Another rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 22nd February 2026

Six of us were back in Lantern Wood with Ranger Claire on our second rhodybash of the year.  The midweek group had left us plenty of burning to do but getting fires started was the usual challenge (damp brash and no wind to fan flames).  Even though the weather was (comparatively) dry they produced more smoke than flame.  With the additional cutting down we did, we ended the day with more brash than we started.

A lot of what we did cut down is regrowth but with luck this may be the last time.  A trial is running in a couple of locations, including Coalpit Clough, to see if cutting grooves round the tree trunk and spraying in glyphosate will work better.  The tree’s system will transport the poison so it will in effect poison itself before being cut down.

As it’s been such a wet start to the year the rangers expect our next session at Lyme will be a mass burn of all (hopefully dry) remaining brash before bird nesting season starts.

Jean

Building a "dead hedge" at Alderley Edge on Sunday 15th February 2026

Today marked another visit to Alderley Edge to continue building the “dead hedge” in Clockhouse Wood – a project we started on 11th January and have been progressing alongside other volunteer groups ever since.

Seven volunteers (Adrian, Andy & Christine, Daniel, Holly, Gordon and Jean) met rangers Alysia and Mark at the Rangers’ yard at 9:30.  The rangers transported a few of us to the worksite in their pickup, while the rest walked the mile-long route, which took about 20 minutes.  After a brief introduction from Alysia, we got started.  Everyone except Daniel had worked on this hedge before and knew the routine.  We divided the tasks between us and largely stuck with them throughout the day.  Two of us searched the surrounding area and collected suitable branches to be cut into stakes or used as infill, two whittled cut branches into stakes, one hammered in the stakes to form the hedge’s framework, and two wove branches into the spaces between the stake walls.

The hedge essentially functions as a large habitat pile, filled with offcuts from the rangers’ coppicing work in the wood, and will hopefully serve as a wildlife corridor.  It also attractively edges the footpath and will stop it inching downhill.  Around ten dog walkers passed us over the course of the day, most of whom offered very positive comments about the hedge.

The weather turned out far better than forecast, with only one brief shower before lunch.  The worksite was situated down a slope and sheltered from the wind, though windproofs were still needed all day.  We took our morning break and lunch among the holly trees about 100 metres from the worksite in an even more sheltered spot.  Daniel had baked a sultana cake – a simple six‑ingredient “working holiday” recipe he believes came from Charlie Spiller (one of our Honorary Members).

By the time we finished at 3pm we had completed 15 metres of hedge and installed stakes for a further 5 metres ready for the next group to work on.  In fact, we reached the first section of dead hedge that Andy said he and Neil had built about two years ago.

All in all, it was an excellent workday and very satisfying to be building something for a change rather than our usual “seek-and-destroy” mission!

Our next visit to Alderley is on 8 March, when we might be planting the hedge trees received from the Woodland Trust to mark our 40th anniversary in April.

Daniel

Woodland work at Lyme Park on Sunday 8th February 2026

Ten MNTVers, including Jasmin, a new recruit, met Jimmy the Ranger in the main carpark at 9.30am.  Jimmy said we’d be working along West Drive so some set off walking there and others drove and parked in The Knott carpark.

Jimmy took his vehicle along West Drive to where we’d be working.  He showed us the steep slope we’d need to climb to bring down the birch trees that had already been cut and left on the slope, either in piles or just randomly dropped.

Once we’d started bringing them down and putting them into piles near the road, Jimmy went to get his tractor and trailer so the trees could be loaded and transported to Crow Wood, near the children’s play area, to be used for dead hedging (habitat piles in the shape of a hedge).

The work was challenging and tiring, but we started making a difference quite quickly.  As it was hard working on such a steep slope, we tried not to move too much and instead formed human chains so the birch could be passed down the slope from person to person to make it easier and safer.

Ranger Jason turned up to join us, which was a help.  We started flagging a bit so had an early coffee break and cake, but got back to the task fairly quickly afterwards and started loading the tractor trailer.  After another 90mins or so, we had an early lunch with more cake!

After lunch, some of us went on the slope opposite to pull out some rhododendron regrowth while the rest of us finished stacking the birch and filling the trailer.

It was a tiring day but very enjoyable, especially when the sun came out in the afternoon.  The rangers were very complimentary about how much we’d managed to get done, and the quality of our work, which made it all worthwhile.

Sue

Dead hedging at Alderley Edge on Sunday 1st February 2026

Nine of us gathered at the carpark at Alderley Edge this morning. We were expecting rain so had dressed for bad weather, but as it turned out we were wrong and it stayed dry all day - we even got a bit of blue sky.

The task was dead hedging in Clockhouse Wood (on the way to Hare Hill) continuing the work MNTV did on the 11th January.  The instructions for how to walk to the worksite were fun, and mentioned several of the places we have worked at Alderely Edge before:

    Turn right down the path - where we had trimmed a hawthorn hedge

    Down the path to the “super high” stile

    Along the path edged with gorse bushes - that we have previously trimmed

    Turn left onto the path - where we had cut back and cleared vegetation

    Past the bench that Andy and Neil had moved

    Over another stile and turn right to find the dead hedge the group started earlier in January

The only hitch was that Issy must walk quicker than we do. She said 10 mins walk - we did it in 20.

We continued building the dead hedge beside the path, moving and sorting the felled silver birch, finding straight lengths to make into stakes, shaping the ends to a point with an axe, then hammering the stakes in to make a channel for the cut wood.

We weaved the cut branches between the stakes to form a nice edge to the path. This will help create a wildlife area by cordoning off some of the wood from visitors. We got lots of compliments and thanks from passers by.  

Jenny