Eynsford Site; Farningham Woods Campsite update

Peter Nicholson our site project manager has sent this report on our first working weekend in the woods..

The boundary is marked out and the boundary "fence" is well on it's way. 

The trees to be removed have been marked up and approved by the wood warden. Rather sadly, the splendid leaning silver birch in the middle of the site was also marked for removal, as it's roots were starting to rot. 

We felled six trunks over the day, including clearing after each fall, snedding and logging each trunk. The logs are now a log pile near the fire circle site, the "twiggy bits" form the boundary of the site and a couple of prospective wildlife habitats, and a number of long straight logs have been set aside as materials to go towards the refurbishment of the chapel site. 

The vehicle access to the site has also been cleared, so it is now possible to drive all the way down to the camp site. No, you won't make it in a Mini at present, but it is easy enough for a 4x4, and will become easier as the track is cleared and graded. 

On Sunday, we felled and logged a further four trunks - there are now another six left to fell, including the largest one, with a diameter at felling height of about 18". 

The plan for the next working weekend is to fell and clear the remaining trunks on the Saturday, and make a start on grubbing out the stumps on the Sunday. We will hopefully have the assistance of the digger for some of this, for the final pulling of each stump, but we will need to dig by hand around each stump first to loosen the roots and cut the biggest ones. 

The next working weekend is the second weekend in April (10th and 11th April), so put it in your diaries. Once we have cut and cleared the last few trunks, which may take most of Saturday, we need groups working on each stump, so the more the merrier on the Sunday! Please bring spades, shovels, forks and rakes. 
 
We have tea and coffee facilities on site :) 

Altogether now..."If you go down to the woods today..."