May Day burnings!

With May 1 just past, the Big Burn to clear the creek began in earnest!  By my count there were 12 stacks to burn, and Sue and I, over 2 days leveled them all.  The weather was perfect for it, cool, calm and the very lightest misty drizzle until about 2.30 when the heavens opened and made our bonfires safe to leave overnight.  These stacks have been sitting around drying for months now, and all it took was a little newspaper to get them absolutely blazing.  Sue and I also learnt that it is a good idea to show more respect for fire at the starting process. Enough said...

Below are shots of the two of us looking gloriously sooty! The radiant heat from the fire behind us was so intense, it took a couple of hours to get any closer than this.

The next shots show the current state of play.  There is now space to get paths made and the re-vegetation planting will now begin properly.  It still looks pretty raw down there.  The piles of branches and logs will now be relocated into path borders, seating areas, critter homes and hillside erosion control.

Where you can see still standing tree trunks will soon house bird houses, and I can't wait to get this underway.  The bird life along this creek line is amazing, so all of the planting we will do specifically targets local birds.