Friends of Langley Park
Beautiful Historic Grade II Listed Parkland near Pinewood Studios, Iver
VOLUNTEERING AND CONSERVATION WORK
As there is a lot of necessary work to be carried out at Langley Park on an ongoing basis, we have a group of volunteers who help us once a month to do this. The kind of things we do are clearing the ha-ha, cutting down the willows in the reflection pond, beetle bank construction (see below), putting the orienteering posts in for the launch of the orienteering trail, weaving willow guards to protect young trees, plus lots more. It is lots of fun, can be hard work, and is very rewarding. We have hot drinks and biscuits provided throughout the day and bring our own lunch. Although we start at 10am and some work through til 3pm, people are free to leave whenever they want.
If you have some spare time or would like to be in nature with a group of like-minded fun people, then come along and give us a hand - all help very much appreciated.
We meet at Langley Park car park at 10am on the first Saturday of each month - see posters around the parks or the Calendar for details of dates and projects, or join our meet-up group.
Extra Volunteering Opportunities
Arboretum restoration
19th - 23rd October 2009 - Peter and Tony are planning to spend a whole week within the Arboretum undertaking weeding, small tree removals, pruning and plant training works.
If anyone has half a day or more spare during this week and would like to help out give, Peter or Tony a call to discuss. Peter 07810 071492 / Tony 07734 734338.
Temple Garden restoration
2nd - 6th November 2009 - Peter and Tony are planning a whole week in the Temple Gardens undertaking weeding, pruning, mulching and formalising some of the bed edges at the front of the Temple base.
If you have a free half a day or more and would like to help out give Peter or Tony a call to discuss (numbers above).
| There is also a Thursday afternoon Volunteers Group - if you have a couple hours a week spare on Thursday afternoons, then why not join Peter or Tony for a more regular session to assist with the restoration works at the park. Meet at Langley Park car park at 1.30pm and stay as long as you can. If you are planning to attend please let them know by 12 noon: Peter 07810 071492 / Tony 07734 734338. SeeCalendar for details. |
3rd October 2009
Tony led 15 or so volunteers in 2 groups, one spreading 40 bags of mulch on the last of the coppiced rhododendron beds, the other pulling bracken and cuttng back brambles on the Temple Garden area by the ha-ha. Although it was quite windy it stayed nice and dry so we achieved a lot, and both areas are looking really good.
'5th September 2009
I was asked to run the F.O.L.P. volunteer day due to the absence of both Peter and Tony. It was great to be doing it again with the regular crowd and a couple of new faces.
The plan for the day was to distribute 40 jumbo bags of mulch onto selected beds in the Temple Gardens that had previously been coppiced & were now showing great signs of vigorous new growth. There were 14 volunteers of various ages who all worked extremely hard to complete the task which involved the removal of larger debris & the “almost” even distribution of the mulch.
Tea & cakes, supplied by Margaret were enjoyed at 11 o’clock & after lunch at 1 o’clock the final push commenced. A good day was had by all & my personal thanks go to the “Vols” for making it happen.
Andy Stevens (Park Ranger)
1st August 2009 Today, as we had 19 volunteers and some recently trained Leaders, we were able to split into two groups. The first group put mulch down on one of the coppiced rhododendron beds, while the other cut back the rhododendrons hanging over the paths in Temple Gardens. Although it rained at times, we had a great day with lots of laughter and fun. See what I mean on the Videos page, the Conservation Mini Movie competition entry!
4th July 2009
Our main aim for the day was to complete the bracken pulling in all of the coppiced Rhododendron compartments, so thanks to some good-old hard work we had achieved that aim by lunch-time. Everything extra was a welcome bonus. After lunch we completed a few small patches on the periphery and about half of one further enormous compartment (which is as yet uncoppiced rhodedendrons). Thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their time on Saturday - Jim, Alan, John W, Eugenie, Brian, Paul, Tansie, Robbie, Suzanne and Margot. Although we worked hard it was a very social day with lots of fun and laughter, and a real sense of achievement to see the cleared Rhodo beds.
"I would like to say that Saturday may not have been the most inspiring day but the fun, laughter and companionship outweigh one of these days. I look forward to these Saturdays very much. Thankyou." Eugenie 6th June 2009
"Dirty Weekend" volunteer day - unfortunately the weather was horrible but we had about 12 people turn up, with 2 new people. As you can see we got very wet & very dirt but we completed the task of cutting back the Laurel hedge that runs along side the path opposite the Ha Ha near the old toilet block.
2nd May 2009
A large group of volunteers attended the May event. It was a bright sunny day with an increasing wind at times. Some new faces were welcomed including Suzanne, Chris, Martin, Shirley, Jocelyn and Romana, as well as a return of Helen, which with the regulars became a slight challenge for Lizzie who kindly agreed to be the 'Tea Lady' for the day!
We all headed down to Tyrells Wood which was overgrown - a triangular area was to be cleared back to a deer fence. A large bonfire was used to effectively dispose of the tree and brush cuttings. Due to the relatively small work area and large turnout, some folks were cutting back on the other side of the footpath. Jill kindly collected more water for the kettle as we ran out lunch time - the warm weather and hard work done by all meant second cups of tea were the order of the day.
A big thank you to all the volunteers for the hard work, and look forward to the seeing everyone next month.
4th April 2009 Today we were clearing the ditch by the mansion, cutting down the invasive trees and removing the bracken. As you can see from the last photo a huge amount was achieved in just one day!
7th March 2009
Another great turnout, continuing with the Rhododendron rejuvenation. We also had a lovely shared lunch and more tasty cakes from Margaret.
7th February 2009
We had around 18 volunteers rejuvenating the Rhododendrons, which meant coppicing the appropriate ones down to approximately 1.2m. The cut material was stacked ready to be chipped later, and will be used in a year or so for mulching newly coppiced Rhododendron beds.
We had a lovely lunch of hot vegetable soup and buttered rolls, supplied by the Friends of Langley Park, followed by Margaret's wonderful cakes!
3rd January 2009
Another fantastic day, with a large turnout and lots of clearing work carried out in Verneys Avenue. We enjoyed our lunch of jacket potatoes cooked in the bonfire, and also had roasted chestnuts. One of our volunteers successfully cooked sausages! We are planning to supply hot vegetable soup and buttered rolls for the next conservation day.
| 6th December 2008 - We had a great turnout, around 17 people and fantastic weather - blue skies and sunshine. We continued opening up Bennets Walk by cutting down the invasive trees, clearing bramble and tidying up the area. We had a huge bonfire which quickly cleared the debris. 6th September 2008 - Today we had two teams, one putting the first coat of paint on the bridge, and the other cutting back the brambles and bracken nearby. The bridge had its second coat on Sunday, and is looking much brighter and fresher. . 2nd August 2008 - A lovely start to the day with a large turn out and good weather. We cut down the invasive trees along the left side of Bennets Walk to open up the area. If you look at the 'before' photo you can see all the thin trees, then in the 'after' photo we are all standing in the gaps where the trees came out! If you take a walk down there you will see just how much work was completed in such a short space of time. Margaret helped us out again with some wonderful Butterfly cakes to keep our energies up! 5th July 2008 - The weather held well for the work on the July FOLP volunteer day, a low turn out but a lot was achieved. We worked on the other end of Bennett's Walk, after the Health and Safety pep talk by Ranger Steve to Lizzy (new volunteer doing her Duke of Edinburgh silver award) and Amanda from Park offices. Trees were cut back and dispersed in the woods rather than in a wall of dead trees, gorses were cleared around the Wellingtonias by John. Steve did some training for Lizzy and Amanda and they took well to the days efforts. Ranger Andy turned up in the afternoon to pick litter but took the opportunity to taste the wonderful Apple cake delivered by the usual supplier!! After lunch Jim and Jerry tackled the brambles near the bridge then Eugenie and Steve helped and she found a new bridge over the ditch. The day came to a close as folks drifted off after about 3.15pm. 7th June 2008 - The day was an introduction to Tony who is the new Heritage sponsored and logo-ed gardener (see photo below). Tony, who had already cleared some of the scrub with a strimmer the day before, explained the next stage, which was for many trees to be cut down, back to an agreed line, so as to widen the Bennets Walk on the north side. There was no bonfire or shredding of the wood this time as all the cut wood was moved into the woods to rot down over time. The day finished around 3.15pm. 1st March 2008 - Another very successful day, with around 21 volunteers including the rangers, clearing more of the pathways and land in the Temple Gardens. One of the paths now accessible surrounds a few palm trees - see photo below. Bucks TV came to film us and we are now on their website - see a couple of short videos about us and Langley Park at www.buckstv.co.uk/environment.html. Margaret, one of the committee members of the Friends of Langley Park, very kindly brought in some scrummy home-baked apple cakes and mince pies - so a huge thank you to Margaret and we hope she does the same next month! 3rd February 2008 - As you may have noticed when walking in the Temple Gardens many of the paths are now accessible - much hard work has gone into opening and clearing them over quite a few volunteer days. We are aware that the Rhododendrons may be harmed if we cut them back in their growing season, so today (and possible 1st March) are probably the last days to carry out the work there. Today, another lovely sunny day, we chose two specific paths which were completely unpassable and probably unrecognisable as paths! We cut back the bracken, brambles and any other vegetation to open them up to around 6-10 foot wide, which should allow walkers to easily access them now. 5th January 2008 - Our first conservation day of 2008 saw the vista being cleared.
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2007
| 1st December 2007 - This day was very much the same as November with successfully continuing to open up paths in the Temple Gardens, and again the weather was fantastic! We started at the Five Points Tree and opened up each of the paths. We had sunshine mixed with strong gusts of wind - which you can see from the smoke everywhere! 3rd November 2007 - This day continued opening up paths in the Temple Gardens. Luckily we had a beautiful, sunny, warm day even though it was November! 6th October 2007 - In September over 100 workers from Timberland did Voluntary Work in Langley Park, led by Friends of Langley Park volunteers. They split into three groups doing each of the following tasks:
On 6th October we continued where the volunteers left off in the Ha Ha, and managed to clear it all the way back. Below are some photos of what we accomplished. 1st September 2007 - Another great day where we had a lovely group of 15 volunteers clearing the paths in Temple Gardens to make access much easier. Apparently the paths were originally wide enough to let a horse and carriage pass through, although recently as you have probably seen even the rabbits had been struggling! We cut the Rhododendrons back to the boundary line, pulled out lots of brambles (yes, many scratches!), and cleared the bracken. We took it all to the bonfire site where by the end of the day the huge pile was reduced to ashes. 2nd June 2007 - This project was a great success and involved the construction of a beetle bank, this is a vitally important conservation task as Stag Beetles are becoming increasingly rare in many countries in continental Europe but as more of them survive in the UK we have a good chance of helping them. The Stag Beetle is the largest land living beetle in Britain – males can be up to 70mm (2.5”) long including their jaws – and is so-called because the male’s huge jaws look just like a stag’s antlers. Stag beetles are quite harmless, but the female may give you a nip if you put your fingers in the wrong place! You are most likely to see males in flight on warm summer evenings, between May and August, while they are searching for mates. Females are more often seen at ground level, looking for suitable egg-laying sites. The female lays her eggs underground in decaying wood. These eggs hatch into larvae, large white grubs with stubby legs and orange-brown heads. The larvae have to eat large quantities of decaying wood because it is poor in the nutrients they need. It can take up to four years or even longer for larvae to reach the next stage of their development, the pupa, a resting phase during which they take on their adult form. At least four years after their eggs were laid, the adults emerge from the soil in May or June. The cycle then starts all over again as the males (picture to the left) fly at dusk in search of mates. Their lives as adults are short, lasting a maximum of four weeks. The actual day turned out to be very warm but after hacking our way through the rock hard surface layer, ably assisted by very experienced and enthusiastic members of a group from Earthworks, who we would like to pass on our very grateful thanks to, we were able to excavate a 2.5m diameter hole approximately 2ft deep. The reclaimed logs were then arranged in a pyramid design as close together as possible infilled with soil and tamped down securely. Nature will help to naturalise the construction and in time will hopefully be inhabited by various types of beetles and other insect life. We are planning to put up an information board close to the beetle bank. Andy Stevens, Conservation Officer May 2007 - As we had the launch of the Orienteering Trail fast approaching, the task of this day was to dig holes for the six foot tall control posts. The holes needed to be 3 feet deep so as to last for a very long time. We were given training by the Head Ranger, Steve Heywood, on the equipment to use and the best way to dig these holes. Although it was tiring work it was very rewarding and you will now see in the park 17 of these posts scattered around. For anyone wanting to do the Orienteering Trail, just go to Black Park Offices for a map and instructions, or visit our Orienteering page. It is a great few hours out for everyone - families, friends and dog-walkers. You will find a letter on each of the posts and if you do the route correctly you will be able to solve the puzzle.
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2006
| Autumn 2006 - The wall in the Arboretum had massively overgrown brambles covering it. We spent a day clearing them all away and tidying it up. Hard, scratchy but satisfying work - it was great to see the wall appear from behind the brambles and the plants bound up by them able to breath again! Summer 2006 - The pond in the Arborteum had a lot of Japanese Knot Weed around it, which had to be cleared, along with debris clogging up the pond, and general cutting back and tidying up in the area. Spring 2006 - The Ha-Ha had become very overgrown, so we cut back and cleared trees and plants on the wall and in the ditch, which were then put on a bonfire to clear them. January 2006 - The reflection pond was silted up, and was covered in Willow trees whose roots were drinking the water, resulting in an area of sludge rather than a pond! We were given training on how to cut down Willow trees which we did, as well as digging out roots along with many, many years of leaves rotting in the bottom of the pond. |
