The Spinney Conservation Project 

The Spinney area of Canons Park has not had much maintenance over many years, and is in need of some work to improve its attractiveness and also encourage greater bio-diversity. The Spinney is the wooded area extending from Whitchurch Lane to the boundary of the School grounds along the east side of the park. To address this, the Friends of Canons Park and Harrow Borough are instigating a project using local volunteers to work on a few days during 2008 in the Spinney. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) are organising this, and are using Groundwork (West London) who will provide training and guidance for the volunteers. Work will be concentrated outside the growing season to be more effective and to reduce impact on wildlife, and will need to be an ongoing programme over a number of years in order to create the varied habitats we are aiming for. The next days are now fixed as Sunday 9th November and Sunday 14th December. To volunteer please use the email link at the top of the page.

The first volunteering day was held on Sunday 20th January, and here is a report on what was achieved (3 photos of the day can be seen on the Works Pics page):

On Sunday morning 12 volunteers turned up at the top end of the spinney. Groundwork turned up to train us all in the use of rakes, loppers, slashers, billhooks and saws. With guidance on technique, and the job to be tackled, we accomplished a great deal.

We have started at the North end of the Spinney, where everyone will be able to see easily what has been done. Small invasive trees were cut out, a huge dead hedge built, and the ivy covering the ground raked out, to expose bare earth. The dead hedge, also known as a habitat pile, has been deliberately left as a refuge for birds, small mammals, insect life etc.

We are due back there on Sunday March 24th @10.00 am, to do more. The next task will be to clear a similar sized area towards the open grassed area & the carriageway, with the object of letting sunlight into the cleared area, to regenerate the wild flower seed bank, dormant in the soil because it was completely covered by ivy.  This is a big task and one we will need to work on for several years, with different parts of the wood at different stages of the coppice cycle. The different stages of regeneration are attractive to different species as habitat, and so we increase the bio-diversity of the Spinney.

A start has been made and a very satisfying amount of clearing has been done. Congratulations to all involved. We will need an ongoing band of volunteers, so if you would like to get involved in this work please contact the friends using the email link at the top right of the page.