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Posts Tagged ‘Hollinwood Scout Camp’

Woodland work at Hollinwood

Posted in Miscellaneous, Woodland management, tagged on November 24, 2024|

On Sunday 17th November we very much enjoyed volunteering at Hollinwood Scout Camp, near Worsley, Salford.

The camp on this site was founded in 2017, so is relatively new and is still being developed. It had had to move from the site where RHS Bridgewater is now, where it had previously been located for many decades.

Hollinwood truly has the potential to be an amazing asset not just for the local Salford community but for the whole of Greater Manchester and the North West. Hollinwood has 30 beautiful acres of woodland and meadows where young people are able to run around and be outdoors.

The task was helping to develop an open-air holistic area in a glade within the trees, for the Scouts to relax and reflect in. The task included trimming the bottom of a large conifer and also removing an unwieldy tree! The branches were then dragged (getting the steps in!) to the far side of the beautiful woodland, to create a natural fence line.

We all had a picnic sheltered from the rain under the trimmed conifer tree….a perfect spot!

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Access ramp at the camp

Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged on September 10, 2023|

For our August activity, a few of us made it a return visit on the 6th to the developing Hollinwood Scout Camp, where we helped to improve access to one of the camp’s fields with construction of a ramp. We had a warm welcome, as always – many thanks for the plentiful supply of much-needed tea!

Volunteers at work
Dragonfly
Completed ramp
Volunteers at work
Volunteers at work

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A berm at Barton Moss

Posted in Berm, tagged on April 16, 2019|

Sunday was a brightish and surprisingly chilly spring day with a frigid southeasterly blowing across Barton Moss and among the conifers of Hollinwood Scout Camp. This was our third visit here – we were given a warm welcome as ever and huddled around the Burco for a brew and biscuits before tackling our work which was a new activity: to create a Hugelkultur Berm(!).

Basically this is a method to create a raised mound for vegetative planting in areas of wet ground. The principle is to improve the drainage of the ground on the berm and to promote healthy plants. The ground of Barton Moss is flat and very wet even in dry weather. The earth is deep, rich and dark but a little too wet for any trees other than alder. So to create this feature you start by digging down (c. 15″) and removing the turf and soil. This is piled up alongside the ditch, with sods kept separate from the soil. Next the ditch is packed with chunky blocks and branches of wood to create a slight mound above the surrounding ground. This is the foundation of the berm. Now the soil is piled on top of the wood creating a long mound. The earth slips into the gaps of the wood and starts to mound up. One the soil is used up the sods are placed upside down on the surface; this helps hold the soil in place and allows the grass to decompose and feed the soil ready for planting later on. The edge of the berm is supported by horizontal logs, pegged in place to help keep the soil on top of the sunken timber.

The resulting feature creates a well drained planting area above a slowly decomposing buried pile of logs. This decomposition creates warmth and enhances release of nutrients into the soil.

Volunteers working on a berm
Volunteers working on a berm
Volunteers working on a berm

This was an unusual but engaging task and on the day we completed it successfully. One volunteer also had time to go and re-tag and check the stakes of the saplings previously planted by the Scouts. We had a great lunch alongside a warming fire. Many thanks to our host at the site and to the volunteers who turned out!

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A hot day at Hollinwood

Posted in Invasive species, Woodland management, tagged on June 10, 2018|

Today we were back at Hollinwood Scout Camp – the development of the camp and woodland has progressed apace since we were here about a year ago.  We did some clearing work around the “main camp” part of the site, particularly for the removal of the invasive Himalayan balsam and in preparation for further ongoing management of this area.  We were glad of the shelter of the trees in today’s heat, and of course for the excellent supply of tea and biscuits!

Cleared area
Tea break
Path and recently planted hawthorn hedge
Path and bird hide

 

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A new scout camp

Posted in Invasive species, Woodland management, tagged on June 19, 2017| 1 Comment »

Yesterday we helped with the development of a brand-new 30-acre scout camp – Hollinwood Scout Camp – in Worsley.  A challenging yet exciting project, where glades are being created in a mixed woodland for scouts to camp and enjoy the outdoor life.  We balsam-bashed an area that will be a narrow access road through the site.  There are also fields which have recently been planted with 900 mixed deciduous saplings by the Woodland Trust; we mulched around the saplings to ensure they don’t get encroached by the surrounding tall grasses.
A very accommodating and friendly partner to work alongside, who provided us with copious amounts of tea and biscuits on our break, under the scout marquee!

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