Repairing the Wood Chip Paths

The First Path is Completed

NGAG volunteers and our Community Ranger Fiona Mackenzie took an afternoon spreading a large amount of wood chips over the paths in the flower borders on Newington Green. It was hot, hard work but really good to do as the paths had lost virtually all the chips that had been put down a couple of years back. The photo shows the first path to be done and another path was completed after a welcome cup of tea.

The wood chips mainly came from cherry trees and will contribute to the biodiversity of the Green, as well as making the path usable again. Worms and insects will soon colonise the chips and many of the little bugs will become food for hungry birds, particularly in the winter. In previous years, when the rest of the ground has been frozen with snow and ice, blackbirds could still turn over the wood chips to find food, which helped them survive the bitterly cold weather.

These wood chips will hopefully encourage more fungi on the Green as they gradually rot down. In 2009 the Green had a very rich display of fungi along the paths but these did not recur this year, probably because the wood chips had become so depleted. 

Another bonus of the day's activities, was that we were able to add some large cherry logs to the wood stack on the Green, which will provide an even better habitat for the various beetles and invertebrates that have been found living there.

September 2011