Fogfield Farm:27-09-2016

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Radio 4

06:00-09:00: The Today Programme   i> Listen live
John Humphreys: And finally... we talk to one of the Nidderdale Conservation Volunteers, Ros E., who is currently sitting in a radio van somewhere in the wilds of North Yorkshire. Hello Ros!

R: Good morning John.

JH: Unfortunately we haven't got much time but I believe that the "NCVs" have been to pastures new this week. Is that right?

R: Yes John - it was very interesting to visit somewhere we've never worked before. It was Fogfield Farm, Darley. 

JH: And the task you were working on?

R: We had to reinstate the line of a footpath through a strip of ancient woodland that runs along the line of Darley Beck. It had become so badly overgrown with holly and brambles that walkers were forced to trample all over the lovely wild flowers alongside.

JH: Interesting. Sounds a bit of a thorny thing to be doing! So what is it that makes a piece of woodland ancient?

R: Well - it has to have existed since 1600 AD and contain a number of indicator species, John. Listeners can find out more from the Woodland Trust website.

JH: Right. So - did you get the job done? I'll have to hurry you here - we don't want to crash the pips.

R: Oh yes - with a band of 14 hard workers we...

JH: Sorry - I'm afraid that's it for this morning. Goodbye from the Today team.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeep.

R: Hello? Hello? John? Oh dear - I didn't mention that listeners could see photos of the task on the NCV blog......

Some of the locals came along to welcome us on arrival.

The path was definitely in need of attention!

Everyone set to with loppers and saws and 
gradually light began to penetrate.

Vegetation was passed over the wall...

...and piled up in the field next door, 
in 5 enormous heaps, for the farmer to move.

Julia worked wonders on the job of revealing some paving slabs that had got lost over the years.

James sawed away at something 
whilst Dave practised his putting.

Oh. I see. Not golfing after all.
Good team work you two.

At coffee time Little Miss Muffet and her mate sat on the only available log that ensured their rear ends remained dry in a very boggy field nearby.

At lunch time Osian entertained us with useful bits of information about the anatomy of hippos. Did you know that they used their stumpy tails to flick away their poo? It obviously tickled Phil's funny bone.

Our students worked like Trojans all day.

By 2:30pm the path was clear all the way along its length. 

A job well done - let's hope that both the 

walkers and the wild flowers benefit.

Hackfall and Duck House Farm: 20-09-2016

It's 'Take Your Pick' time - with your host Michael Miles!!

MM - Which would you prefer? A seed collecting and drying course at Duck House Farm, Studley Roger, or a day in Hackfall Wood, Grewelthorpe, 

NCVs: That's a tough one Michael. Can't we just take the money?

MM - Sorry - no money on offer this week. Just a day of pleasant study and field work or a day of tasks in lovely woodland. Clock's ticking away. I must hurry you for an answer now. It's make your mind up time.

We all had a think and made up our minds. The majority of the NCVs (12 in all including the students and their tutor) returned to Hackfall Wood and just 2 plumped for the training day. Over to our roving reporters to give us the latest in NCV adventures......

Hackfall Wood:

One brave soul set off with teak oil and a mountain of cloths to find the various seats scattered far and wide throughout the wood. She was never seen again except for lunch.

Four souls went a-roaming the paths of the wood, lopping, sawing and tidying the vegetation. They too weren't seen again - except for lunch.

Meanwhile pity was shown by two from a stream clearance team on the lone volunteer bashing a hillside of bracken.

A team of six fought their way up stream to aid the flow of water to the Weeping Rock and try to discover the source.

After lunch at Fountain's Pond all activities were finished by 2pm. The last of the troops enjoyed (?) the long haul to the car park, smelling the sterling work of the bench oiler, seeing the impressive results of the bracken bashing three and appreciating the path clearance of the other four.

The day was a fine one with good views 
across to the North York Moors.

 The latest in outdoor wear for the younger man about town.

Lunch by Fountains pond.

These three little pigs made their house with stone.

Sally the oiler oils away the day.

A bashed area of bracken - once again!!

Osian


Seed collecting and drying course:

The 2 other NCVs joined a number of other volunteers and interested individuals in the Lodge of Duck House Farm, near Fountains Abbey. 

Inside the lodge - what a venue for a training day!!!

After a brief introduction to hay meadow restoration from Tara Challoner (the AONB's farming and wildlife officer) and wild flower seed collection from Sarah Green (from the Forest of Bowland's AONB office)  we went out on a guided walk and seed collection foray led by Neil Watson (the Duck House Farm estate manager). We were collecting seed from a number of different species that set seed during the late summer and which, therefore, get missed during the earlier hay making season. (e.g. rough hawkbit, knapweed, teasel, lady's bedstraw, betony.)

 Sarah shows us how to tell if the seeds are fertile.

Neil points out the many, many species that are now growing 

in abundance in the Duck House Farm meadows

Everyone gets busy collecting seeds of various kinds.

Four miles later we arrived back at the lodge for a lovely buffet lunch (courtesy of the estate owner - thanks very much for this!!). After lunch we were all given information about how to dry the seed we had collected and the equipment needed to do this. So - some homework is in order!! 

Anita can't believe her luck - a plastic box, a kilner jar 

and a hygrometer in our party bags!

Once dry this seed will be spread in one of the hay meadows that is currently being restored in upper Nidderdale. You can find out more about the Nidderdale AONB's Hay Meadows project by clicking HERE. Now that we have all the equipment we shall be able to collect seed throughout the spring and summer when we are walking out and about.

Thanks for a good day's training Tara!

Ros E.

Return to Fishpond Wood: 12-09-2016

When asked if we wanted to return to Fishpond Wood, Bewerley today the answer was, of course, a yes. Who wouldn't want to continue working in such lovely surroundings on a hot September day? It's also nice to be involved in the final stages of the wood's renovation having been there from the start. (New readers can see the first, muddy, stages by clicking on this link to a September 2014 entry of the blog.)

 13 NCVs joined one of our new students and his tutor to mark out an audio trail, tidy up some remaining path edges, re-lay path ‘stepping’ stones by the pond, and cut and remove some bracken.  A nice variety of tasks - even the bracken removal didn't sound too bad.

Team "Stepping stones" were faced with a boggy surface to sort out. 
Clag factor 10 on the bog scale.

No problem. We'll just shift a bit of mud 
to the side to level off the track....

.... and go and fetch a few barrow loads of gravel to cover the bog.

Then we'll choose some of the right shaped stone flags...

...and lay them down here.

And there you have it. A brand new M6 
motorway grade path starts to take shape.

Ros E. tried a spray of her Avon Skin So Soft 
(usually used to ward off the midges)
to stop the wheelbarrow making a terrible screaming noise.
However - it had no effect what-so-ever.

Meanwhile at various points around the lake Team "Audio posts" 
dug holes, inserted posts and attached numbers.
Terry seemed to enjoy the ritual sacrifice of Phil with the spike.

While all this was going on Team "Mud shifters" grafted away, 

digging up the soil down below the lake...

...and depositing it along the wooden edge of the path 

to the ice house to prevent gravel from being lost under the boards.

At lunchtime James handed out pieces of his delicious ginger cake (thanks James).
Alistair was concerned that there would be none left by the time it got to him.

Everyone enjoyed the rest in the sun at lunchtime.

Team "Bracken Cutters" (an elite group of 2) made a good 
start before lunch. Anita showed off her raking skills to produce a 
world record beating sized bracken roll.

 This select little team was helped in their task by everyone else 
towards the end of the afternoon.

Sickles and slashers were deployed to good effect.

New NCV, Catherine, practised her signature bake 
'Hand Crafted Bracken Roly Poly' 
for the next season of the Great British Bake Off.

Phil, like Anita, preferred to roll his HCBRP with the hay rake. 
It did give a better texture to the pudding.

Owner of the wood, Peter, collected up the cut bracken rolls 
at the bottom of the slope and zoomed off with them behind his quad bike, 
to be burnt and used as fertiliser.

Cutting and removing the bracken meant that we could 

see a clear hillside at close of play, rather than just the sea 
of bashed bracken that we are normally left with.

Peter took yet another dip in the lake to cool down 
before going off home with minnows in his pockets..

As usual we did well and achieved all of what we set out to do, although there was still more bracken left to clear at the end of the day. But then - what can you expect? It is bracken we're talking about!!

Additionally....

On the evening of Wednesday 7th September a small group of 7 NCVs were able to avail themselves of a wonderful opportunity to have a guided walk around Coldstones Quarry, Greenhow. We really do know how to have a good time!!

Having had advanced notification from Chicken Licken of an 

imminent collapse of the sky everyone donned hard hats.

Quiz question - how much rock has been dug out of this VERY BIG hole?

Quarry Guide: "Right ladies and gentlemen; 

rather than just listening to me talk all evening 

I thought you might like to do something more practical. 

See that VERY BIG hole there?  We'd like you to fill it in again."

Ros E.

Fishpond Wood: 06-09-2017

11 NCVs arrived at the Barn on a humid morning where we were joined by Angela and 3 new Heritage Skills students – James, Tom and Harry. Peter Lambert and Giovanni, Peter’s National Park colleague, then arrived to take the tools up to Fishpond Wood for us. And there was even more good news – the gravel for the paths we needed to surface had been delivered close to the work area and a power barrow was available to take it the remaining distance! So were we actually needed at all?

The answer became obvious when the team arrived at the pond – a 16 tonne pile of gravel sat waiting to be shifted. While James S. briefed the new students about life as an NCV at the Barn, the real workers got stuck into the task. Jan received instruction on power barrow operation and quickly got into supply role (7.5 minutes a trip). 

Stirling Moss takes the bridge at a frightening speed.

The rest of the team split in two – some working above the bridge where Giovanni had cut a shallow ‘tray’ for the new path with a digger, while others worked to raise wet areas of the path along the pond side.

The digger made short work of preparing a new path bed.

The students arrived for coffee time on the bank. Afterwards they made a start on finishing revetment at the pond corner and passed their first practical test with flying colours (a very neat job and no injuries!).

Our new group of students get stuck in like real pros.

Great job lads!

After lunch all joined in spreading, raking and wheel barrowing gravel (just so Jan didn’t feel too alone in his task). The time flew by, the gravel went down, the shovellers spread it, and the rakers evened it all up. Then for the final trick – the wacker plate to compact the path and finish the job – Voila!

Lunch in the shade of the Koolibar tree.

Phil maintains a watching brief to ensure standards didn't slip.

Everyone grabs a rake to smooooth out the path.

This happy whacker whacks his way along

 getting rid of any lumps and bumps.

By the day’s end the 16 tonnes pile had vanished. Such a good day’s work that the wood’s owner Peter Brambleby couldn’t resist a celebratory dip into the pond.

Peter shows off his diving prowess. Gold medal perhaps?

James