Volunteer Event Hendre Lake Hay Rake Sat 17th October 2026 10.00am - 12.00pm

Thank you to all of our 20 volunteers who joined the Park Ranger at our eastern meadow at Hendre Lake. It was a glorious morning and we worked hard in the sunshine raking and then piling up the cut hay to remove as much as we can from the meadow. This stops the decomposing cut vegetation from enriching the soil. Our native wildflowers prefer less nutrient rich soils like the Devil's Bit Scabious which we were happy to spot after we planted flowers here last year.

We hope that by managing these meadows, they will return to a more biodiverse site, with a variety of flowers and grasses to support lots of pollinators and insects and in time, provide more food for birds and bats too.

Most of us were using rakes, pitchforks and tarpaulin to remove the cut hay into a few piles. These will be great spots for wildlife like grass snakes.

Volunteers were using loppers and shears to cut back bramble from a pathway and underneath the beautiful oak trees in the meadow.

2 volunteers also litter picked around the lake, helping keep the environment safe for us and the wild life that call Hendre Lakes home.

A big thank you to Community Champions Nicola and Emma at Tesco St Mellons for providing refreshments for our group of volunteers, it's greatly appreciated, and the snacks provided energy for the tough tasks.

We spotted some lichen on the oaks, a darter dragonfly and various spiders like the pictured Nursery Web Spider. Robins were also joining us at the end looking for worms and bugs.