High Wray Christmas weekend, December 12-14 2014

A big weekend deserves a big blog entry – and they don’t come bigger than the annual MNTV Christmas festivities, which returned to the idyll of High Wray in Cumbria for the fourth year running.

Eleven volunteers (Matt, John, Ally, Neil, Lisa, Mick, Pip, Sam, Louise, Tim and Belinda) made the trip up this year, with five of the group enjoying their first MNTV Christmas, emphasising what has been a very successful year for attracting new members.

Charlie popped in to say hi on the Friday evening, somehow finding time from her busy schedule at the nearby Elterwater Hostel. While Sam joined us at the worksite on the Saturday morning, the remaining ten arrived in good time on the Friday, although Lisa almost made herself into a Darwin Awards candidate by following her satnav into the lake where the ferry crosses Windermere. Signs showing cars plunging into water helped her to stop just before tarmac turned abruptly to H₂O.

Having expected many people to eat at home before travelling up, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough food for Friday’s supper, but Ally managed to make the butternut squash soup go twice as far by the clever use of milk, and we just about fended off starvation before settling down to a slightly chilly night.

Somehow we all managed to be ready for 8.30am on Saturday, whereupon the new ranger Matt arrived, full of the same enthusiasm as his predecessor Jamie. Half an hour through icy country lanes took us just south of Coniston village, to a hedge in a tricky location between fencing, and on top of a low wall.

As hedgelaying sites go, this was a challenging one, but nothing that the skill, dedication and perseverance of MNTV couldn’t handle. Despite having several novices in the group, and despite being pelted at regular intervals by rain and hail (which always seems to happen when we lay Cumbrian hedges), we attacked our task with gusto, and by 3pm a thing of beauty had emerged from the tangled chaos that had existed when we arrived. Another handful of hedgelaying experts have now been added to MNTV’s burgeoning expertise.

Halfway through the day, Lisa, Mick and Pip had headed off to prepare Christmas dinner, and by the time the rest of the group returned to the basecamp, culinary wonders were already in the process of being performed. The aim was to eat around 6.30-7.00pm. The turkey, potatoes (roast and mash), carrots, sprouts, parsnips, stuffing, broccoli, pigs in blankets (and possibly other things that I’ve forgotten, there was so much) were all timed to perfection, and we sat down at 6.45pm. You just can’t buy precision like that.

Secret Santa’s sack had already been passed round (somehow there were enough gifts for everyone, including the weekend leader – who, er, shall remain nameless, and who forgot to bring something). Everyone seemed pleased with their gifts, but especially Neil (see Sunday morning activities!).

After the relative quiet of people contentedly tucking into dinner, we enjoyed a few games and some superbly stimulating conversation on a number of topics. As usually happens, Tim talked a load of outrageous nonsense. And as usually happens, a quick consultation on Google confirmed that Tim was actually telling the truth. This time, we found out that sugar gliders are very cute furry creatures similar to flying squirrels, and that cows have a tendency to face north, and sometimes have magnets in their stomachs to collect the metalwork they accidentally eat, which is then retrieved when the unfortunate bovine eventually heads off to the pastures in the sky.

The day’s endeavours caught up with most of us sooner rather than later, and bedtime was taken at a respectable hour. Neil had worked his magic on the heating system, and a noticeably warmer sleep was enjoyed by all.

The inescapably ‘drich’ weather scoffed at any plans we had for a scenic walk on Sunday morning. We scoffed back by enjoying a morning of untempered joy and excitement, both within the basecamp and elsewhere.

First, Neil took out his Secret Santa gift, which was a mini table tennis set that was perfectly suited to one of the small tables in the kitchen/lounge area. Mick and John proved particularly adept, and played out an epic ‘mano a mano’ struggle of skill and wits to rival the classic Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final of 2008, in stark contrast to the frankly appalling efforts that were on show in some of the other matches.

Mick, Pip and Louise then headed home, while the rest of us went to explore the nearby Trust property at Wray Castle. A highly informative guided tour was followed by a less structured ‘wander at will’ exploration, which mainly involved Ally and Neil regressing to childhood by playing a plastic oversize Connect 4 and having a vigorous swordfight on a plywood castle.

Back at the ranch Lisa cooked up a hearty lunch of turkey, sausages, bacon and eggs, and Sam proved that yesterday’s veg is today’s bubble and squeak. Then it was a soggy relay of taking our gear out to the cars, and a heavy hearted departure after a weekend in which the magic of Christmas had burned as brightly as an MNTV rhodybashing fire.

Happy Yuletide, folks, and see you in 2015!

Woodland maintenance at Styal on Sunday 7 December 2014

Six volunteers braved cold, rain and some hail today at Styal to continue the work in the hanging beech woods at the back of Mill Meadow.  We were cutting down holly bushes to let light down to the ground and give space for the future planting of young beech trees.  Today we did not have the chipper which is still awaiting repair and also there was a Victorian Christmas fair and carol concert in the mill yard which would have been disturbed by the noise of machinery.  In the time allowed we still got a lot done and felled some quite large hollies.  They were stacked ready for chipping at a later date.

(Text and photo provided by Adrian)

Gorsebashing at Formby on 30 November 2014

Today we had our second workday of the year at Formby on the Lancashire coast.  Three travelled in Daniel's car from Styal and four others made their own way there.  We worked with six Merseyside NTVers and the 13 of us spent the day gorsebashing on an area of dune heathland a ten-minute walk from the rangers' office on Blundell Avenue.  The work was akin to rhodybashing but with a lot more prickles and no bonfire!

We all went at it 100% and by the time we finished at 3pm had cleared gorse from a large area:

Panorama photo showing large piles of cut gorse

The rangers will remove all the gorse cuttings from the heathland and in time the area should return to its natural heather cover.  There is a lot more gorse to be removed and Formby's regular Friday volunteer group will resume next week from where we left off.

As Christmas is fast approaching Daniel had baked a Christmas tree-shaped chocolate cake and this was enjoyed by everyone at the 11:30 coffee break and at lunch.

Pub quiz at the Hesketh Tavern on 24 November 2014

Six of us went to the Hesketh Tavern in Cheadle Hulme last night for their Monday night pub quiz and our November social.  We caught up on each other's news, heard about yesterday's workday at Hayfield and discussed some committee/group matters.

Team MNTV came third out of the 18 teams, scoring 85 points out of a possible 105, and won £10 of pub food vouchers!  Key to our success was scoring 15/15 in the Wipeout round (in which you got one point for each correct answer, a five point bonus if you got all ten correct but lost all points if you got one wrong).  A very good team effort.  As Megan said: “Collectively we’re quite clever”!

Rhody clearance at Hayfield on Sunday 23rd Nov 2014

Twelve of us (including 2 'newbies') met the National Trust Rangers and their dogs in the Sett Valley Trail car park and we drove or got lifts to nearby Park Hall.

It turned out not to be one of our usual 'rhody bash with a fire' activities but, instead, we were pulling up rhody re-growth to ensure it didn't get established. Anything that wouldn't easily pull out was left alone and would be sprayed later to kill it off.

There used to be lots of rhody around where we were working and it was good to see that huge area's were now devoid of rhododendron ponticum.

Although it was sometimes hard to spot the small rhody, it was quite tiring to keep bending down to pull it up, it was quite cold and a bit windy, nothing can beat the views you get from working in the High Peak and that alone makes working at Hayfield a pleasure every time.

At the end of the day, when most of us were still there, we took a group photo. Some members reckon it's getting a bit 'cheesy' to include a group photo in the Blog but I think it's a great reminder of the day:-)

 

Birch clearance at Thurstaston Common on 16 November 2014

Over to the Wirral for the day to remove birch, a task the group has been doing at a few properties recently, but this time with added spiky bushes (the birch is growing in the gorse of the heathland areas at Thurstaston Common).  The heathland here is what makes the area a Site of Special Scientific Interest, with rare bird and plant species, including the carnivorous sundews, and the birch needs to be prevented from starting the process of woodland recolonisation.  There were numerous Scots Pine saplings which would rapidly take over if not removed.

Six volunteers from our group joined with the Merseyside and Cheshire groups, and the ranger, who was treating the birch stumps to stop them regrowing, had trouble keeping up.  The weather was warm and pleasant, a fine chocolate spice cake eaten and a satisfyingly large area of the heath was cleared.  Mick

Holly clearance at Quarry Bank Mill on 9 November 2014

Twelve of us met up in the car park at Styal on a bright chilly autumn morning this Sunday to carry on a project started by the group a few weeks ago.  The task consisted of the removal of holly from the steep banking bordering the mown field at the back of the mill.  The bank is an established beech woodland but the holly has grown between the beech trees shading out the earth beneath preventing the establishment of a more diverse understory.  The understory should regenerate naturally due to the seed bank being a natural store of native plant seeds that has lain dormant in the earth since the holly took over.  Once the understory has reestablished it will attract a far greater variety of wildlife.

Scrambling about cutting and dragging the holly trees down the steep soft bank was a particularly strenuous job and I expect there were a few sore muscles the following day.  After being dragged down the slope the holly was humped over the fence and taken to the chipper where the big orange machine munched the trees up into sawdust and spat it back over the fence.  Unfortunately John the ranger's knob came off in his hand and the machine stalled so we had to stop a bit early, but we got plenty done and had a lot of fun.

The cake provided this week was an Irish Whiskey cream sponge made with instant Horlicks because Tim had no cocoa powder - but it tasted okay anyway!  Tim

Removing a yew hedge at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 2nd Nov 2014

Five of us arrived at Biddulph Grange(including one newbie) and were met by Paul, the head gardener. We were supposed to be lifting dahlia's but, because it had rained overnight, the ground would have been too muddy to do this, so we were taken to the yew hedge instead. Sections of the hedge are 150years old but it's growing in heavy clay and some parts cannot grow because of the clay. We were told that the entire hedge, on either side of the path, is to be cut down so a trench can be dug to remove a large quantity of clay, drainage laid and better quality soil added to fill the trench, before a new yew hedge is planted.


The 'before shot' of the yew hedge behind Sam and Sue

 All this takes time and there was only so much we could do in a day, but we gave it our best shot!

We quickly got the fire going and were amazed at how quickly the yew burnt. Four of us lopped and bowsawed the yew and dragged the off-cuts to the fire while Adrian (mainly) loaded the fire. We worked hard, stopping only for a mid-morning break and a spot of lunch, before getting back to the task in hand. We managed to remove 2/3rds of the hedge on one side of the path, as requested, leaving 18inches or so of each trunk, to enable it to be winched out later.

There were plenty of visitors to Biddulph Grange that day and we were able to chat to them as they walked past asking what we were doing.

We finished around 3pm and Paul had arranged that we went into the café for a cup of tea and biscuits - a lovely touch at the end of the day:-)

Group shot at the end of the day without the yew hedge! 

Birch clearance at Dunham Massey on Sunday 26 October 2014

This week thirteen eager volunteers turned out at Dunham Massey to carry on the work we started a few weeks ago.  The task was the removal of invasive birch saplings from an oak plantation.  The birch grow far faster than the oak so have to be felled to allow the oak to  flourish.  A great bit of baking by Tim provided a fine bara brith which when slathered with butter provided the volunteers with plenty of fuel for the job in hand (even Lisa - an aficionado of bara brith - said it was yummy).  By the end of the day we had cleared a large area, loaded the saplings onto a trailer and delivered them to the fire site.

The deer in the park are just coming into rut and we saw a couple of stags resplendent in their full growth of antler.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and the ranger Jack was very pleased with the work carried out.

Woodland maintenance at Quarry Bank Mill on Sunday 19 October 2014

Six volunteers including two newcomers spent today working in the hanging beech woods adjacent to Mill Meadow at the back of Quarry Bank Mill.  The task was cutting down holly and sycamore to let more light down to the ground and to create space to plant more beech trees at a later date.  The cut holly was shredded and left in the wood.

Rhody bash at Hare Hill on Sunday 12th Oct 2014

A great turnout of 16 (including 3 'newbies') to rhody bash at Hare Hill with Julia the NT Ranger in a wooded copse near the lake. 

Gordon got the fire lit quite quickly and, in no time at all, most of us were in amongst the rhododendrons, cutting them down using loppers and bowsaws and dragging the branches to the fire where they were cut up smaller before being thrown on the fire.

The weather was wonderful and, at lunchtime, we sat by the lake in the sun, chatting and eating our lunch. Some of us saw a kingfisher while were there, a heron fly down and land on the other side of the lake and many dragonflies:-)


Lunchtime in the sun!

 

Although the majority of us rhody bashed and loaded the fire most of the day, a small group were at the other side of the copse with Julia, winching out stumps left from a previous rhody bash. Neil and Ross used the winch for most of the morning but, after lunch, a few more of us plucked up courage to have a go!

We finished around 3.30pm after tidying the fire site and throwing the rhody leaves that were strewn on the ground, onto the fire, so the cows didn't eat them and make themselves poorly after we left.

Thanks to Julia for a great day and for encouraging some of us to use the winch, which turned out to be a very satisfying experience.

Group photo at the end of the day

Birch clearing at Dunham Massey on 5 October 2014

Eight of us spent today in beautiful autumn sunshine cutting down birch trees in the plantation near Charcoal Lodge.  MNTV had planted oak trees in the plantation a decade ago and while they have grown well the birch have grown much taller and needed to be removed.  In time the oaks will be thinned out.

We cut the birch down with bowsaws, dragged them to the entrance/exit gate and stacked them on a trailer which John Mann (Ranger) drove to the farmer's field near the Rangers' compound and unloaded with the help of two of us.  The farmer will burn the brash on Bonfire Night.

Daniel brought along the banner that Anne Yates and Martin Swithenbank made years ago.  We could hang it perfectly on the deer fence and after the workday John took a photo of us all beneath it:

Romeo & Juliet at the Victoria Baths, 29 September 2014

Last night ten of us went to Manchester’s beautiful and iconic Victoria Baths for a unique promenade performance of the greatest love story ever told, Romeo & Juliet.  The three atmospheric Edwardian swimming pools were transformed into a world where family loyalties, pride, faith and passion result in bitter tragedy.

Photos from HOME Manchester website

The poor acoustics and Shakespearean English made the dialogue very difficult to follow but I think we all knew the story anyway.  It was a very unusual production and pleasing to see the Baths used in such a creative way.

Styal Wood Fair on Sunday 28th Sept 2014

The day dawned bright and sunny, we loaded the car with deck chairs and gazebo and headed for Quarry Bank Mill, the time for meeting was the usual 9.30. Upon arrival 7 of us went down into the mill meadow to meet our man in charge for the day Matt, he had arrived earlier to set up the table with photo albums and our leaflets, also helping was Tim. We put down our rucksacks and deck chairs and put up the gazebo which we did relatively  quickly with so many people, after this was done, the deckchairs went up and in some cases the coffee came out. Matt decided the photos on the information stand needed a bit of rejigging so set about doing that with a bit of help from other members of the group, it was also decided that it was time we got some new pictures done for these boards but that's another story! By 10am opening time we were ready for all those visitors, we had one or two come and see us who had been emailing us about joining, so they could meet us person and ask any more questions they had. 

Our stall

We had a number of people stop by and ask us about our group. We hope that those who took leaflets and stopped to chat to us, will email and ask to join us on one of our workdays - only time will tell. We took it in turns in groups of two or three to man the stall as others had breaks in the deckchairs or went to visit the rest of the outoor fair and the craft fair that was up at the mill. The day stayed dry, sunny and really quite warm and, as the picture below shows, the deck chairs became very useful.

During the afternoon some of the group took the advantage of the warm weather and had an ice cream. Again during the afternoon we took turns to man the stall and when 4pm came we worked as a team to get everything tidied away very quickly.

My thanks again must go to Sue for her hospitality and to Matt for organising the day so well and the tasty cookies, let's see if we get any new members from this day. Here's to next time

Ally :)

 

 

 

 

Rhody bashing at Hare Hill on Sunday 21st Sept 2014

It was beautiful sunshine for a day's rhodybashing at Hare Hill woodland gardens today. Eight volunteers turned out and continued the task of clearing Rhododendron ponticum from the parkland, working in a small copse and burning the rhody as we went. A warm, enjoyable day made hotter by the fire, which took well after the dry weather. Several of the volunteers took the opportunity of a stroll round the gardens after the workday finished, spotting the carved hares dotted around in between the ornamental trees.
Thanks to Mick for the text. and Adrian and Mick for photo's. 

Snowdrop planting in Manchester City Centre on Sun 14th Sept 2014

This was certainly a 'workday with a difference'.

We were invited by Sean Harkin, the 'NT Gardener in Residence' in Manchester to be part of the Snowdrop planting experience throughout the City Centre to commemorate the centenary of WW1.

Sean had ordered 100,000 snowdrops and had planned to plant them at different City Centre locations throughout the week:
Sat 13/9 - Manchester Cathedral
Sun 14/9 - St John's Gardens (near MOSI)
Mon 15/9 - Parsonage Gardens
Weds 17/9 - Sackville Gardens
Fri 19/9 - Manchester Science Park
Sat 20/9 - The Northern Quarter
Sun 21/9 - Manchester University

We met Sean at 10.45am in time to help set everything up then we were shown how best to plant the snowdrops and asked to encourage anyone walking by to either dig a hole for snowdrops, or place 4 bulbs into a hole, so they were part of the commemoration. There were stickers for the children and booklets '50 things to do ...' to hand out and encourage children to enjoy the outdoors either in their own back garden, on days out with their family or at NT properties.

It was a lovely day, the sun shone for most of it and, as well as 8 MNTVers (including 2 'newbies'), plus Sean and Ellie who are NT staff, there were other volunteers who had heard about the day (either work-of-mouth or via the NT website), and wanted to take part. Most put on high-viz jackets so that the public knew who to speak to.

It was lovely to have a special visit from Scarlett, who used to be a member of MNTV, and her 4 year old son Yao. Scarlett and Yao stayed for about an hour helping to dig holes and plant the bulbs:-)

Although it wasn't one of our usual conservation days, it was really enjoyable and lovely to see most of the people walking through the gardens, becoming involved and taking part in the planting snowdrops experience.

Well done Sean for organising it and inviting us along!

Sapling Clearance at Dunham Massey on Sunday 7th September 2014

We were cutting and burning saplings near the car park to allow for the establishment of an Oak and Beech woodland.

The weather was fine.

After the task we went to the new visitors centre for a coffee and cake.

Biddulph Grange 31 August 2014

Nine volunteers turned out and spent the day working in the area of Wellingtonia Avenue (also known as the long walk).  The work consisted of removing the remains of a yew hedge which is getting in the way of grass cutting, and removing invading scrubby trees (mostly birch and pussy willow) from what were grassy banks on either side.

At the end of the day 2 newer volunteers were given a whistle stop tour of the garden, and we were all treated to tea and biscuits in the garden room.

Balsam bashing on Speke estate: Sunday 17th Aug 2014

Seven of us met in the car park of the Speke estate and went to find Norman, the assistant Ranger, who took us over to the dam to where the balsam was. As we started to pull up the balsam, evidence showed that many other groups had obviously done this previously!

It was definitely a 'sunshine and showers' day, alternating between us working in our T-shirts and almost sunbathing at lunchtime, to short showers where we were rushing to get our jackets on to keep dry.

We were very fortunate that, at coffee and lunch time, the weather was lovely, so we were able to just sit on the field while we ate and admire the view.

We did our best with bashing the balsam, pulling up and breaking the stems of many many plants so their seed pods didn't scatter, but there was so much there that we really only made a small impact on it. Nonetheless, we felt we had made a difference and were pleased with what we have achieved. We spotted some wildlife while we worked; little frogs that were being disturbed as we pulled on the balsam roots and 1000's of black ladybird-type insects(see photo)!



We finished at 3pm and, before heading off home, we decided to go round the maze to find out what it was like. We surprisingly completed it very quickly but soon discovered that there was a reason for this as, when we came out and read the instructions on the board by the entrance, we realised we should have been finding each of the 12 metal gates within the maze on our way round - woops!...didn't do that!

Despite the showers, it was a great day out, with a couple of new volunteers joining us:-)

MNTV Social: Guided walk around Altrincham and Dunham Massey on Saturday 16th August 2014

Liz, Hazel and Sue met outside the Griffin at Bowden at 10.45am:-)

Liz, who had kindly offered to lead the walk, was armed with many interesting facts which she shared with us as we started to walk towards the centre of Altrincham, passing Chapel Street, famous for providing so many volunteers to fight in the trenches of WW1 and, for doing so, was aptly dubbed as 'the bravest little street in England' by King George V.

Onward we went and visited the Market Hall before heading for the Town Hall, which Hazel realised was open. Being a keen local historian, Hazel took us inside and showed us around, including taking us into the Council Chambers where we admired the stained glass window.

Council Chambers stained glass window

As we continued our journey and headed towards the old market square (thought to stand on the site of the original town settlement), Liz told us that Altrincham was granted Market Charter status in 1290 by King Edward I, enabling it to be a self-governing township. We walked past the Old Market Tavern which was originally an old Coaching Inn, and headed out of Altrincham towards St Margaret's Church whilst hearing a brief history of 300 years of Booth and Grey family dramas!

From there we headed towards Dunham Massey, passing Dunham Village, as Liz told us about the Earls of Stamford and the WW1 Stamford Military Hospital with Dunham’s role as a First World War auxiliary hospital from April 1917 to January 1919.

After walking through Dunham Massey park, spotting lots of deer as we went, we headed over the golf course and back to the Griffin for a bite to eat.

It was a great day, dry and bright, and interesting hearing all the facts that Liz had gathered, combined with the information that Hazel added. The timing was also spot on - Liz said we'd be back at the Griffin by 1.30pm and we were!!

Thanks to Liz, supported by Hazel, for a lovely day:-)

Scrub clearance at Hare Hill on 10 August 2014

Five volunteers braved Hurrican Bertha and turned up to help in the woodland garden at Hare Hill. The task was clearing brambles, nettles, shrubs and trees from part of the perimeter fencing, so that the (no longer) rabbit-proof mesh could be checked and, where necessary, replaced.  The day finished earlier than usual due to the volunteers being in need of a warm bath and clean, dry clothing and also because we finished the last stretch of fencing.

The tea break and end-of-task lunch were both taken in the information room, so we had the luxury of a table from which to eat our food (including a fine cherry cake). The group is back at Hare Hill in a few weeks and the task may include replacing the rabbit-proof mesh now that it is accessible.

Log splitting at Styal on 3 August 2014

There were eleven of us today including two newcomers, continuing the run of good turnouts.  Simon Hiley had planned two jobs for us in/near the toolstore yard and therefore, unusually, the worksite leader did not need to bring any tools to the meeting point in the Quarry Bank Mill car park!

Most of us spent the day splitting logs from trees felled on the estate into log burner-size logs and adding them to the huge pile of split logs stored around the perimeter of the yard.  The Trust plans to sell the logs to local residents.  We split the logs using either a hydraulic log splitter (a fantastic labour saving device!) or using axes and chopping blocks.  Separately, four or five of us worked in the copse behind the toolstore and at the back of Styal Primary School cutting out dead holly trees, sycamores and general brash.

Daniel and Neil operating the log splitter

Continuation of the pond clearance at Dunham Massey on 27th July 2014

Ten MNTVers turned up today to continue the work that our Group and the Merseyside NT volunteers had been involved in a fortnight ago.

Today we were with Wendy, an intern Ranger at Dunham, and Steve who is a long-term volunteer there.

We split ourselves so we were working in 2 ponds: Island Pond with Steve to clear the Iris and any Lillies that got in the way! and in Old Mans Pond with Wendy trying to pull out some of the Crassula and put it on black liner on the bank.

To avoid cross-contamination of any pond weed as there are different types in the 2 ponds, once we were in our groups and working in a particular pond, we couldn't then work in the other pond wearing the same waders.

The wader wearers!

The weather turned out to be glorious, although it tried to lightly rain on us when we first arrived, so at break and lunchtimes we re-grouped and shared cake and chat on the grassy bank by Old Mans Pond.

Working in Old Mans Pond

Wendy and Steve were really pleased with the amount of Iris and Crassula that were removed from the ponds, but there's still plenty more to go at!!!

Island Pond showing the clump of Iris we were removing

Another, more distant view, of Island Pond         

MNTV social: cycle ride with SCCC Wednesday 23rd July 2014

It was a beautiful sunny evening, ideal weather for cycling in the countryside:-) The plan was for us to once again join Stockport Community Cycling Club (SCCC) on one of their regular Wednesday evening summer cycle rides. We had successfully done this for the 2 years previously, exploring Gatley & Cheadle in 2012 and the Heatons in 2013.

This time we were meeting at the Lapwing Centre in Brinnington and from there cycling on the pedestrian bridge over the M60 and almost instantly being in beautiful countryside for the next 10miles, exploring the old railway line at Godley near Hyde alongside canals and rivers mainly using disused railway lines and tracks, barely using public roads at all.

It was a lovely ride, although most of it was on the flat, there were a few challenging hills and we even had to dismount and carry our bikes over a narrow foot bridge at one point. Nonetheless, a lovely evening to be out and about.

But where were the MNTVers?.......the fearless, energetic members of our Group?
They were no-where to be seen! I tried, I looked right and I looked left, but none were there!! Fortunately I wasn't alone as about 30 from the SCCC group were there, most doing the 10 mile ride, while a few 'newbies' tried a shorter 6 mile route with a couple of the more experienced cyclists.

What can I say? you missed a treat. Maybe you'll be tempted to join us if we do another cycle ride next summer?

I looked right.......

....I looked left, but where were MNTVers?!

Himalayan balsam removal at Styal on 20th July 2014

We had a turnout of 6 and were working in the Southern Woods some were removing Himalayan balsam by using slashers to cut them off at ground level, while 2 mended the nearby chestnut paling fence. At the end of the day a large area had been cleared of balsam and the fence had been properly fixed. See photo's.

 

Text and photo's provided by Adrian.

Pond work at Dunham Massey on 13 July 2014

Today we had a joint workday at Dunham Massey with Merseyside NTV.  There were nine of us and six of them.  As hoped, Anne Yates MBE, who last year completed 25 years' service with MNTV, was in the car park when we arrived and so we all congratulated her on her award, heard about her big day at Buckingham Palace last month when she received the award from Prince Charles, looked at her photos and saw the beautiful medal itself.

Once Anne left we walked over to Island Pond where we spent the day working with ranger John Mann (back on light duties after his operation) clearing irises from the margins of the pond near the inlet.  All afternoon we worked to the sound of brass band music drifting over from the summer fete at the back of the house.

(Left to right) Lisa, Adrian, Matt and Neil 

The tried-and-tested technique for iris clearance is for those in the pond to cut the iris bed up with spades, fill bread baskets with the cuttings and then people on the bank drag the baskets up planks out of the pond.  From time to time Tim O amused us all with cries of 'crocodile' or 'snake' to keep those in the water on their toes!  We didn't see the terrapins that John said we might but Karin did find a frog (or was it a toad?) and we saw ducklings, a heron, moorhens and lots of small fry.

We finished at 15:30 and some of us then went for bara brith in the Visitors' Centre cafe.