Spike's Countryside Management Blog

Here is a map of a regular walking route of mine that goes around a small segment of the Letchworth Greenway and then through Wymondley Wood. The area is a gravel track bridleway surrounding the Wood with a mixture of kissing gates and bridleway gates as entrances.  While Maydencroft doesn't manage the fields nor the wood, associated businesses do; such as A.T. Bone, who we share our Letchworth yard with, then possibly the Letchworth Heritage Foundation who do the wood. This annotation of the map covers the locations of kissing gates, signs, benches, boardwalks/ bridges and bodies of water on and near the route.  This is the key: Red = Kissing Gates Green = Signs and Information Orange = Boardwalks and Bridges Magenta = Benches and Picnic Tables Black = Bins Blue = Bodies of Water that can be crossed (Not including surrounding drainage ditches) While not dangerous, most of the aformentioned site features are in some disrepair. Most of the gates have damaged latches and, while ...

 Today I was introduced to Rotavators and got to practice with a Grillo GZ2. Rotavators can be used for a multitude of reasons on soil. They can be used to aerate soil, prepare/ level soil for planting, uproot weeds, mix fertiliser etc. In terms of operation and architecture it feels very similar to a push-mower, so getting to grips with it only took seconds as I've used push-mowers at Maydencroft many times before. Before operating, we did a quick visual Risk Assessment and discussed safety precautions one must take before partaking in the use of such equipment.  Essential PPE would be: Ear Defenders - the GZ2 produces 96db while the engine is running, anything above 85db requires ear protection Gloves - A thicker pair of gloves would reduce the strength of the vibration caused by the machine on hands. Foot Protection - Steel-toe cap Boots or other appropriate protective footwear would be required due to wear the tiller operates Eye Protection - Although there is a guard abov...

As it has been around two months since my last scorecard review, I decided that another one was due as I have obviously learnt a lot more since mid-January.  The following criteria below are ones that I have increased my score in since the previous review: K2 - Ecology - I bumped up my score in this criteria because of what I learned recently while researching the soil triangle, pond habitats, pond weed and how flora that have rhizomes can rapidly overspread K5 - Common farming practices - I recently was introduced to the aforementioned soil triangle, I also did a blog on the farming calendar K8 - Countryside legislation - I increased my score on this criteria because of what I learn form the countryside pollution course that I did, which covered some of COSHH regarding how and where fuels, oils and chemicals can be stored as well as the penalties regarding harm/ disruption to invasive species such as newts, badgers and bats K12 - Map reading - I recently refreshed myself on taking...

 Today we were introduced to two new pieces of machinery which Maydencroft do not own, to my knowledge, but are still very common across industry: an Auger and Scarifier. Auger: This is essentially a rotating shaft on the end of a motor which you attach to a 'Helical screw blade' in order to drill holes in various materials and surfaces. Here you can see an annotated diagram of the operating/ motor end, very similar to a strimmer or a hedgecutter in its design. There are also some safety features left unannotated such as the hip pad attached to the handlebar and the brake's quick stop feature.  The brake engages as it is pushed away from the operator, so if the operative gets the screw head stuck, the anti-clockwise motion will cause the handle to swing into the operator's thigh - automatically applying it. Scarifier: A Scarifier RL 540 - the same model as Shuttleworth's Scarifiers are used to remove debris from grass such as moss, dead grass, roots etc. This allows...