Sunday 25th August 2024 - Summer Bank Holiday weekend - no workday

Bracken bashing at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 18th August 2024

Five enthusiastic MNTVers made the journey to Hardcastle Crags today to meet Ranger James with his terrier Hamish, and Hardcastle Crags volunteer Lorna.  Due to the distance travelled (it took just over an hour to get there on a quiet Sunday morning) four of us car shared from Quarry Bank Mill to cut down on the number of cars used.

Once there, we walked from the car park at Hollin Hall, down the track to the water works building, through a field at the side where wild ponies had recently been moved into, across a walking track and into another field.  This was where we were working for the day.

There had been a lot of bracken in this field originally, and on previous visits years ago we had helped remove some so it was now a lot clearer.  Today we were continuing that work by manually pulling out the bracken and, once we had a big pile of it, we would carry it to the edge of the field and stack it up over the fence line but without it over-spilling onto a track that the public used, so it could rot down over time.

It was a nice day, dry, sunny, sometimes cloudy and occasionally a wind would get up.

We were pleased with the amount of bracken we pulled up and hoped that by varying whether we did it standing and bending over, sitting or kneeling, we wouldn't end up with stiff backs tomorrow!

It was nice to meet up with Ranger James again, and also Lorna, whom we'd met on a previous visit to the site when we were tidying up the wood in the wood store and the compound near Gibson Mill.  On that visit on 7th April we came across a hedgehog hiding under some fallen leaves.

Sue B

Rhody bashing at Lyme Park on Sunday 11th August 2024

Seven MNTVers had a great day today rhodybashing at Lyme Park.

We met Lead Ranger Chris in the main car park and after a quick chat moved our cars to the Knot car park, as we were going to remove rhody regrowth and new rhody from that side of the park.

Most of us walked down West Drive and up the track to Paddock Cottage, where we met Chris who'd taken our rucksacks and the tools in the Kubota ATV, plus any of our volunteers who hadn't wanted to walk.  We removed the tools etc from the Kubota and walked along a very overgrown and uneven pathway, seemingly up hill and down dale, until we reached the area where we'd be working.  None of us had been into this part of Lyme before so it was quite an adventure!

We split into small groups to tackle the rhody.  It was too warm a day to have a fire so we were asked to pile the cut rhody on top of the rhody stumps in the hope that the light deprivation would prevent regrowth.  This would be kept an eye on to see if it worked, and the mounds of rhody would likely get sprayed as well.

Chris left us after lunch and Ranger Jason joined us for the rest of the afternoon.  Both Chris and Jason were very appreciative of the work we'd done.

We had a great day and hope it won't be long until we're back at Lyme.

Sue B

Litter picking at Styal on Sunday 4th August 2024

Today we were litter picking in two areas near Quarry Bank Mill.  15 of us turned out which is a fantastic number for any workday never mind a litter pick!  The morning was spent on a bit of an adventure walking for roughly 40 minutes into a little visited area opposite the mill and clearing the area then walking back.  The afternoon was spent close to the airport and the footpaths nearby.  We took a good haul, filling up a van with four chairs, two tarpaulins and many bags of litter.  Craig, the ranger, was very pleased with our work.

Today was Craig's last Sunday with the Trust before he leaves to run his Green Goliath garden maintenance business.  We wish him great success with this new venture.

Martin