Friends of Dalby Forest

Volunteering in the Great Yorkshire Forest


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Wellies intact

What a beautiful sunny morning in the forest. We were at one of the forest’s SSSIs, removing dead grass and thatch (combing and raking by hand not cutting!) to assist with the management of this sensitive and waterlogged area. Not sure you can see a huge difference in the before and after shots, but the pile at the end gives you an idea! Now the ponies, who are also being used to graze the area, will have better access.

A satisfying task and one which we will return to later in the year. And we all managed not to lose our wellies – although it came perilously close at some points!


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Praying for rain (sorry, bad timing)

Beautiful morning in the sun making a new turtle dove drinking pool (see why we are doing this here). We are now praying for rain (sorry everyone, bad timing given how much rain we’ve had in these parts for the last few months!) so it can fill up before the doves start to arrive in a month or so!

Rob is not that short really, just ably demonstrating how deep the pool has to be!

Group photo standing in the sandy hole created to make the pool. The person in the centre is considerably lower than the others around him!


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Not the driest work task…

It’s not been the driest of task days today… but 👏👏 to the 6 volunteers who turned out his morning.

We were clearing up the springheads area (Dalby’s water supply) and removing the build up of leaf litter in the compound.

The before and after photos don’t really do the task justice but we also show the spoil heap with Jim for scale! It was a satisfying task which despite the low turnout we pretty much completed. Thank you to the Courtyard Cafe for the very much appreciated hot drinks at breaktime!


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The one with the steaming beck

Smiling faces and a super start to the year with a great turnout to our first task – the usual taming and haircut of the willow in the playpark. We think you can see the difference! We welcomed new volunteers Sue and Emily as well.

It was frosty first thing and the beck steamed as the sun rose higher.


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There is a view…honest

Quite a misty morning in the forest today. We were clearing some renegeneration to make the most of the views from Jerry Noddle – some new volunteers took some convincing there was a view at all. It did start to clear up after every one had left of course!

The pretty fossil was a lucky spot.


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FodF in the jungle!

There were a lot of very hot and sticky FoDFers at the work task this morning!

We were removing sycamore regeneration from a wet woodland site that is designated an SSSI (because of a beautiful little snail). Thankfully we were under the tree canopy although the dense undergrowth added to the jungle feel. Definitely one of the sweatiest tasks we’ve ever done!


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Yet another drinking pool for turtle doves

It was a split work task this morning so while some were at the forest garden where lots of changes are afoot, a further party was creating another turtle dove drinking pool. The ground was hard and stony to dig through, so was a great effort by everyone including 3 new volunteers, who we hope are happy to return next month!


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Changes afoot in the Forest Garden

Thanks to everyone for coming along to July’s work task at the forest garden. We got lots done and some changes afoot.

We are grateful to Jim who is going to be tending the space much more regularly but we’re happy to bring the extra pairs of hands / muscle / big guns every once in a while!

Before
After