Workday leader Helen reports:
A happy, lucky band of SSNTV volunteers assembled at Kinver on a marvellous, sunny Sunday morning, ready to work with Ranger Tom.
Our mission: to help save Kinver’s important vertebrate residents, the baby adders that will come out in the Spring, from starving to death!
This happens because when baby adders hatch, they desperately need to bask in the sun to warm up and generate enough energy to enable them to hunt and eat. Unfortunately, too much dense, scrubby undergrowth on the Heath and naughty, downright badly behaved dogs force them back into the shadows. There they stay, too frightened to come out, getting colder and colder and gradually starve to death. A very sad story.
So SSNTV volunteers to the rescue. Their weapons: bowsaws and loppers!
Their task: to clear little glades in the scrub of oaks and birch – to discourage errant dogs from rampaging through and still allow enough light and warmth to permeate the ground storey – just right for baby adders. If even then, they do still get scared and look to hide, there’s enough cover close at hand!
A wonderfully warm but socially-distanced time was had by all thanks to the Covid regulations and the moveable tumbril. Things couldn’t have got much better (except if there’d been cake!).
Thank goodness for SSNTV! Here’s hoping we get out again soon – fingers crossed!
Shropshire and Staffordshire National Trust Volunteers 