Tuesday 29 September 2015

Hackfall Woods:29-09-2015

Today's task was to revisit Hackfall Woods with a view to doing 'path work and cascade clearance'.

On a day full of autumn promise, (sun and beautiful colours), we arrived at the car park as the early morning mist was beginning to clear, although it was still lingering in the valley below.13 volunteers picked up their chosen tools for the day and those with wellies went to do battle with the cascades. The others took loppers, saws and spades and set off to continue the "debramblisation" of footpath edges and the removal of overhanging vegetation. Spades were taken to ensure that blocked culverts could be cleared to improve the drainage of the paths.

Today we also welcomed 3 more of our new  students from Nidderdale High School, Josh, Jack and Luke, who will come out with us this year as part of their Heritage Skills course.

"With a snip snip here and a snip snip there.
Here a lop, there a lop, everywhere a lop lop.
NCVs are in the wood, E I E I O"

Hmmm. Something tells me that some NCVs 
were sidetracked from their task!

Having all gone our separate ways for the morning we met up for lunch at Alum Spring. Audrey, bless her, had sent us some of her delicious flap jack to share out. We also received our loveliest compliment of the year from Tom, our newest NCV recruit, to say the group is "everything he'd hoped for". What a nice guy he is! He then produced a bottle of his home-made cider for everyone to try - what a really lovely guy he is! The cider went down a treat too, despite being made from apples from Herefordshire.

Kent's seat is put to good use for dining 'Al Fresco'

 All the late arrivals have to sit in less salubrious conditions.

Jo checks her emails while she eats.


Tasks were resumed after lunch, some of us (by coincidence) ending up near the Fountain pond, which was by now in full sun - well at our age we need our Vitamin D! It was at this point that a few of us entered into an "interesting rapport" with some strangers in the folly high above us, beginning with a series of what sounded like yodels. It was all most bizarre. After this encounter we trekked up the hill and back to the car park.

Laura the culvert clearer, happy in her work.

Anita, too, wants to join in the fun.

Can you spot the speckled wood butterfly?

Ros K.

Meanwhile - down in the valley bottom another team worked hard to remove silt, rocks and woody debris from the cascade. This is no easy feat. Jack and Luke get the prize for managing to shift two enormous pieces of log. One section of the steam is so steep sided there are few places to put the material that is removed from the stream bed. By close of play the whole stretch from the top mill pond to just below Alum Spring was cleared. It is just a shame that it won't be long before it all needs doing again. (The Forth Bridge springs to mind!)

Osian and Maggie shovel the silt from the cascade.

Now - can you find somewhere to put this big stick?

The last men (and woman) standing - but only just.
Tom's washing machine will be working overtime tonight!
Ros E.

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Orchard Management Training - Ripon Walled Garden: 21-09-2015

Today was another one of those days that occasionally come along when the NCVs are able to sit back and be entertained whilst feeling that they are doing something useful. This week 13 NCVs and a couple of other AONB related people joined in with the Orchard Management Training day, run by horticultural expert Barry Potter and hosted by Ripon Walled garden. For those readers who have still to discover the delights of this venue click here for some information.

It was a beautiful autumn morning - just the right time of the year to visit an orchard as the fruit trees were laden with apples (although a little early in the season to do any practical work).


Barry started off with an introduction on the verandah 
of the cafe overlooking part of the garden.

Then we were off to the orchard....

...under the apple avenue....

....and past the trays of fruit.

We started by spending an hour in the orchard discussing the attention was needed by just one of the trees before visiting the cafe for morning coffee (lots of cakes available). This was followed by an informative presentation and a delicious lunch. 


Barry pointed out which branches need to be removed...

...then demonstrated how to do a bridging graft to 
strengthen a tree trunk if the bark is grazed by sheep.

 Civilised surroundings for our coffee and lunch breaks.

The presentation was shown in the multi-million pound cine-plex.
Well - in the cafe with a screen made from a sheet 
and blackout curtains made from weed suppressant.

During the afternoon we returned to the orchard to find out more about how to tackle different maintenance jobs such as pruning and grafting.Needless to say - we tried out some of the fruit!


"Now - it's very important that you know your buds."
Barry pointed out which would grow into new shoots and which would produce fruit.

This plum tree was suffering from bacterial canker - 
not life threatening, just a bit off putting!!


Whilst on the subject of plant problems Barry was given 
one of Anita's manky apples from her tree at home and asked to give a diagnosis.
"Apple scab" came back the verdict. (Again - not as bad as it looks.)

The day was rounded off back at the cafe for tea and a look at the various tools that Barry uses.

Barry showed how sharp his knife blade is by shaving his arm.

Here is a link to the notes I made on the day for anyone interested, and here is a link to some additional notes provided by Barry Potter.

Some useful links to information about orchards and orchard management include:
Ripon Walled Garden will be having their annual apple day soon. The details can be seen in the flyer below:


Many thanks to Barry for a great day and to the ladies in the cafe for some wonderful catering. Hopefully we will be able to extend our training with a practical session later in the autumn.

Ros E.

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Bird box making in the barn and tasks in Old Spring Wood: 14th and 15th September 2015

       This week was a busy week for the NCVs with some of them working a 2 day week....

Monday (and Tuesday) at the Barn:

Plan: Take 60 planks of wood, four men with power tools and some rubber inner tubes.
Intention:  Make 54 nest boxes in two days. Then take them all apart again.

We started before 9am, measuring, marking, cutting, drilling, and sand papering. The noise was considerable. After an hour and a half we were joined by Paul Harris, official photographer of the Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership (UNLP) who is making a film of the different projects involved in the scheme.  

The team get busy with the planks.

One break mid-morning for coffee and Dutch ginger cake (very good), kindly provided by Jan, and a slightly longer break for lunch at 12.30 afforded a rest for the ears, arms and shoulders.

Jan realises he's forgotten a knife 
so improvises with his handy drill bit.

John joined us after lunch so the production line got even longer. We were also joined by a young hedgehog but we declined additional help. We already had good backs for the boxes and didn’t need additional spines. Angus kindly took him away to a place of safety.

Spike arrives to offer his services - 
or maybe he just smelled the cake!

By 5.15pm we had 30 finished boxes, but without fixing the lids. Only 24 more to do tomorrow! 

As the day wore on the stack of boxes grew bigger.

It sounds crazy to make the boxes and then take them apart again but this is part of the very important education strand of the Sand Martin wall project which will encourage children to take an interest in birds and the local environment, and give them a chance to make nest boxes. A team of NCVs and Nidderdale Birdwatchers will visit four Nidderdale schools in October to help the children to put the boxes back together again which, unlike Humpty Dumpty, will be successful and good fun for all concerned.

Tony
(Update - by 3:30pm the following day the rest of the boxes were completed and all of them dismantled, with all the bits put together as separate kits. What a job! What a team!!)

Tuesday at Old Spring Wood:

Today we welcomed Tom, a new NCV, to our band as well as a group of 4 young ladies who were out with us for a 'taster' day for their Heritage Skills course placement. If they enjoyed the flavour then they will come out with us on a more regular basis in the coming months. Consequently, in spite of the rather damp start to the day and the alternative activity at the barn, we managed to muster up a working party of 17.

The tasks were varied and included sycamore shoot pruning (we mustn't let them get a hold again), lopping off holly branches that were overhanging the paths and removal of parts of a fallen tree that was causing an obstruction to a gate. Of course, a bit (well quite a lot actually) of bracken bashing was needed in order to find the sycamore shoots (that was how I sold the task to them to avoid any possible rebellion!!). Any cut vegetation was brash piled. 

Here are the photos of the day (flash photography needed until the afternoon!!)...

The dark holly tunnel needed to have a hair cut.

At last - light at the end of the tunnel!

 This habitat pile will provide a nice warm home for 
some wildlife this winter.

Hannah and Charlie hone their lopping skills.



After the tunnel was completed we took a well earned coffee break.

 Then the sycamore pruning began - no shoots were spared.

There were lots down by stile over the lower boundary wall.

The team: "Are you sure that there are sycamores along this stretch?"
Ros E.: "Yes - just bash the bracken a bit and you will find them!"

What we did find were lots of frogs.

 Lunch break gave us chance to eat Anita's yummy plums.

The students were smiling so they must 
have been having a good time.

This tree really needed some attention....

...so attention it got. Now you can  get to the gate. 
(Although it really needs further work with a chain saw.) 

Meanwhile - other NCVs spent the post lunch session 
hunting down those elusive sycamore shoots 
(and realising that they had been duped).

Ros E.

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Bracken bashing in Bryan's Wood: 07-09-2015

In spite of the promise of yet more bracken bashing 9 NCVs managed to summon up some enthusiasm for this never ending task in Bryan's Wood. In spite of us having bashed the glade at the end of June, the bracken seemed as high there as ever. So - sticks at the ready - we got going. And kept going - until 2:30pm when we all decided that enough was enough. The photos tell the rest of the story.....

Everyone spent time admiring the ducks on the 
pond on the way in, trying to put off the start of the bash.

  No more prevarication - just get on with it!

Bashing here and bashing there; 
we were bashing everywhere.

Break times were spent at the hut, 
where Queen Anita sat on her fish crate throne.

There were a lot of places where previous 
bashing had taken effect...

...and lots of others where it hadn't! 

Everywhere was festooned with spiders' webs. 

After lunch we moved from the glade to the coppicing area,
 ready to start clearing around the fence....

....and had to wait for laggy last Anita to catch up. 
She had been busy bashing the bits we had missed on our way there.

The boys' team dared to venture inside the coppice 
to have a bash and found it VERY BRAMBLY.

Arise Sir Phil - you are now an MBE 
(Member of the Bashing Empire)

Meanwhile, the other team were bashing a route through 
to some of the bird boxes to make autumn maintenance a little easier.

Spot the bird box. 
(PS This box was about 10' up the tree!!)

Ros E.