Local Leap Day

What a lovely day to take a local leap into the community!





We started at Helston Children's Centre and dug over their vegetable plots and made some new wooden surrounds for the herb and vegetable beds.

We also had great fun making an insect hotel with the expert help of Karen from Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change, using just a few old wooden pallets filled with twigs and straw. This provided a great place for bugs and beetles to live, as well as giving the children the opportunity to discover more about the creepy crawlies in their garden.

We then went onto Sithney Primary School to dig up an invasive bush in the corner of their onsite garden. This has cleared a space for the children to do some digging and planting, and was good exercise for us!

It was brilliant to be out and about in the sunshine and a good excuse to get nice and muddy!

Rosie

Half-term cycle at Penrose

Last week a small  group of us gathered for a cycle round Loe Pool.

 


The event was promoted and led by the Trust, in partnership with Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change (CN4C), with whom we combine on projects in the Helston area.

 
There were five adults and five children present and we cycled from Helston amenity area, stopping frequently along the way to catch our breath.

The ride was a pleasure for all participants who mixed well in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere.


We lunched at the stables and rode back to the amenity area for 3pm and a good time was had by all.

We will be holding more rides and other events throughout the year - please call the National Trust on 01326 561407 for a leaflet.

Also there will be a whole week devoted to cycling, in and around Penrose, on a National Trust holiday in September. Follow the link below to find out more.

Nick




http://old.nationaltrust.org.uk/ntweb/workingholidays/Details.aspx?HolidayCodeID=12DTX038&scrollToTop=1

A Local Leap

All 5,000 of the National Trust’s staff were given Leap Day off work to spend a day volunteering in their local community. 2012 marks a century since the death of one of the charity’s founders, Octavia Hill, who was passionate about the difference volunteering could make in society. Here on the Lizard peninsula we asked the local community what they would most like from our services around the Parish.



Tidying up Cury Village Hall car park



We set out yesterday along with our full time volunteers and armed with brushcutters, chainsaws and pitchforks to tackle some of these requests. Our day begain at Cury village hall where we cleared around the car park and building to keep fire routes clear and removed some unsightly rubbish. We stopped for a gratefully recieved cuppa and biscuit from Mike at the village hall before moving on to our next task.





The cleared bridleway



The rest of our day was taken up with cutting back bridleway 4 from Predannack airfield gates towards Mullion pasrt Hayle Kimbro Pool. This should make navigating the more muddy sections on foot or on horse a lot easier.

And still some energy left for a leap!

Elle

Mega Scrub Bash



Cutting our way through tall blackthorn



Lunch around the fire



A hardy group of volunteers from the local community and Falmouth University joined us last Saturday despite the weather to help the Ranger's with heathland and access management. Each year during the winter months we cut and burn scrub on our heathland sites across the Lizard Peninsula. This is done to improve the heathland habitats for local wildlife such as the Cornish Cough and rare flora, but also to improve access and enable effective conservation grazing.





Now thats how to toast a marshmallow, or 8!



This time we were tackling an area of tall blackthorn along the bridleway adge at Predannack Wollas near Mullion. The rain didn't manage to dampen our spirits, or fire thankfully otherwise we would of had an upsetting lunch of raw potatoes and sausages! Although the scrub cutting season is drawing to an end now due to nesting birds and mammals, stay tuned for other ways to get involved with us throughout the summer. Our next scrub bash will be at Chynhalls Point near Coverack on September 23.

Elle



Bushcraft Fun



Good enough to sleep in!

 The woods at Penrose were a hive of activity and bonfire smoke last week during our very first family bushcraft event. To kick start the day everyone was split into teams for a den building competition using only natural materials found in the woods. Shelter from the weather had to be taken into account, as well as camouflage and a position for a camp fire.

After all that hungry work it was time to cook lunch on the roaring camp fire. Crumpets, sausages, bacon, baked beans and toast made up our woodland feast, all with a slight smokey, charred flavour! 



Marshmallows are best when they're gooey and slightly on fire!

 Everyone had a go at lighting their own camp fires after lunch. But first we had to collect the correct fire lighting materials including lots of small twigs to get the fire going. The children were delighted by the glowing coal-like King Alfred Cakes, also known as coal fungus, and the sparks generated by the fire steels. However, the most important equipment of the day had to be the box of matches and the newspaper- they never fail to get the fire started!


Nick demonstrating how not to light a fire

Laura 

Soapy Shrove Tuesday

Bob investigating

Our dedicated team of volunteers have been busily cutting back thick scrub at Tenerife farm to uncover the remains of a soapstone Quarry which hasn't been seen for over 100 years. Local soapstone expert, Bob Felce, has been along to help out and cast his eye over the findings. Bob has estimated the quarry to date back to the 1700's when soapstone was being extracted in this area for use in fine bone china production. Although a relatively small quarry compared to nearby Wheal Foss, the remains of soapstone within the spoil confirms that it was indeed quarried here. Further archaeological surveys of the area will be carried out by our archaeologists in the coming months.





Pancakes National Trust style



Tuesday was a particularly special day at work for our volunteer team for several reasons, one being that it was Shrove Tuesday so of course we had to attempt cooking some pancakes on the fire for lunch - success! And secondly it was Tom's birthday, Tom has been volunteering with us for almost 2 years now and is a reliable and valued member of our team. We celebrated in style not only with pancakes but a huge sticky chocolate cake too. Well, we needed the energy for all that hard work!




The birthday boy

We will be holding an open day at Tenerife farm later in the year so keep tuned if you'd like to come and see for yourself what has been uncovered.

If you'd like to join our volunteer team on Tuesday's, please feel free to contact me on 01326 291174 or send me an email elle.parsons@nationaltrust.org.uk

Elle

Working together for nature

Scrub? Where? Unleash the combined forces of NE and NT.

As part of an ongoing emphasis on partnership working, under the umbrella of "Linking the Lizard" we've recently joined forces with our friends at Natural England to clear an impressive amount of scrub from important rare plant sites, and to open up an overgrown trackway.

Autumn Squill

 The three sites we've been working on are all in private ownership, two near the northern edge of Goonhilly Downs, and one near Coverack. They were highlighted by keen local botanists who have been revisiting many places off the beaten track that were first noted for rare plants in the 1980s, but that have been pretty much forgotten since. With the botanists' knowledge, our combined machinery and muscle, and the support of the land owners, we've been marching to the rescue of the rare plants. On the outcrops, the pretty mauve flowered Autumn Squill (a lily relative) is one of the nationally scarce plants that we've been helping, by removing gorse that was threatening to shade it out.

Yellow Centaury

 The trackway, now that overhanging willow has been removed, should once again be perfect for the delicate little yellow centaury, which is no more than a few centimetres tall. A whole host of our rarest plants, including the very rare pygmy rush, which only grows on the Lizard in Britain, are associated with 'temporary Mediterranean ponds'. Puddles to you and I! And the best way to manage tracks for such rare plants? By driving along them with a tractor occasionally! It's a hard job but someone's got to do it! The tyres cut through the leaf litter and expose bare mud, and spread seed in their tread as a bonus.

Another outcrop cleared thanks to our Feb half term vols

 Thanks to all who have been involved in these days, including our enthusiastic band of volunteers from all over the country, who come down to Cornwall for a week's working holiday every February half-term.









 We're all looking forward to seeing what comes up later in the year, and we're already planning more projects for next winter.

Before...

....and after

Rachel