Today was a wet and cold day. Working in these conditions can be dangerous so a flurry of emails and phone calls at 8am determined whether we were going to meet or not. Two important factors came into play. 1. the steps down to Derek’s bridge were very slippery and almost completely engulfed in wet mud. 2. It was Margaret’s birthday and John had made a chocolate cake. Let me reiterate it was raining and cold but even so, ten volunteers turned out and worked very hard to make the steps safe. But was it really because John’s cake was so delicious? It continued to rain softly all morning, stopping only to allow us to celebrate Margaret’s birthday at our break time. We all sang happy birthday loudly, Leo was given a few crumbs and we left the soggy wet woodland in good spirits.