Harmondsworth Moor is a Country Park located in West Drayton combining flower rich meadows, rivers, woodland & moorland to create a beautiful, diverse habitat.
Harmondsworth
Joined July 2015
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Continuing the amazing by the @Colne_Valley River Rangers we've been opening up more 'viewing points' of the river. Still lots more to go but we're making great progress!
We forgot to get a 'before' photo, but here is some of the river work we've been doing along the River Colne. Creating a bankside habitat where previously there was only bramble and fallen willow limbs. The brash piles are included to show how much we've cleared.
Also, pleased by advised there are extremely high water levels around Saxon Lake - even the boardwalk is partiall submerged! This is a picture of the footpath (Though you would be forgiven for thinking it was the lake!).
Harmondsworth Moor Ranger Team retweeted
Tree planting is important, but it must not destroy much rarer, valuable habitats. This wildflower-rich grassland in Cumbria has been planted without thought to the Butterfly Orchids, Betony, Scabious, Restharrow, Harebell and assoc'd biodiversity.
Please RT to raise awareness!
Large Ash down this morning - must have been weaked by the storms - so a few hours work with the chainsaw and you can access the footpath again.
Counting the rings we estimate it to be around 40 years old.
Litter picking does bring some interesting finds though - A fat toad hiding under a discarded frying pan!
It's a never ending task!
I promise I'll stop with boring litter pick photos - it's just a great way to show how much we've been clearing this winter.
Another collection of newts - this group were hiding under a large plastic bag full of rubbish. We left the bag where it is, as it wont be long before they're leaving their winter hides.
Last week was spent mostly clearing the car parks - getting right into the plantations and trying to get every piece we could see. Not sure we got them all (This is just a small amount I took the time to photo) but I think it's looking much better in there now.
We went out today to see the work done by the @Colne_Valley River Rangers and it was even more impressive than the pictures suggest!
So much Floating Pennywort removed - 3 or 4 large rafts that have been slowly getting out of hand for the last few years. Such a big difference!
A few Smooth Newts I disturbed while litter picking. They were hiding under a large discarded drain cover. Newts hibernate over winter under logs/rocks etc, allowing themselves to become sort of desiccated. When spring comes round they'll crawl out to find water and a mate.
What a fantastic turn out - and amazing job! Thanks for much to the volunteer River Rangers!
What a difference a day makes: just look at what our volunteers achieved on #Harmondsworth Moor when they got to grips with invasive floating pennywort. Well done everyone!
Here's some contact details if you're interested in helping this Sunday.
Massive thanks again to everyone involved!
Our River Rangers did a great job removing Floating Pennywort from the River Colne at #Harmondsworth Moor yesterday. A big thank you to everyone who helped. Our next session is this Sunday, contact [email protected] if you’d like to join us. It’s great fun!
If you missed the first volunteer day and would like to help remove Floating Pennywort from your rivers, there's another opportunity coming this Sunday (19.01.20) meeting the River Rangers from @Colne_Valley between 10/10:30 on the main bridge into the parkland.
While the volunteers were pulling the Pennywort we went and removed this large willow, granting access to the next patch of Pennywort, creating an open area along the riverbank, and allowing more sunlight down to encourage bankside vegetation.
Massive thanks to the @Colne_Valley River Rangers who came along to remove a large raft of Floating Pennywort. Such an impressive amount removed in such a short time! This improves the flow, allows sunlight down to the riverbed, and aids native biodiversity.
