COUNTRY LIFE
Green army awarded
for Community Action
Great news! Spectrum Housing’s
Green Army got second prize for the
Environment category in this year’s
Community Action IW Awards. The
Green Army began in 2011 as part
of the Natural Wight project and
encourages young people aged 16-25
to learn more about nature through
conservation.
Over 220 young people have joined
the group, working Islandwide, all
year round supporting the work of the
Island’s green organisations. They have
helped to maintain, manage and even
transform over 20 key Island wildlife
areas from woodland management to
ponds and river restoration.
Ross Cosgrove, Natural Wight
apprentice said: “Not only does the
Green Army make a big difference to
the Island’s wildlife and countryside,
there are really visible benefits to its
volunteers. Everyone finds something
- identifying that you may not be
great at school but you are brilliant
at working with nature, making new
friends, growing in confidence and
learning new skills.”
For more information on the Natural
Wight project and the Green Army,
contact Claire Hector on 07710
363446 or email naturalwight@
spectrumhousing.co.uk. For more
information on Spectrum Housing
Group and their other Community
Investment projects, visit www.
spectrumhousing.co.uk
Fantastic events
with Natural Wight
and their partners
Discover more about the history of
hedgerow foraging and wild foods on
our series of Hedgerow Harvest walks
with Rowan Adams.
Wear comfy shoes and expect a bit
of mud!
Hedgerow Harvest Walk –
Carisbrooke. Sunday June 15,
3pm-5pm, Carisbrooke. Meet in the
car park, Carisbrooke High Street,
Carisbrooke.
Email naturalwight@
spectrumhousing.co.uk to book your
spot. The walk is FREE for all the
family!
A cou ntry ma n's dia ry
Although we think our winter work is
far behind us, we are still waiting for
some of the woodland floors to dry up,
so we can extract the timber that we
felled during the winter months. I’m
not keen on taking the tractor into the
woods when it’s likely to cause rutting
and compression to the ground. So this
is something we tend to do in late June
and July. It is always nice to go back to
see the wood come alive after it has
stood bare for so long.
Another of our projects was to
reinstate a hedgerow made famous
from the 1970s Isle of Wight Pop
Festival at Tapnell and East Afton
Farms. ‘Desolation Row’, was a track
lined on both sides by hedging that met
overhead, creating a kind of tunnel. One
side has been lost, with the other in
serious need of ‘beefing up’.
We cleaned out the existing hedgerow,
removing all dead wood and planting
up the gaps, and then planted a new
hedge a few metres away, hoping that
as it grows it will create a tunnel-like
path. Over 600 metres of hedging have
so far been planted with the last section
scheduled for later this year. It will take a
few years to fill out due to its location, but
that is also part of the recipe as the wind
will bend the tops over making the ‘roof’.
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