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 Clearing scrub from the valley side to preserve the limestone grassland
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 Without intervention the whole valley side would progress to woodland...
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 ... and the rare grassland flora would be lost
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 Some of the scrub is burnt...
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 ... and some is dragged to the woodland to make a brash pile
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 Most of the scrub has now been cut back...
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 ... and the grassland preserved for a few years, until the scrub grows back
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 Stapling on the netting
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 The sleeper walkway is important at Chilswell because the ground is very boggy
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 The task today is to renew the walkway, which has slipped over the years
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 This involves moving the heavy sleepers, and lots of mud
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 Each pair of sleepers sits on a cross-piece, which needs to be horizontal
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 Essential ingredients for getting the cross-pieces horizontal: Mud, spirit level, sledgehammer.
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 Once the sleepers are in place they are covered with a new non-slip surface (chicken wire)
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 Lots of hammering ensues.
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 We also dug drainage channels under the walkway, to keep the path dry
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 A finished section of sleeper walkway
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 The little Valley Spirit urging us on, on sending us away
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 A well-behaved volunteer demonstrating how to safely carry loppers
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 The extreme conditions in which we work sometimes
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 The view towards Oxford
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