Monday, June 11, 2007

Otter Heaven at Fordhall

Another brilliant volunteer weekend at Fordhall Farm with the sun shining and the enthusiasm bubbling. A huge list of jobs was proposed on Saturday morning and with grim determination and a healthy slice of team work the list quickly diminished.

Aside from clearing nettles, pruning hedges and moving log piles, there were two main activities: Coppicing to create a round house and other educational games; Building an otter holt. Starting with the first of these, Helen Howes taught volunteers how to coppice and worked together to start building an exciting roundhouse which can be used for school groups. Other educational tools that were created over the weekend included shopping baskets, orienteering disks and butterfly nets.



Now onto the otter holt. Hindered by the marshy area that logs were being carried over, the team worked amazingly well to persevere and create the perfect otter holt. The activitiy was led by Cindy Joule who rallied everyone together and filled them with interesting facts. After such hard work, volunteers jumped into the River Tern to cool off and revitalise.



Sunday 10th was also National Open Farm Sunday and there were educational games and information for all visitors available. The BBQ was popular!

All the work was in preparation for the Family Fun Day on July 1st. A tremendous amount was finished, especially considering the heat. The weekend booked up far in advance so please reserve your space for future weekends as soon as possible to avoid disapointment. Check out the events page at www.fordhallfarm.com for more information.
Perfect timing - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1917951.ece for more information about increasing numbers of otters (June 12th)!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for filling us full of good country air, working muscles that haven't been
tested for a while, and giving us the most delicious food to eat. The
whole weekend was the biggest pleasure to be part of, and I hope that
various structures don't fall down within a couple of weeks !

I thought, as I was hacking at grass by the pigs that it would all be grown
again in a week, so I hugely admire the stamina that keeps you all going.
What you are doing is such a good thing, and gives so much pleasure to so
many people, and we applaud you !

All the best,
Kerry, Hodder and Stoughton Publishing.