Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 20th December 2020

Today saw us return to Lyme Park for the first time since 1st March and the national lockdowns.  We were proud to be the first large group to be invited back and Chris Dunkerley (Lead Ranger) used our visit to trial the covid protocols designed to ensure the safety of volunteers, staff and visitors.

12 of us spent the day rhodybashing in Lantern Wood.  Covid safety measures included social distancing throughout the day, use of hand sanitiser at all breaks (especially before cutting the chocolate roulade that Daniel had baked!) and nobody swapping loppers and bowsaws.  Before we began work, Chris ran through the worksite risk assessment (including covid) and we all signed a form to say we had heard and understood it.

We worked with ranger Alex Bond, once of MNTV.  I'd not seen him for several years and it was great to catch up with him and hear about how his career is progressing with the Trust.  From Styal he had moved to Dunham and now to Lyme.  Alex's enthusiasm for his work is infectious!

Neil, Andy H and Adrian stoking the bonfire (photo: Jenny)

Group photo towards the end of the day (photo: Abbey)

We cleared a large patch of rhody during the morning and into the afternoon and then from 2pm stopped cutting and focussed on burning all the cuttings.  Alex used the leaf blower to aerate the bonfire and bring it back to life whenever it was dying down.

We left the worksite shortly after 3pm and left Alex and Chris to make the fire safe.  It had been an excellent workday and so nice to see old faces after a gap of nine months and meet two newcomers (Abbey and Anna).

There are acres of rhody still to  clear and we will tackle another patch when we return in January.

Daniel

Rhodi bash at Hayfield, High Peak, on Sunday 13th December 2020

 Six of us from MNTV met with Mark NT ranger at Sett Valley car park and went on convoy up to Park Hall, we just managed with our 5 cars plus land rover to all park off the road.

Our day was to be split into 2 sections. Firstly we went up onto the moor to pull rhodi that had started to grow again.  We each had 2 bin bags which didn't take too long to fill and it nicely coincided with the rain starting again and brew time. Plus by this time everyone's gloves were pretty wet and hands starting to get cold.

Whist we warmed ourselves with a hot drink Mark took a bag of our rhodi pulling to see if he could get a fire going. We then went up the steep slope to where we have worked in the past.  Whilst Andy H kept the fire going Mark showed the rest of us where he wanted us working. He was very specific as the wind had got up as well as the rain and he didn't want us working under or near trees that he wasn't happy with.

After a while he came and collected us all as a large branch off a tree close by had come down and he felt it too risky to continue working in the woods. So we called it a day as people were starting to feel the cold through very wet clothes.

Even so it was a good day and it was nice to be back at Hayfield, especially as we were their first group back since March due to Coronavirus.

Sorry to everyone who couldn't come due to shortage of parking and not being able to car share.

Text from Christine who was worksite leader, photo's from Christine, Andy H and Adrian.

Tree planting at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal on Sunday 6th December 2020

Twelve of us were back at Quarry Bank Mill, planting trees in zone 3. The area above where we planted before.

There were 1,200 whips of various types to be planted in "islands". Each island will be surrounded by wide paths of wildflower meadow. The islands will act as a bridge between the meadow and Wood we planted on previous workdays. Providing habit for many insects and small mammals and somewhere for owls to roost and hunt.

The centre of the islands were tall species like Wild service, crab apple, wild cherry, Hazel.  Then a variety of native species, like Gelder Rose and elder. Then spiky plants were put round the edge, e.g Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Gorse, Holly. To keep people and large animals out.

The hard bit was making them an irregular shape it was so tempting to fill the gaps and make it round.

Working hard we managed to plant all 1200 trees before we left.  I'll have to pop back in years to come to check on "glove island". 

Text and some photo's from Jenny, additional photo's provided by Jean and Adrian.

Note from Sue: we had a 'small' distraction during our workday, in the shape of Ribble, Colin the Ranger's 8 week old pup. Both Colin and Ribble had been on Countryfile the previous week when Colin was explaining about the tree project at Styal.