Cancelled - balsam bash at Dunham Massey on Sunday 26th June 2022 due to high winds forecast

Today's balsam bash at Dunham Massey, with Nat the Ranger, sadly had to be cancelled due to the forecast of high winds.

Message from Nat sent to us yesterday:

I'm very sorry to say that I need to cancel the task tomorrow due to forecast high winds of 35mph+.

The winds have been forecast to remain high and it would be unsafe to linger/work under trees on site.

We warn visitors of high winds 35mph or above via on-site signage on all access gates and it is predicted 35 and 36 most of the day and therefore I must cancel the task to keep us all safe.

Balsam isn't worth us getting squished.

Gutted to not work with you all again but hope to see you very soon. 

All the best

Nat

Dock and thistle bashing at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 19th June 2022

Six of us made the one-hour drive to Hardcastle Crags in Yorkshire to do a job the ranger described as ‘pulling stuff up’.  At this time of year that usually means Himalayan balsam but today James greeted us with a bit of variety - docks.  Docks are very prolific and can produce thousands of seeds but provide 40% fewer nutrients than grass.  The field we worked in will be cut for silage so reducing the docks will increase its food value.  Docks can regrow from the roots and it was surprisingly hard work as the soil was very hard and compacted.

Looking for the leaves amongst long grass gave the back a welcome break from bending down.  After lunch we had some more variety - thistles.  More bending down but easier to see.

The occupants of the field appreciated us providing them with an unexpected late lunch.

Lots of stuff pulled up on a surprisingly warm and dry day.  Many thanks to James (2 legs) and Hamish (4 legs) for an enjoyable time, but we did miss the balsam!

Jean

Brash bashing at Chirk Castle on Sunday 12th June 2022 - a joint workday with the Merseyside group

Today we joined our Merseyside colleagues for a trip to Chirk Castle with the task for the day still to be decided.

We met ranger Keith in the car park where he gave us a quick run down of jobs he had lined up.  The first was a request from his facilities department to have an area behind the shop and toilets cleared of over grown bushes and brambles etc.  This is to enable them to look at using this area for a new cafe as the current one, up in the castle, is no longer big enough whereby they have long queues most weekends in the summer.

Once we had cleared the area we split into two groups, the first helping Keith load the cut bushes into the pick up, the second group headed to the woodland walk.  Here we used thrashers to clear about a half metre of brambles and unwanted plants from either side of the path.  This is usually done at this time of year to keep the path clear otherwise it would soon become overgrown.

We had a really good day, lovely weather, lots of people saying hello as they passed and it was nice to meet up with the Merseyside group again.

Thanks to Keith for a good day and to my colleagues for their hard work.

Christine