Tuesday 27 October 2015

Scrub clearance at Ellington Banks: 27-10-2015

In spite of the foggy, dank conditions this morning (see photographic proof below) no fewer than 18 NCVs turned up for duty on wildlife rich, Ministry of Defence land at Ellington Banks near Ripon, with MOD ecologist John Black.  

Not a poor photograph -
 just poor visibility!

The job for the day was to clear the encroaching scrub from around the ponds where Dragonflies and Great Crested Newts inhabit. Faithful readers of this blog will remember that this is a task that we have had to undertake before, around another of the ponds, during February of this year.

James introduced the task and made 
it clear that slacking was not an option.

 The nature of the task - where are the ponds?


There may be one somewhere here.

The team split up into different unions: loppers, sawers, draggers, fire lighters and fire feeders (although there was some cross union co-operation on a number of occasions). Many trees were felled and many thorns penetrated many fingers.


A fire was soon lit, by members of the NAFL,
in spite of the damp conditions...


... and Graham (NAFF) practised his caber tossing.

Tom (of the NUD) kept smiling throughout.

Ros K. and Anita (NAL&FF) were happy in their work too.

Osian (NUS) went into overdrive 
- especially when foreman James came over with the whip.

The going in some areas was what is known by the racing fraternity as 'Soft' (in the NCV fraternity we just call it 'Deep bog') and wellies were most definitely needed (and often got stuck). Those working near to the edge of the ponds had to keep tight hold of one another to ensure none were lost at sea.

Colin teetered on the brink.

Dave and Tom modelled this year's  Calvin Klein casuals collection 
whilst the rest of us lined the edge of the catwalk.

Nick and Laura (NUS) worked together on this tree stump.

(Click on the link below to see the video in action if it won't work directly.)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fznqs2hpiz89kn5/Ellington%20Banks%2027-10-2015-1.mp4?dl=0

By the end of the day the task was complete - the newts can now sleep in their watery beds secure in the knowledge that any winter sunshine will be able to keep their ponds a little warmer than they otherwise would have been under the scrubby covering.

Graham decided to take home a bull rush 
to fashion into a flower arrangement.

The ponds are now visible to the naked eye.


Ros E.

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Fishpond Woods revisited: 19-10-2015

Today 12 NCVs,  6 Heritage Skills students and their 2 tutors collected at the barn to carry out more work at Fishpond Wood. Last week we moved old brash piles into new positions and sorted out the larger timbers suitable for charcoal - or just a good blaze. James re-assured us our task this week was not to move them all back again to where they had started.

We had a few more piles of old brash to sort and re-stack where it could be burned. That took us up to coffee time. 



Tom starts to drag out the brash from under the bushes.

Home is where you hang your coat.

The students lend a hand to shift the 
brash to its final destination.

Some embers from a fire lit yesterday were still active 
and we made the most of them....

 ...although it took a while to get a roaring blaze going.

Charlie feeds the towering inferno.

 Coffee time was spent standing up....

 
...whilst lunch was spent sitting down in groups....

 ....with Phil in two minds about taking off his boots 
and dangling his feet in the water.

We then started on clearing rhododendrons from around the bases of the larger trees. It proved easier to lop and saw down the offending  rhododendrons than it was to reduce the debris to brash and logs and to move them to new sites where they could be burned.

The enthusiasm of some provided more material than we could deal with and by the end of the afternoon there was still waste we had not sorted or moved - a task for another day.

Post-lunch adjournment to the top of the hill for 
rhodie cutting, brash piling or dragging.

Tom's at the back but can you guess who is 
the mobile rhododendron in front?

That's better Ros - we can see your smile now!

 At the far end of the lake the branches were 
thrown down to Graham, Anita and Maggie.
A river of rhodies threatened to engulf them 
once the cutters stopped cutting and began dragging!

At lunch we were able to sit by the pond in the sunshine and enjoy its newly dredged and cleaned up state. It is slowly filling again from the stream and will look very good by the time it is full. 

Phil.

The lake when it was first dredged in September......

... and now. Much improved! 
(As is the lava like flow of dredged silt that is now covered over 
with dead leaves and looks just like the woodland floor should.)

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Fishpond Wood and Glasshouses-Bewerley Bridleway:13-10-2015

11 NCVs , 4 Heritage Skills students and their two tutors met James at the barn to hear about the main task in Fishpond Wood for the day. 

The job sounded easy – pick up some rhododendron brash from pile A at the top of the hill and transfer it to pile B, situated at the bottom. Not so! As soon as we started to dismantle the first of the many pile As it was evident that the nature of rhodie brash piles made it very difficult to pull out the constituent parts. It was a good exercise to develop strong biceps.


The brash piles we made last year have to be got rid of 
to make room for more rhododendron waste soon to be produced.

This is another fine mess you've gotten me into Stanley!

Just watch Sally, Graham -  she'll show you how to do it.

If I pass it to you and you pass it on 
we'll soon have this lot shifted.

Walking down the hill was only slightly easier than toiling back up, as you either had to manhandle unwieldy armfuls of small bits of brash or drag along large branches.

The loneliness of the long distance brash carrier.

The trick was not to lose too much along the way.

 
Tony, Ros E. and Terry demonstrate the dragging technique.

Although those waiting at the bottom of the hill to deal with the constant arrival of brash (i.e. the ‘Pile B builders’) didn’t have the hill to contend with, they did have the job of sorting the brash into two different heaps:
  •          Pile B (i) – stuff for burning
  •          Pile B (ii) – bigger pieces suitable for making charcoal
     This whole process was happening at both ends of the wood. 


Hannah and Terry try to bring order to pile B 
at the Bewerley end of the wood....

.... whilst at the far end of the lake Josh and others were trying to do the same.
(Sorry Josh - the photographer had developed a bad case of shaky hand.) 

Ros K. was struggling to see over her pile B (i)...

...and John was throwing himself into the task with gusto.

There were LOTS of pile As at the start of the day but by 2:30pm they had all disappeared and a good number of pile Bs had been built.
Good job everyone!!

Special thanks go to James, for providing us with some delicious fruit cake at lunchtime – made by his own fair hands no less. This provided us with solid evidence that he was definitely the right man for the job - and that he had told the truth when questioned in an informal interview about the extent of his cake making abilities.

Lunchtime gave everyone a well earned rest.

Ros K. and Angela  deserve a special mention too, as they came and joined in with the brash shifting at lunchtime having already spent all morning finishing off a job started last week - clearing the other half of the Glasshouses - Bewerley bridleway of encroaching vegetation. They could have easily slipped off home instead but they didn’t!! True NCVs.


Ros E.












Lunchtime gave everyone a well earned rest.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Glasshouses verge: 06-10-2015

Today was a special day as our new volunteer coordinator, James Searle, took over the reins. Welcome James!!

12 volunteers gathered at the barn to collect rakes and forks then set off on the short walk to the flower rich verge near Glasshouses Dam. Now that summer is over it is important that the vegetation is mown and raked off ready for the new crop of grasses and wild flowers to emerge next spring.

Although it had rained heavily the day before, wetting what would have otherwise been a beautifully dry harvest, the fact that we were raking up very damp, heavy grass did not deter the NCVs. Dear me no! We are made of sterner stuff than that. By 2pm the job was done - as can be seen below.


The NCVs gather to listen to their new leader.

The grass lay in deep ridges ready for raking...

...and so we raked:





Forks were used to transfer the grass into piles by the wall...

...although Alistair just used his hands at one point
- probably due to a rake induced blister.


It's smiling that keeps you going!

Or is Terry just gritting his teeth?

Sally certainly seemed happy in her work.

Dave almost got buried alive under a grass sausage.

A well deserved lunch at the picnic spot.

Laura got sidetracked by some blackberries (again).

Terry and Will lean on their tools to discuss life, 
the universe and everything.

A freshly cleared verge and lots of grass piles.

In the afternoon three NCVs did a bit of hedge lopping and footpath scraping nearby to make the bridleway wider for the horses. This is a job that is still to be finished next week.


In addition to this work Jan and Phil remained at the barn to do some all important tool sharpening. This can be a tedious task but they were still smiling at the end of the day when we got back to the barn.



Ros E.