Highbury Park Friends

Concerto for Alpenhorn and loppers

If you’re a regular Saturday visitor to the park, you are likely to have heard the Alpenhorn echoing over the meadows.  Today, those of us working in the apiary were treated to several tunes whilst snipping our way through the laurel and holly. If you listen carefully to the video above, the sounds of the horn can be heard between bits of conversation and the sound of several shears snipping.

The work party itself was also a wonderful thing. We had just enough tools for the people who turned up, and kept ourselves busy for 3 hours, occasionally stopping for drinks and conversation. Rob, John and Murph from Quadron set the pace, and a dozen Friends and beekeepers got stuck in and made quick work of the wall of shrubbery. Even better, the sun came out part way through, as if to reward our efforts, and to show us just what we can expect as a result of our work!

Here are some before, during, and after snapshots. Move your mouse over the lower portion of the image to see and select from the group of thumbnails.

We took down a thicket of holly, exposed a very large and very dead tree, cleared away several laurel bushes, and ended up with a fine view and very large pile of cuttings.

There’s more to do – to the north, and to the south. We hope to have another of these work parties, perhaps in a couple of months. With thanks to all the volunteers, to John Timothy, Nicola Little, Martyn Bradley of Quadron, and Nikki Carr and Sue Amey of BCC for making arrangements, and for the crew for pitching up, and piling in.

Thanks also to the Alpenhorn man, whose tones you can hear more clearly here, punctuated by children and birds.