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
It was lovely to meet up with several members of MNTV where we welcomed two new members on a lovely autumn day. We walked along the track from the rangers yard with two wheelbarrows full of tools, tree poppers, saws, loppers, etc. We unlocked the gate to the Engine Vein mine entrance and went through locking the gate behind us just in case the public decided to follow. One of the fun bits for me of volunteering with MNTV is getting to go places the public don’t have access to.
The task was to remove vegetation, mainly birch trees, from the rocks above the mine to prevent the roots damaging the mine.
We set to work. Any trees that we couldn’t get out with the specialist tree poppers we removed the tops and left a stump so it could be winched out later.
We found some lovely examples of Amanita muscaria mushrooms amongst the saplings – they look just like the mushrooms in children’s story books:
The second task was to use the saplings we were removing to create a basket weave fence around the area.
This will help keep people out and disguise the metal stock fencing.
We worked all day but found time to eat cake and chat.
By the end we had cleared a lot of the birch saplings off the rocks and had had fun “basket” weaving the brash into the fence:
Once we had collected all the tools we went to look at the mine entrance which is hidden in the rocks unusually above the gully. The door is an old bank vault door.
We walked back to the cars tired but satisfied that we had done a good job in good company.
Jenny
Four of us joined Bree and Jess for a day at the seaside. The original job planned for today had to be changed due to machinery malfunction, but they had some good alternatives for us to get stuck into.
The first job involved a fire - eat your heart out Neil, Andy & Jack! There were large piles of brash and cuttings plus loads and loads of chestnut fencing that had all been removed when dismantling Victoria Road car park. Our aim was to get this done before the rain started at lunchtime. Talk about precision work - as the last lot was put on the fire the first spots of rain started to fall!
The second job was to complete a wall of double/triple layers of fence posts. This is to replace fallen down fencing which was to separate different size stones for the paths.
Finally, we dismantled, de-nailed and cleared timber from the yard and stacked it in a massive skip. Again a lot of this had come from Victoria Road.
As far as the new car park is concerned, it is well under way and surprisingly is ahead of schedule with it hoping to be complete for next spring.
Bree and Jess were more than happy with what had been achieved, as these were jobs that kept being put on the back burner for more pressing jobs.
Thanks to my colleagues for their hard work and good company.
Christine
Today’s workday was due to be a balsam bash near the main carpark at Dunham Massey but was cancelled because of forecast high winds (> 40mph). We would have been lone working for most of the day with occasional visits from the one ranger on duty and an alternative work task couldn’t be provided that was not under trees and near his duty area (mansion house).
Daniel
Starring Andy, Clare, Daniel, Denise, Jack, Jenny, Neil and Sarah plus David and Di from Merseyside and Eryri ranger Lewis.
For our first weekend away of the year we went to Snowdonia - this time in the summer not at Christmas. A last minute change to accommodation arrangements meant we stayed at the Glan Dwr Mountain Lodge in Capel Curig not Hendre Isaf. Glan Dwr is the Eryri base of the New Forest Climbing Club and is beside the Avon Llugwy. After weeks of drought the water was still churning past so it'd be a spectacular sight after heavy rain.
The weather both days was glorious - sunny and warm with a cool breeze. The contrast with Storm Darragh last December could not have been more stark. Both mornings there were terrific views of Snowdon from Capel and each night the sky was inky black and you could see thousands of stars and the Milky Way.
Jack took some remarkable photos with his 360ยบ camera:
On Saturday evening, Daniel, Jenny and Denise cooked up a hearty dinner of spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread followed by apple & blueberry crumble with custard.
After dinner David set us all a quiz. We did it in two teams (girls v boys) and tied with 37 points each. The most fun part was picture 2 in the Faces round - David as a 12-year-old schoolboy. None of us guessed him!
On Sunday we worked in the same valley but in woodland to the north of the road (red chevron on map). We drove our cars there so that we could go home directly from the worksite and anyone who needed to leave early could. Across the valley you could see Saturday's worksite:
We did two tasks. Half the group slashed and cleared bracken to make a switchback footpath on a very steep slope ...
... and the others with Lewis made a stepover stile. The stile is tightly screwed together and anchored in the ground and should give many years of use when the footpath is opened.
All told it was a super weekend full of enjoyment and good company. Thanks to Lewis for having us to stay and giving us satisfying jobs to do.
When we are next at Hendre Isaf it will be interesting to go up the valley and see how both worksites look months later.
Daniel
Four of us met in the car park near the Wizard Tearoom on a beautiful warm and dry August morning. The job for the day was cutting back vegetation on the footpath opposite the Castle Rock viewpoint. It’s a popular and well-used route but it was getting a bit overgrown.
Loppers and slashers were the implements of choice. After a day's work the path was in a more useable state and we got a lot of thanks from walkers using the route.
Jean
We met Ranger Claire in the main car park near the kiosk in the rain (!!) and tempted everyone out of their cars into Claire's vehicle so we could get to a field which was off Red Lane, just outside the boundary of the park.
We climbed over a stile to get into the field and walked down towards the bottom of the field where the railway line ran past. There were still trains using the line even though Stockport station has just closed for a month so the bridge over the railway line can be demolished and then replaced. We thought there was probably a bus service laid on from Hazel Grove to help people continue their journeys.
We either had drizzle, rain or no rain, on and off all morning and into the afternoon, which meant that we hid under various trees for our coffee and lunch breaks so we didn't get too wet.
Although the balsam was spread about, we didn't let the rain or drizzle deter us. It was hoods up or hoods down, dictated by the weather, but it didn't stop us pulling up and destroying as much as we could, focussing on the stalks that were already in flower to ensure their seed heads didn't pop and spread the seeds far and wide for next year's growth in the next few days or so.
Into the afternoon, the sun came out and we stripped off our coats to enjoy the warmth. Ranger Jason came and joined us so Ranger Claire could head off to the office to complete some admin.
Despite the weather, it was a great day - plenty of chatter and laughs, and loads and loads of balsam destroyed.
Claire and Jason said they were impressed by the amount we got done, so we were really pleased.
Seven of us met up with ranger Ashley on a warm and dry morning. The Merseyside volunteers were also there so we made a 12 strong team ‘looking forward’ to a day of ragwort destruction.
Five of us joined Alysia and two of her colleagues for a day of various jobs. We were working in the tree nursery, which is in the field opposite the former Wizard Inn. It is a volunteer run project set up by the Alderley rangers. They have put in some raised beds and are starting to grow several species of trees and are now at the stage of expanding. This is where we came in.
They have been collecting shredded foliage from local landscapers and our initial job was to spread out cardboard and cover this with the shredding. Tick job done.
That was simple, next was to remove a fence post and put in two substantial posts to hang two single gates, not so simple. The ground was quite compact and took some effort to make the holes big enough for the posts. All this was made even more difficult as everything we were using was pre-loved. Holes had to be measured then measured again then drilled. No problem for MNTV.
As we finished this job Alysia said we had done what was required and it was possibly a bit late to start something else so we packed up for the day, just as the rain started. Perfect timing!
Thanks to Alysia and her colleagues for a good workday and my colleagues for their hard work good company and laughter.
Christine
Eight of us from MNTV (including a new volunteer) met with Ranger Jon and four Merseyside volunteers on this warm and humid Sunday, to "bash" as much Himalayan balsam as possible before it burst its seed heads and spread further around the wooded area beyond the overflow carpark.
Ranger Jon wasn’t particularly concerned about us tidily piling up the balsam once we’d pulled it up and snapped the lowest node of the stalk off to make it difficult to re-root. He was more focussed on us pulling up as much as possible so the balsam didn’t have the chance to spread its seeds into the Park.
In smallish groups we went into the wood and found patches of balsam to destroy - which was a very satisfying feeling. After our morning coffee break we continued the task, moving further into the wood. By lunchtime we were getting tired and were feeling a lot warmer than when we started. Most of us were in long sleeves to try and protect our arms from the brambles and nettles and some had caps on too to stop the midges and twigs from trees getting tangled with our hair.
It was a small turnout for our return visit to Speke Hall on 22nd June... just three volunteers.
We were again working in Stockton Wood but this time we were working right at the back of the woods next to the tyre factory. The task was balsam pulling but with hardly any balsam it was more like weeding the woods!
Due to the balsam being spread out across the woods we could not really get a before and after picture.
As you can see below the wood is very dense with prickly bushes which made the task quite difficult at times.
We ended the day just after lunchtime as we had cleared everything and the ranger did not have anything else for us to do. A bonus to get to the supermarket before the shops close!
Denise Clark
Worksite Leader