Where did we meet?

We met at Anderby Creek and travelled along to Mogg’s Eye

What is marram grass?

Marram Grass is a type of grass that you plant to defend the dunes. At the bottom it has blackish-brownish kind of roots/mould and at the top of the grass, is, of course, the actual part of the Marram Grass leaves that you mainly see. It is green and might give you cuts so take care with the very point at the top of the green grass.

We plant marram grass to make bare sand dunes into covered sand dunes. The marram grass plants will grow and eventually turn into the tall types of grass you see at the side of the path or when you walk to Anderby Creek or pretty much any kind of sandy beach. It is known for binding the sand together and stopping the sand from escaping. All you do is simply dig up a small, usable hole and place this special type of grass and carefully pat it together so you cover the mould but on the bottom and patiently wait for it to grow. Now, it could take a while for you Marram Grass so don’t expect it to just shoot up like that!!!

Apple Day

September saw frogs and children leaping equally, though carefully, in a fifty year old orchard created in a shallow disused limestone quarry on the hillside above Welbourn. The astonishing wildlife value of orchards was evident with a pond and signs of badgers, making the area alive with wildlife, such as the Comma Butterfly. About 40 varieties of apples, including many old Lincolnshire fruits were ripening steadily. The old varieties may not keep as well, but made fantastic flavour when eaten straight from the tree. Thanks to Bill Goodhand who showed us round and talked about the history and fruit of this lovely corner, complete with an old windmill, once with sails 150ft high on top of the hill!

We walked through wildflower meadows along the cliff edge to Hilltop Farm, where the sun came through and children got stuck into apple crushing in earnest, thanks to help from local resident, Paul Dinning and parents. The children loved it. Next we made apple crumble and apple pie with different varieties, all of which required taste testing with custard. A tortoise and two quail made a popular appearance too.

Muckton Wood

We had a good meeting at Muckton on Sunday. The weather was cold and wet around 1.30pm, so we were pleased when three children arrived.

Louise talked about how animals might survive in the woods in winter.
The children then collected slips of paper, laid out along the first ride, showing possible conditions that animals might have to deal with in the winter. These were then discussed. Louise brought grapes, some in ice cubes, to illustrate how the smell and taste of food can be affected by icy weather.
The children enjoyed the hibernation game where they had to collect food, water and shelter tokens, that had already been hidden in the wood.
We then walked through the wood looking to identify trees and to find nuts and berries.

We finished the meeting with the children enthusiastically building small houses from twigs etc for animals to shelter in during the winter.