As I sit to begin writing this report, I see two red squirrels travelling north on their regular visits to a nearby garden. They soon return with the spoils of a feeder station tucked into their cheek pouches.
We are now ten days into the winter season; a white frost descended in the early hours and a beautiful sunrise matched yesterday evening’s sunset. My visit to the Green shows that a few autumn leaves hang on the old Oak trees as well as the Hawthorn in the understorey. The dark green of the Bay and Yew display their scattered presence.
Our volunteer maintenance team have been busy removing victims of Ash Die Back disease and undertaking the routine thinning of dead and dying vegetation in order to relieve the upper canopy.
The understorey floor is at the early thicket stage (between 6 feet to 10 feet high) and will require thinning in the near future to maintain lines of sight, enabling our visitors to feel secure.
Sunrise is progressing the right way now, that is getting earlier by a minute or two daily. There is an old countryman’s observation, “as the days lengthen, so shall the cold strengthen”. That can be true up to and sometimes after the spring equinox, 21st March 2026.
May I wish all those associated with the Play Lane Millennium Green a very happy and healthy new year.
Ian Jefferies
Guardian of the Green
31st December 2025