Wild Windsor has had a donation of 450 native tree whips and wanted to get them all planted today. The plan is to plant a native hedgerow inside the fenceline of Vansittart Recreation Ground to create a great source of food and shelter for wildlife. Devon, Julian, Georgeta and Sheila joined a group of other volunteers for the morning session. We learned the T -shape planting technique from taskowner Nick (nicknamed Chief Whip) and were then let loose to plant our whips and protect them with stakes and tree guards. Many passersby stopped to ask what we were doing and say thank you. Two young boys stopped to help, with Devon supervising, and they even returned with chocolate biscuits for everyone! They live locally so are keen to watch it grow! By the end of the session we had planted a good number of the whips, ready to hand over to rhe afternoon team to finish off. Tree-mendous effort!

Georgeta, Kanika and Sheila cycled along the Jubilee River to join Clara, Peter, Julian and Jen at St John's church in Eton Wick, where we met with taskowner Claire from Wild Eton Wick. Claire had two tasks for us today. We started off by searching for any bat activity inside the church. We knew from previous surveys that bats fly around the churchyard. But could we find any evidence of bats roosting? We were looking for droppings, insect wings , urine stains or even bats themselves. We spread out throughout the church, armed with torches, and were given permission to have a good rummage in all the nooks and crannies we could find. We found plenty of dead insects and cobwebs, and Jen even found a mouse (of the toy variety), but we couldn't find any direct evidence of bats. Disappointingly we didn't have the key to go up the bell turret and steeple, as we felt this may have been our best chance of finding evidence of bats We then moved outside to enjoy the sunshine and see whether we could see any butterflies in the churchyard. Whilst on butterfly watch some of us had a bit of a contemplate about the stories that may lie behind the gravestones, a very peaceful place. A few butterflies were spotted - some of them whizzed by very quickly, but Georgeta managed to get a picture of a common blue. In all, 9 butterflies were recorded - other species seen were a meadow brown, a gatekeeper, and a holly blue. We were all agreed that the churchyard could be improved to make it more attractive to butterflies and perhaps that will be an eventual outcome from this survey! We made the most of the weather and all took the scenic route home again. Thanks to Claire for hosting us, and we look forward to helping out again soon.