Thursday 27 September 2012

Bryan’s Wood rides again! 25-9-2012

In spite of the day being later described by the BBC news as the day of “the most intensive September storm for 30 years in the North”' two NCVs were brave (or daft) enough to turn up for duty*. Undaunted by the fact that the worst rains since Noah’s flood had swelled all water courses into Bryan’s Wood to ten times their size these two intrepid workers set off to find a way into the area. Our normal route in was blocked by Nidderdale’s version of Niagara Falls (see photo) so we had to make a 30 minute detour around the top of the wood, crossing ever widening streams and bogs. Undeterred we arrived safely and started the task we had given ourselves of moving the remaining 5’, 8’ and 10’ fencing posts into the heart of the wood (see entry dated 11.9.12). Our aim was to finish that job in order to allow us all to get started with the more important one of erecting the fences next week.

By 3:00pm we had accomplished our task – 15 posts transported the full distance and approx. a further 14 carried from the second hut to their final resting place (and a heavy reel of barbed wire carried half way). Tony had to give me an impromptu lesson in tossing the caber in order to throw the poles across one particularly difficult water feature. At this point we had to fashion a makeshift bridge out of the two biggest poles in order to get them, the barbed wire and us across (see photo). The idea of lashing some poles together and doing some white water rafting did occur to me at one point as being a possibility. There were places where the poles could almost have been floated along the paths – perhaps with the two of us standing on top, rolling them?

The walk out of the wood was another adventure as we decided to try out a different route, only to be thwarted by yet another raging torrent. Throughout the day the phrase ‘we must be mad’ kept cropping up as we persisted in finding ways to circumnavigate obstacles. However – the Dunkirk spirit kept us going and I actually thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was an interesting (if tiring) way of spending a rainy Tuesday with jokes and singing to keep us both amused as we splashed our way around.

Ros (E)

*Some other of the NCVs would have joined us if they had been able to drive through the floods. We just happened to be the ones who lived nearby.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

A day at Bivouac and Druid’s Temple 18-9-2012


What a wonderful day!  The sun shone brightly and the views were spectacular, we could see Roseberry Topping clearly in the distance.   A record number of volunteers turned out, we made double figures, eleven including our leader.

We were asked to clear the pathways through the woods to the wooden shacks.  Only a little light pruning was needed to prevent visitors from wounding themselves on overhanging branches when stumbling back to their accommodation in the dark.  A few of us did however spend some time removing a long length of chicken wire fencing which was way past its sell buy date and of no use what so ever in keeping the rabbits out or in!

Lunch was a very pleasant hour, or so, at Druid’s Temple basking in the sun and eating flap jack (thanks Audrey) and drinking tea and coffee kindly supplied by the Bivouac cafĂ©.  The luxury of the day had to be access to proper loos with soap and posh hand cream.  No ducking behind a bush today!

The afternoon was spent in the wood above Druid’s Temple tidying up the stumps left in the footpath after the trees had been felled to create the said footpath.  Least said……..








We have a number of keen birdwatchers in our group and I have it on good authority that blue tits, long-tailed tits, swallows, chiffchaffs, 12 crossbills and  a siskins were seen or heard in the wood.  Some interesting fungi have begun to pop up, but we were unable to identify them with confidence.  Best  left to the experts.
Midges were in abundance and no amount of insect repellent would deter  them.

Even more luxury- the day ended drinking more tea and coffee in the garden of The  Bivouac cafe overlooking the Swinton Estate in the best of company.

Anita


Bryan’s Wood re-visited 11-9-2012

This was another day of two halves.


After a slightly damp start and a walk to the coppiced area at the centre of the woods carrying various fencing tools, we continued the job of strengthening the fence around the coppice in order to keep out the deer.

One team were using bill hooks to add points to the ends of the home made sycamore fence posts cut last week – a job not dissimilar to sharpening 8’pencils (although not nearly so easy!) Another team got on with the knocking in of some of these posts next to the existing rotten ones. Said quickly this doesn’t sound too difficult but using a 13kg fence post knocker is a heavy duty task which calls for a breakfast of spinach. The even more difficult bit was nailing the new posts to the old ones – a skill that Tony and Dave had to develop to a new level as the enormous nails decided to bend every time. They can now offer training programmes to interested parties in the ancient art of ‘two hammer embedded nail straightening’.

After lunch we had to abandon our morning duties in order to carry in the fence posts that warden Paul had brought from a local saw mill in his newly acquired Landrover and trailer*.

Walking along the beautiful footpath through Bryan’s Wood on a sunny day sounds like a pleasant way to spend the time doesn’t it? It would be if you didn’t need to factor in the following:
  • 9 people
  • 53 fence posts – 5’, 8’ and 10’ long (each one 4-6” in diameter and very heavy, some requiring one person at each end)
  • 2 x 10kg rolls of barbed wire (can only be carried by threading the reel on a heavy fencing bar)
  • Distance for everything to be carried – 1/3 of a mile
Backwards and forwards. Backwards and forwards. Backwards and ..........

All kinds of maths could be done here – I am simply too exhausted to calculate! Some posts only got carried as far as the half way mark so there’s a job for next time. And then of course we’ll need to resume the job of knocking the posts in. An NCV’s job is never done.

*Special note A - With only one day’s training behind him Paul did a great job of negotiating the very hairy track up to the entrance to the woods (we won’t mention the sticky moment at the end of the day when he had some difficulty turning the vehicle around in a tight space, near a fast flowing stream!)

Special note B - Many thanks to Gretchen for the delicious flapjack that set us up for the work ahead during our coffee and lunch breaks.


Ros (E)

Bryan’s Wood 4-9-2012


A special day – Ros E’s first NCV day after retiring, so she brought cake (homemade of course) for us all. A good turn out of volunteers but it’s not certain whether this was because of the cake or the sunshine, but both were very welcome. Bryan’s Wood is also one of our favourite work places, privately owned semi ancient woodland which is also a SINC, and rich in wildlife. As proof of this a tawny owl was seen at close quarters by some of the lucky volunteers, and a green woodpecker was heard yaffling three times.









Twelve of us turned out and after a Health and Safety talk from Paul carried our tools, hard hats and other equipment into the wood. There were three main tasks – control of sycamores by either ring barking or felling, checking the boundary of the coppiced area to identify much needed repairs, and checking the N E boundary where more fencing work is needed. A section of the coppice fencing promptly fell down so priority in the afternoon went to re-erecting the fallen section and strengthening it with some of the felled sycamore to prevent roe deer from getting at the hazel.

 A good day, some very useful work, and the expectation of returning there next week to carry out more fencing work.

……… and of course, thanks to Ros for the cake.

Tony

Thursday 13 September 2012

Hackfall Woods - 28-8-2012


It has been suggested by she-who-goes-before that the writer of each blog should identify him/herself and I wouldn’t dare to disagree!



Hackfall Woods in really good weather; that felt like a change for this summer. Two jobs to do, the first was digging out the bed of Alum Spring  Pond which was badly silted up, strengthening the banks to reduce erosion, and of course getting thoroughly wet and muddy.

The mid morning and lunch breaks were very sophisticated affairs, sitting on Kent’s Seat in picturesque surroundings, admiring the results of our work and exchanging one or two pretty bad jokes that don’t bear repeating.


Although seven of us started the day’s work two more volunteers joined us mid morning. It was good to have back among us two people who haven’t been able to come out with us for some time.

The afternoon was also demanding, carrying timbers and gravel across stepping stones and up a steep, muddy and slippery path to do some path revetment. More to do still, so we’ll be back again another day.

We finished the day by looking at the new information board at Fountain Pond. Very impressive. Hackfall is a great place to work so we’ll look forward to the next visit.

Tony

The first five weeks of the NCVs' blog

Summerbridge: 24-7-2012

Today was our new warden’s first day. Paul Mosley (AONB Volunteer Co-ordinator) took over from Colin Slator, who retired in July. We all decided that Paul did a good job and could carry on looking after us.



The job for the day consisted of starting to work our way through a newly planted area of trees near the top of Hartwith Bank in Summerbridge, making sure that all the trees that had been blown over in high winds were returned to a position as close as possible to the vertical. This is a tricky job as it entails replacing cracked stakes and tightening up tree guards. Many of the trees were overgrown with elder and had all but disappeared from view, so a bit of lopping was called for to ensure that they could see light of day. By the end of the day many trees had been rescued and were feeling as if they were wanted after all, but many more needed attention. We will need to re-visit!



Bewerley Outdoor Education Centre: 31-7-12


Today’s task involved constructing and installing no fewer than 10 benches around two fire pits in Bewerley Park outdoor education centre. This job involved a number of highly specialised sub-tasks including digging post holes using a pair of giant ‘tweezers’, specially designed to remove soil from narrow spaces at great depths; knocking in the posts and packing them tight with gravel (barrowed long distances at great cost to the muscles) and finally (and most importantly)testing the benches (see below).


Completion of this task means that the children who visit the centre are now able to sit around their camp fires without getting damp pants. The accompanying adults are also able to sit down in comfort, and stand up again easily – much better for their ageing joints!
A special vote of thanks is given to Graham this week, who, with a wave of his trusty screwdriver and some magical incantation, turned the NCV workshop door’s padlock into something that anyone could open without being in danger of breaking their fingers anymore.

Moorland training and yellow rattle seed collection: 7-8-2012

An interesting day today. A day of two halves.


Once a month we have training sessions. Today was the day that Marian Wilby, the Farm Conservation Advisor based at the Nidderdale AONB office, took us out for the morning onto Dallowgill Moor and told us all kinds of interesting facts about grouse moorland management. We got to stand in two different kinds of grouse butts (we volunteers know how to have a good time!) and were able to have a chat with one of the game keepers. Good weather and wonderful views across to the North Yorkshire Moors – it doesn’t get much better than this!

Now the afternoon – a different venue and a very different task. A first for the NCVs. We were charged with picking yellow rattle seeds at Thruscross. These were to be sown in other fields as part of the wild flower meadow project.
Picture the scene – 1:30pm - a beautiful wild flower meadow; Thruscross reservoir in the background; three NCVs and Paul busy collecting seeds in the glorious sunshine, each supplied with a newly purchased, pristine white pillowcase for collecting the seed heads. Once again – how could you improve on this? Good weather and wonderful views - the seed heads were easy to spot and came off easily with a simple tug.
Now picture the scene – 2pm – an ominous black cloud starts to grow on the horizon. At 2:30pm the rain started to lash the hillside. Within minutes the seed heads had all but become invisible and, if you could see one, slimy to remove. Dry pillow cases quickly became sodden (as did the seeds inside....and the NCVs holding them).
Waterproofs were quickly donned but soon submitted to the relentless onslaught. My eyes began to sting as the L’Oreal Revitalift* , so carefully applied that morning in an attempt to stave off the march of time, started to run down the wrinkles and straight into the eye sockets. It was no good – we had to give up. Needless to say – as soon as we started driving away from the field the rain stopped.
As an aside – there was a horse standing in the farmyard where we parked our cars. It did not appear to be tethered but stood in the same place all the time we were there, in spite of the fact that one of the farm dogs constantly kept pulling its tail. It just kept kicking the dog. Obviously a very patient, lazy horse and a persistent, thick-skinned dog!
*other anti-ageing creams are available
(Update - 21st August - The seeds are still drying out two weeks later!)

Strawberry Bank: 14-8-2012


Thistle pulling.  Thistle pulling. Thistle pulling.
No – it doesn’t matter how you say it – it doesn’t sound very inviting. This could be one of the reasons why the NCVs were a bit thin on the ground this week. Suddenly most had a holiday they remembered they had to go on.
For those of us who could go out pulling thistles there was an upside – we had a very nice lunch spot on top of a hill, overlooking Nidderdale, at Strawberry Bank. It is a SINC site where the AONB staff are trying to encourage the wild flowers to spread. Hence – the thistles must go! It was a good opportunity to try out the new suede gloves that Paul has bought us. The large man sized ones turned out to be as much use as a pair of lace gloves. However – the natty little red ones, especially for ladies, were a winner. Not a single thistle thorn (do thistles have thorns? Stingy bits? Prickles?) managed to penetrate to the skin below. A bargain at half the price!

We managed to clear a very large patch of said pesky thistles. However, as with a number of NCV jobs – it is always as well not to look over there, or behind you, once you have finished, as there are always acres more of whatever you are trying to eradicate just lying there, mocking you.











Summerbridge and Old Spring Wood: 21-8-2012

DĂ©jĂ  vu – back on the hillside above Summerbridge, reinstating yet more trees to their proper position in life (see entry for Tuesday 24th July). At least this was the job for the morning.


After a leisurely lunch, sitting on the lovely patio of Rosemary Helme (owner of both the new tree plantation and Old Spring Wood), we walked down into Old Spring Wood for the next task of the day. This involved clearing a number of invading sycamores and cutting back the encroaching vegetation that was threatening to turn the main footpath into a narrow tunnel. Lopping, sawing, brash pile building – what more could anyone ask for?

Needless to say – even though we worked hard until 4pm, there are still more sycamores to cut down and more trees that need standing upright. It wouldn’t do to be able to finish a job in a day would it?
Two votes of thanks this week – one to Audrey for providing yet another tin of her tasty flapjack (highly recommended) and another to Clive for fixing the hook on the new plantation gate. Next time we visit we will be able to enter within seconds instead of having to work hard to release the latch. (This week we needed a lump hammer to gain admittance!)
Having brought you all up to date for the first 5 weeks of the blog, I (Ros E.) now pass on the blog baton to the next NCV......