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 Start of the day. Lots of overhanging elder and hawthorn branches.
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 After.
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 Herding sheep.
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 Pole saws in use for cutting overhanging branches.
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 Tree poppers for removing scrub by the roots.
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 Volunteers in action
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 Drive-All best practice
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 Figures in the Landscape….
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 Digging out dogwood
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 Marjoram among the dogwood made for a constant herbal perfume.
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 A previously cleared thicket of dogwood now being colonised by marjoram
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 Before.
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 After
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 Group photo. Great job everyone!
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 First post of the day
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 Tim H. at work on the second post of the day
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 Tim B. and Steph at work on the third post of the day
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 Biscuits!
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 Popping at the bottom of Bald Hill
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 Root of the Day
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 Note the fenced juniper copse top left
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 The tea paraphernalia, with Dan's excellent chocolate and pecan brownies bottom right
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 Morning work. Everyone busy popping hawthorn.
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 John with a large hawthorn root.
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 George laying scrub along the edge of a hawthorn cluster. This encourages thickening lower down the tree and is thus more favourable for birds to nest in.
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 Profile of the laid scrub.
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 End of the day.
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 Before
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 After.
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 Sheep eating from our scrub pile.
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 Morning work.
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 Work site.
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 Lunch time aerobatic display for our OCV volunteers.
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 Burning scrub.
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 Well done everyone!
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 Panorama of work site.
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 Tim starting our first bonfire this autumn.
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 Helping clear up the site of the fallen ash tree.
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 Repairing the barbed wire fence.
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 Hawthorn sapling removal.
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 Herding sheep.
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 Before. Lots of dogwood.
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 Tree poppers in use.
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 Root of the day pulled by OCV's Phil Hunter.
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 Nearly there...
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 End of the day. Great job all!
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 Dark green fratillary
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 Viper's-bugloss
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 The holloway we were working on, an important habitat and beautiful spot on te reserve. Holloways were tracks created by long use driving livestock across country to markets.
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 Tree poppers and loppers, tools of the day.
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 Scrub is bagged and moved off the grassland to build habitat piles.
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 Wildflowers in bloom.
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 Horseshoe vetch (Hippocrepis comosa) found across the holloway is important for Chalkhill and Adonis Blue butterflies.
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 Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria)
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 Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)
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 Cleared bank.
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 Pollarded ash. Branches removed becuse ash die back can result in them dropping dead branches
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 Close up shows slits cut into the trunk for bats to roost in
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 Cut branches being processed
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 One of the habitat piles
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 More felled branches to move
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 Habitat pile. Good shelter for reptiles, and insects.
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 Habitat piles will rot down, food for fungus
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 This is the hedge we helped lay over the winter, now green and growing. This was a lovely sight to greet us.
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 Patches of dogwood (~12 months old). Grows to create a monoculture shading out the herbs and wildflowers that make this chalk downland so special.
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 Loppers are the tool of the day.
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 Cut scrub is piled up on the margins.
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 Sun finally breaks through
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 Good area cleared. The moss left will dry out and glass and herbs recover.
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 Supporting a pleecher as it come down.
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 Pleechers in the mist
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 Hedge at the start of the day. It has been layered in the past.
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 Clearing the hedge line of bramble.
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 Laying the pleaches
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 Completed section, stakes and binders to hold the pleachers in position.
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 Footpath with scrub encroaching
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 Cuttings piled for habitat piles, good cover for slow worms
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 Cleared path and bays cut into the bank.
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 A little early for halloween a pumpkin spider (araneus marmoreus).
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 Work in progress
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 New part of the reserve for us on the western edge (quiet away from the motorway)
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 Scrub to clear
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 Popping a sapling
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 Marjoram, good flowers fro insects
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 End of the day
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 Top wire replaced, and new intermediates installed.
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 Taking the wire off
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 Fence complete.
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 Fence with some rotten intermediates to be replaced.
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 Fencing removed from a juniper enclosure to let the sheep in to graze.
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 Popping hawthorn.
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 Bird's foot trefoil.
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 Results of popping, whole root system out so it won't grow back too quickly, and no chemicals involved.
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 Common spotted orchids are all over this field
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 Uprooting hawthorn saplings, which would be impossible without the treepoppers
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 A pyramid orchid.
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 A patch of common spotted orchids.
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 Salad burnet.
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 The section to be fenced off, a footpath by the dew pond.
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 Nearly completed by the end of the day.
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 The Warren. Hawthorne saplings and regrowth to be pulled up.
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 Add a description
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 Tree poppers are very useful tools. With a bit of skill and luck a lot of root can be removed, with little damage to the grassland.
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 A compartment where scrub has been cleared from encroaching on the juniper.
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 Pretty little flowers of dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis) an indicator of ancient woodland plant that is growing across the hillside showing it was once woodland.
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 Tamping in a straining post
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 Removing the old fence
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 Clearing the line of another existing fence
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 Finished fence
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 Clearing and burning felled elder - a difficult task on a wet and windy day
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 Cleared ground
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 Cut material piled ready to burn.
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 Foggy, foogy end to 2016 task programme
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 Two fire, tea and bramble. Both add smoke to the fog.
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 Sun attempts to come out.
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 Santa's OCV helpers
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 Smoke signal for "cut more bramble".
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 Snowy start (on the hill at any rate).
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 Rounding up the sheep.
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 Sheep penned ready for foot trimming
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 Happy sheep :-)
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 A good turn out for today's task
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 We're clearing a patch of low-level scrub on the hill side to help the rarer chalk grassland flora
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 Work begins
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 Gradually pushing the edge of the patch uphill
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 View from the task site.
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 This patch almost all done, although plenty more patchs of scrub to do on the opposite hillside, but they'll have to wait another day.
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 Starting today's bonfire
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 We're pushing back the scrub in order to extend the chalk grassland
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 Morning tea-break
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 Lunch time
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 Home time
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 At Sunny Aston Rowant to plant Juniper
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 Juniper cuttings ready to plant out
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 Off to dig
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 Two in - 72 to go!
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 Hillside dotted with new bushes
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 Today we're tackling a slope covered in a tangled mass of bramble, rose and thorn.
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 Photos from forty years ago show the slope covered in chalk grassland flora, but grazing sheep haven't been enough to stop the scrub invading.
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 So we're going to return the slope to the rare chalk grassland for which Aston Rowant is famous.
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 Work begins from above...
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 ... and from below.
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 We'll be burning the brash, but the fire is a little reluctant to get going.
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 Lunch time with a view. We leave the large dead hawthorn as a valuable invertebrate habitat.
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 By mid-afternoon most of the slope is clear of scrub.
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 Cutting the last bits of scrub and clearing up the last bits of brash.
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 We rake up as many twigs as possible to remove the nutrients; chalk grassland flora favouring low nutrient soil.
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 The final loads for the fire.
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 By the end of the day the slope has been transformed; it will be interesting to see how its flora now develops.
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 Post Hole
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 Mick, don't look
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 Bucket with a view
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 Lunch in the Snow
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 Glove Tree
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 Toasted glove anyone?
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 Preparing cut scrub for the bonfire
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 Alison on the horizon
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 Potatoes for the fire
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 Toasting marshmallows
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 View from the Hill
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 Mick's in there somewhere
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 Happy scrub cutters
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 Overladen Maiden
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 Finally the fire got going
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 All gone scrub
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 Equipped to round up lambs
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 Tagging the ears of the six month old lambs
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 Digging a post hole for the log pile cover
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 Removing an unwanted fence post
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 The finished log pile cover
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 Lovely Earrings!
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 Politely queuing up for their turn
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 Public Enemy #1: Cirsium vulgare (Spear Thistle)
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 Public Enemy #2: Cirsium arvense (Creeping Thistle)
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 Thistle-clearers at work - large area already cleared
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 Public Enemy #3: Senecio vulgaris (Ragwort), on bonfire.
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 Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet
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 Putting in a straining post
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 An old post that was levered out of the ground
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 Putting a strut on to give extra support
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 An intermediate post
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 Putting in an intermediate
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 Getting some stock netting ready to be strained
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 Attaching the stock netting
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 Natural England ranger shows us how to put in staples... err, I think something's wrong there Mick
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 Nice stretch of stock-proof fence just waiting for some barbed wire on the top
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 Finishing the oak tree guard
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 There was some rain, and some hail, but at least we got this rainbow
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 Some dramatic lighting at the end of the day
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 Sheep with lambs
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 Flock of sheep ready for foot trimming
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 Rounding up the sheep
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 The last few sheep queue for foot treatment
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 Foot trimming
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 Before - overgrown Red Kite viewing area
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 Steve in action
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 Starting the bonfire
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 It's hard to hold a slasher and not look maniacal
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 Again, hard not to look maniacal when holding a slasher
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 Our storm kettle has sprung a leak
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 Shazham! Tim starts a fire with a wave of his hand
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 Spot the toad
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 Steve demonstrates the ancient OCV art of leaning
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 Bob about to paint some stumps with anti-bramble red stuff
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 Susan that bramble won't hide you if you chop it down!
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 After - not a bramble in sight
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 Looking into the heart of the furnace
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 Unpacking the tools
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 Paul shows off Aston Rowant
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 Fixing a gate
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 The lovely Aston Rowant
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 Packing up
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 A lone volunteer sets out...
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 Sheep hunting
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 Found them!
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 Sheep foot trimmers at work
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 Michelle gets splattered with worming medicine!
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 The beginnings of the bonfire
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 The bonfire is growing
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 An even bigger bonfire
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 lunch!
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 And so the fire keeps growing...
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 Cleaning tools - good use for old toothbrushes
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 Putting away tools after a good day's work
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 Tim in toolshed
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 Firewood from coppicing
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 The clearing after our coppicing
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 "Jew's Ear" mushrooms
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 A tasty treat? (Please don't do this unless you really know what you're doing!)
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 Fungi
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 Last winter's fire site, now colonised by bright green moss
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 Sheep pedicures
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 The queue for free pedicures grows as word gets out
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 Select your sheep
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 Recent addition to Aston Rowant livestock
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 Fortunately, we have not been asked to trim this chap's toenails
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 Volunteers keen to start
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 The master class - see how easy it is...
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 The reason this is important
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 Tools of the trade
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 A much needed tea break
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 Cutting back the smaller dogwood
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 Warming bonfire
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 Admiring Tim's good work
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 Jim's amazing dogs!
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 The awesome power of Mick's chainsaw
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 Our huge bonfire... warmed us up nicely
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 Group photo
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 Santa's little helper
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 Counting tree rings
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 The completed fence
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 Packing up behind the completed fence
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 Happy volunteers
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 More happy volunteers
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 The joy of Gripples
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 On a clear day, the view is spectacular...
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 Andy provides a cheesy grin
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 Clearing the fenceline ready for replacement fencing
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 Jim hauls cut material to the bonfire
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 Passers-by beware!
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 Swarms of scrub bashers
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 Lunch break
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 Admiring the bonfire
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 Loading the bonfire
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 After a hard days work
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 Lunch break
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 Mick's shiny new storm kettle
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 Big bonfire
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 Finally the bonfire starts to die down
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 Before
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 Cutting & collecting
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 The all important morning cuppa
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 Where do we start?
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 Local flock penned for hoof clipping
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 A woolly captive
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 2 folk and a sheep
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 Miranda brandishing stock spray
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 Flock released after clipping
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 Surveying the days work, the last task of 2007.
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 A nice cup of tea.
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 Before starting work, we herded the sheep into a different field
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 A fine specimen
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 This treestump was in a dangerous position and needed to be removed using some OCV muscle
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 Footpath section as we found it.
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 New talent on the job
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 A swinging time
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 Footpath section as we left it.
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 Steps built today
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 Group preparing to depart
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 Westward view
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 Cowslips & Forget-me-nots
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 North path before
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 North path after
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 Hello, my name is Shaun. Baaaaaaa!
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 Collecting the sheep for tagging them
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 Cathy and a sheep
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 Building fencing in the car park
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 Baked potatoes are a regular fixture of the last task before Christmas
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 Standing around the fire
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 Digging a hole for a straining post
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 The finishing touches for the fence.
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 More sheep
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