Today at The Lancashire Wildlife Trust

Good afternoon and welcome to the last blog of this week documenting the voluntary roles young Alex Ashworth is participating in.

This morning was the fortnight schedule I have for the Bees, Butterflies and Bikes group as part of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. I arrived at the meeting point (outside The Anderton Arms pub in Fulwood) at approximately 9.50am. Time soon marched on to 10.am and Chris hadn't arrived so I was getting worried as to whether Chris had text me to let me know it wasn't on and I hadn't received his text. Anyway that was no longer a concern as Chris appeared about 10.05am.

After a brief apology as to being a little late I was soon introduced to a new volunteer. She was very friendly and good fun, we soon got chatting as we began working later on.

Chris made us aware there was only one seat available in his car as the back was crammed full of trees and plants. This meant I would follow him to the allocated site to do the required work.

Our first port of call was at a Guild Wheel site in which we planted Great Burnet and Hedge Woundwort. It was here where myself and the new volunteer had a really good chat whilst carrying out the work. We planted these plants by finding a desirable area, removed some of the grass and used a trowel to scoop out the soil, once done the plant was ready to be sealed in.

This took us till 11.15am by which time Chris let us know we were moving to a different site to plant some Meadow Cranesbill and Meadowsweet. So it was back to our sturdy vehicles, Chris to his van and I went to my faithful Toyota Yaris and off we went, up the beaten track, well it was only round the corner but still, it was a dusty road leading to the main road.

For the next twenty minutes we planted the Meadow Cranesbill and Meadowsweet as onlookers were going by, including the interested public, dog walkers and cyclists. The sun was beating down on our diligent work and we were all really benefitting from being outside and especially working outdoors making our contribution to a more sustainable and eco-friendly environment and one in which everybody can enjoy too.

The final task took us till the finishing time of 12noon. It involved scrambling down a hill and delicately picking out the Himalayan Balsam which at this stage was only about the size of your little finger but it's effective to root them out now before they become to tall to manage and cut back. It was really enjoyable and it increased our perceptiveness so that we could pick out the Balsam individually then remove them from the hillside.

We did a small portion of planting some more meadowsweet before we rapped up for another session.

On our way back to the van I asked Chris to text me the names of todays plants. He's a busy man so he wrote them down for me as to prevent his forgetfulness. I also asked him if he could write me a reference for next time as evidence of my time with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust. He said that would be fine but to remind him via text a couple of days prior to the next session.

I'll be back with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust on Wednesday 11th May.

This marks the last blog of this week but if your enjoying them look out for the first of a brand new week next Monday.

Until then, this is Alex Ashworth signing off for another positive and enjoyable time working with Chris for Bees, Butterflies and Bikes group.