Seven of us met ranger Bree at the Countryside Office at Formby just before 10 o’clock on a beautiful calm and sunny day. The worksite was only a few feet away so by 10 o’clock we were hard at work at various
tasks.
The rangers have done a lot of coppicing work, nothing to do with the stormy weather, just routine maintenance of the habitat. Multiple piles of brash were lined up for burning.
Originally we were going to use the air burner but Bree decided the conditions were good enough to have a traditional fire instead.
Some of the branches were straight enough to be used as stakes for hedge laying. One end was cut into a point using a bill hook.
Old tree guards have to be disposed of, fortunately the plastic can be recycled but needs some preparation. They have to be unrolled, the none recyclable plastic ties taken off then rolled up again as tightly as possible for storage in canvas sacks. The NT is being charged per sack for transport to the recycler so squeezing as many in as possible saves money.
The finished pile of stakes is enough to keep the hedge laying team happy for a while.
One pallet load of plastic ready for recycling.
We lined up for this photo in the space that had been piled high with brash.
The weather helped make a very good day even if we didn’t see the sea. The compensation was playing ball with one of the ranger’s dogs during lunch break.
Formby is one of our work sites more distant than most so it was good to have our first car pool since the pandemic. Seven of us used three cars, thanks to drivers Neil, Andy and Jenny and not forgetting Sue who did the organising.
Jean
