Another outing for Skippy allowed a crew of six to cut some errant vegetation. Embarking at the Stop House and working there way along to the junction, some over vigorous summer growth was removed from the towpath as well as the offside. The underneath of the central arch of the junction bridges was strimmed along with the periphery of the island. The arisings being deposited at the junction water point. Surprisingly, the diversity of wild flowers on the island (see photo) is already starting to improve hence the revised BCS vegetation control strategy. Understandably, the island is an ideal duck nesting site. Something else BCS have to consider when trying to maintain good visibility across the island for boaters . The offside margins were also strimmed opposite the Stop House and Marina. The arisings being deposited at their composing site at Union Canal Carriers.
Continuing preparations for the Historic Boat Rally at the end of June the vegetation around the Stop House was maintained. Fences were painted and a start was made on rebuilding the BIFA bin compound. With all the posts rotted at the base it had seen better days and could potentially collapse. As it is a large project BCS decided to do the work in stages over the next couple of months.