Putting up bird boxes and bashing rhody and birch at Alderley Edge on Sunday 26th October 2025

We got an extra hour in bed this morning because it was clock change day.  Is this why we got ten people meeting up at Alderley Edge on a damp Sunday?

The rain was intermittent all day.  It was one of those days when if you’d been inside you would have thought the weather was horrible, but it wasn’t so bad being out.  We managed to find a dryish spot for lunch.

 

We had a variety of tasks to do in the same area, so plenty of choice.  Two pairs went off putting up bird boxes that had been made by local school children in the summer.

Two others went off to hunt down and destroy any rhody they could find in “Rhody wood”.  Others went off in search of birch to pull up with tree poppers or by hand.

Any oak saplings they found were carefully dug up to preserve the roots and transplanted to the new tree nursery.

 

It has been a fabulous year for fungi - and since it’s Halloween I have included a disembodied hand for scale ;-)

We had a good day, removing unwanted vegetation - to keep the habitat as heathland.  Hopefully some birds will find the nest boxes in the spring.

Jenny

Cancelled - workday at Bickerton Hill on Sunday 19th October 2025

Due to lack of volunteers and looking at the weather forecast we have decided to cancel today's workday.

Our next workday is on 26th October at Alderley Edge.  Jenny is leading and will be in touch this week with all the details.

Ally
MNTV Chair

Seed Spreading at Marsden Moor - Sunday 12th October 2025

On Sunday 12th October a small group of us made the journey up to Marsden Moor.  The task was  heather seed spreading on Holme Moor, the rangers also invited members of the public to join in and we were joined by a lovely gentleman who volunteers at the rangers plant nursery.  

We met the ranger at the bandstand in Marsden Moor and then walked up to the site (approx 45 mins), it was a lovely sunny day and quite warm for the time of year so we had a quick tea break before getting to work.  The task was done by hand and we had to scatter the seeds in between the clumps of purple moor grass (tussocks), to do this we had to scarify the soil to reveal the peat below.

View from top of the moor

Work area containing Tussocks grass

Bag of seeds

Working away

Seed spreading

End of Day group photo

The catch water drains

We finished quite early and made our way back down to Marsden Village and some of us decided to stay on for a drink as there was a jazz festival on.  This was my first visit to Marsden Moor and it certainly won't be my last, the village is lovely and the scenery is amazing.

Denise Clark
Worksite Leader

Cancelled - workday in the High Peak on Sunday 5th October 2025

Today's rhodybash in the High Peak on Park Hall Moor was cancelled because fewer than five people (the minimum number stipulated by ranger Chris Lockyer) had signed up.  That's obviously a shame, but with Storm Amy blowing in perhaps no surprise.

Hopefully we will have sufficient numbers for our next visit to the High Peak on 9th November to go ahead.

Daniel