were to go and how to fell a tree. After a tool talk, we split into groups and then - we chose our tree! We were cutting down sycamore which is not a native tree and takes over space so that other trees cannot grow. We chopped branches to reach the trunk, cut a groove and sawed from the other side. The groove makes the tree fall in the right direction.
Once we cut it down, we began the hard work of taking out the roots. It was a lot harder than we all thought it would be. The roots were deep and wide and we had to get the whole root out otherwise the tree would sprout again.
By the time we got the roots out it was lunchtime. After lunch we did some fun activities, then it was back to work. Luckily it had stopped raining. We managed one more tree but didn't get all the root because we ran out of time.
Then Michael was given his John Muir Discovery Award, followed by one more game called 'Crow and Buzzard' and then it was time to go home. The whole team managed to remove four trees, which was a great effort considering how tough the roots were!
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