Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 18th October 2026

We were 14 strong today, working with Ranger Jason in Lantern Wood clearing rhododendron.

A special welcome to the Wark family who staggered up the hill unannounced to join us.  An unexpected bonus on a pleasant autumn morning.

No rain and little wind meant - fire!  It’s the first time in months that we’ve had a good bonfire and Jason and James managed to get two blazing nicely by lunchtime.  We pretty much cleared the backlog that needed burning and cut down a further supply for the next group.

The work we did is part of the 50+ years project to enhance the moorland that's part of the Lyme Park estate.  We’re gradually moving up the hill but there’s a way to go yet.

 Jean

Grassland management at Alderley Edge on Sunday 11th October 2026

Today we were joined by three new volunteers James, Ollie and Annie, making a very respectable turnout of 11, for our workday at Alderley Edge.  We were given seven jobs in total which made for a very varied day working in the top meadow at the old quarry.

I have to say thank goodness we had five young fit volunteers today because we needed to use tree poppers and mattocks.  They are not the lightest of tools to carry up to the worksite.

We made a massive impression, even though I do say so myself, on the birch trees, broom and brambles that needed removing including the roots, as well as topping off trees growing up from the bottom meadow.

Thank you to my colleagues for their hard work and good company and we hope to see all of them joining us again soon.

Christine

 

Constructing a dead hedge at Alderley Edge on Sunday 4th October 2026

We had a last minute change of location from the planned venue for this week. Thank you to Issy and the Rangers at Alderley Edge for finding a task for us at the last minute. So on a lovely autumn Sunday we gathered at Alderley Edge for a day of constructing dead hedges.

The area in the woods has been cleared of leaves and the surrounding trees trimmed to let more light in. We are hoping it will regenerate with more undergrowth.

To give the plants a chance the area is being fenced off and our task was to help build a dead hedge around the area to keep dogs and people out.

We took along an axe to put a point on the uprights to make them easier to use the lump hammer to drive them into the ground, bowsaws to cut up the bigger pieces of wood and loppers to cut off side branches.

 

We laid bigger branches at the bottom and at the top of the hedge to weigh things down.

We had a pleasant day, eating cake and chatting and even managed to build a hedge along the side of the enclosure nearest the path.  

Jenny

Weeding at Shugborough on Sunday 20th September 2026

Five of us met up with SSNTV (Shropshire and Staffordshire) at Shugborough on a warm and sunny morning.  It was our first time back at Shugborough since 21st August 2011, more than 15 years ago!  We were working with one of the gardeners, James, so expected to be in the garden, but instead we ended up in a big car park!

It’s coming to the end of the ‘Shaping Shugborough’ project which involves creating a second garden and building a completely new entrance, including reception building and carpark. 

The carpark is divided into sections by a combination of hedging and plants. The hedges are already in place and our job was to do the weeding before plants are added.

It’s a big car park and our combined group of 19 managed to clear 26 sections - but there's a long way to go yet.

James took us on a quick tour of the new Forest Garden. It’s a demonstration/teaching garden and includes only plants that have a use - in cooking, medicine, industries such as dyeing.  It also shows what beneficial plants can be grown in planters, small urban gardens, even industrial areas. The whole project has taken four years and has only been possible due to the hard work of volunteers.

But today at Shugborough will be forever remembered for cake!

The day was another successful collaboration with SSNTV and it was worth the drive to see the new garden. The grand opening will be in early 2027 and I highly recommend a visit.

Jean

Rhodybash on Park Head Moor (Hayfield) on Sunday 13th September 2026

Ten of us, including Jack who was with us for the first time, met Ranger Mark and new Ranger John in the Sett Valley Trail car park at Hayfield in the High Peak.

Once everyone was accounted for we drove the short distance to a small parking area near the access to Park Hall Moor.  We were going to spend the morning removing rhody re-growth from the moor.  Rhododendron ponticom is an invasive non-native shrub that severely damages native UK woodlands, habitats and wildlife, and many National Trust properties have spent many many years cutting it down and burning it to get rid of it.

I had a look and, on our current blog, the earliest entry I could find was on 6th January 2008 when nine of us did a rhodybash on the moor - but we'll have been doing rhodybashes even before then, but they aren't recorded on the blog we now use.

Before we started working, Ranger Mark told us that he had devised a system to ensure that the whole moor would eventually be covered by different groups of volunteers.  He had divided the moor into 'blocks' in his mind, and was ensuring each new group started in the correct place covering the area he wanted so he could minimise the risk that some areas were missed.

The moor was steep, so lots of uphill walking for us, plus it was uneven underfoot which was hidden by the bracken and heather.  There was also a steep slope down to the stream on one side, which was tricky to navigate, but we persevered and managed to fill many 'hippo bags' with the rhody branches.  The weather stayed dry so we had our coffee break on the moor but later, after completing the areas we had been assigned, we walked down to the Rangers shelter and had our lunch there.

After lunch, we went into the woods around Park Hall and found more rhody to destroy, also finding some Fly Agaric fungi under a tree.

We had a great day and also got lots done.  There was plenty of chatter and we learnt a lot from the tales told by Rangers Mark and John.  We hope it won't be long before we're back to tackle more rhody on the moor.

Sue B

Dune stabilisation work at Formby on Sunday 6th September 2026

Seven of us from MTNV met up with a big group of Merseyside volunteers (12 of them!) for a day's sand dune stabilisation work at Formby with ranger Jess.  The dunes were a 10-minute walk from the rangers compound on Blundell Avenue.

A lot had changed since Daniel's last visit to Formby in September 2023.  The worksite was at the red chevron on this OS map snip and since then the carpark has been demolished and relocated further inland.  The project in the cleared plot is to plant dead hedges that will trap sand and build up the dunes so they link to the duneland to the north and south.

We split into groups with some people building the fences and others including Daniel, Adrian and David collecting up bricks and broken glass in the former car park and piling it up for removal in the rangers' pickup.  At elevenses we shared a treacle traybake that Daniel had baked the day before:

The views from he tops of the dunes were splendid with countless wind turbines out at sea and Blackpool Tower distant to the north.

It was great to spend a day at the seaside in the fresh air and sunshine, reunite with our Merseyside friends and between us get a lot of good work done.

Thanks to Jenny for giving four of us from MNTV a lift from/to Styal.

Daniel

Footpath work and balsam bashing at Erddig on 23rd August 2026

We went to Wales this week and joined forces with the Merseyside NT group.

The task was to flatten the ground ready for a wheel-friendly footpath along the river. It was a warm day by any standard, but cooler than some this summer, and we had some shade. It was hard work with pickaxes, spades and shovels making sure that the rise from the new bridge over a stream wasn’t too steep to push a wheelchair up (or so steep on the way down that the wheelchair would end up in the stream).

We took it in turns and had the usual break for cake in the morning. By lunchtime we had the path level enough for easy access.

We sat and ate lunch in the shade, with the smell of wild garlic, which we had dug up when widening the path.

In the afternoon, we went on a seek and destroy mission along the riverbanks, looking for Himalayan Balsam. We found plenty to keep us going until it was time to leave for home.

We also found a few balsam hidden in trees that had grown rather large: 

It was great to see the Merseyside group again and thanks to the ranger for giving up his Sunday so that we could work on site.

Jenny

Ragwort pulling at Hare Hill on Sunday 16th August 2026

Today's planned workday at Hayfield was cancelled by ranger Chris due to the extreme fire risk and the need to allow for fire patrols and ranger response if required so instead five of us met ranger Issy at Hare Hill for a day of ragwort destruction.  Thanks Issy for providing us with a work task at short notice!  We hadn’t worked at Hare Hill since September 2018 because it is a garden property, not landscape where we normally work.

The estate includes farmland and the field we worked in is currently not useable for grazing because ragwort is poisonous to animals.  A corporate group had already done some work but there was still more than enough to keep us occupied for the day.

We used forks designed specifically to dig out the ragwort but it was still tiring as it was another hot day and the ground was so hard.  David managed to burst into life again after a supply of stem ginger cake.

We didn’t manage to clear the whole field but we did our bit to make the field useable for grazing.

Jean

Scything and raking at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 2nd August 2026

Five of us from MNTV met up with five volunteers from the West Yorkshire National Trust Volunteer group and Hardcastle Crags Rangers Alice and Lily with high hopes that the 12 of us would make a big impact on today's tasks.

We loaded the Rangers' vehicle with the tools we'd brought with us and our rucksacks and walked from the Midgehole upper car park to a small area of grassland called Rom's Folly, which was on the left of the path as we walked towards Gibson Mill.

We quickly realised that most of Rom's Folly was a steep slope with a flatter area towards the bottom, which was nearer to the river.  There were lots of flies and midgey things about so we liberally applied our anti-mosquito spray to avoid getting bitten.

There were various tasks that needed doing today.  The whole area needed scything to get rid of the overgrown vegetation, but to ensure the land remained nutrient deficient we then had to rake the cut grasses and carry them to the side of the area and throw them over the wall.  After a demonstration of how to use a scythe by Ranger Alice, and the advice to 'walk' the area first to ensure no sleeping hedgehogs were hiding, Kate, James and David went down to the flatter area to work.

The rest of us stayed at the top of Rom's Folly, on the steep slope.  Some started removing the fern either by pulling up the smaller plants or slashing them or scything them or by using secateurs.  Again, we piled up anything that was cut down so it could be gathered together and thrown over the stone walls, so it wouldn't rot down in Rom's Folly and fertilise the land.

The third task was to gently remove the seed heads of the flowering Himalayan balsam that were on the steepest area, near the path.  We don't usually tackle balsam in this way.  Usually, earlier in the season we would pull the whole plant and its roots out of the ground, and snap the roots from the stem so it can't re-root and throw it to the floor to die.  However, the balsam today was so ripe that the seed pods were on the verge of bursting to spread seeds over a large area, for plants to grow next year.  If we had tried to pull the plants out as usual, the action would have spread the seeds at the same time, which we didn't want to do, so a gentler approach of using secateurs to cut the flowers and seeds off and disposing of them in a black bin bag was the best way of dealing with them.

I have to confess, the tasks were quite hard work, particularly because we were also on a slope in the full sun, but we kept ourselves hydrated, took breaks when needed, ate lots of cake at mid-morning break, and home-made flapjack (courtesy of the West Yorkshire group) at lunchtime.

It was, all in all, a great day, we got loads done, met some lovely fellow-volunteers, and chatted to members of the public that were walking past and curious about what we were doing.

Sue B

Balsam bashing at Dunham Massey on Sunday 26th July 2026

There is nothing more to be said about balsam bashing that has not been said over the last few weeks, as this is one of our regular summer jobs.  What I can say is that we had a very productive and enjoyable day with our Merseyside colleagues.

It was a day that wasn't due to take place as it was our weekend away at Calke Abbey but due to crossed wires it took place and we managed to muster up a few volunteers, which slowly reduced in numbers due to the forecast of rain.  In fact the rangers were surprised and pleased at the joint effort as we not only cleared our allocated target area for today but two others as well.

Great day all round, so thanks everyone.

Christine

Balsam bashing at Lyme Park on Sunday 19th July 2026

It started as a slightly cooler day today, a welcome change from the heat of the last few weeks.  Most of us met Ranger Jason in the main car park before getting a lift in the Lyme Park shuttle bus back to the entrance kiosk where we met Shirley and walked as a group through the gate, up Red Lane, and into the field where we’ve been Himalayan balsam bashing previously.

Today we had Emily joining us for the first time, and also Niamh, who’d only been out with us once before.  After putting our bags in the shade under some trees, Jason gave us a safety talk before we started destroying the balsam by pulling it up and snapping the roots off so it couldn’t regrow.

We were all doing really well at making our piles of discarded balsam and we had two of the Lyme Park Youth volunteers join us too, so we were getting a lot done before we stopped for a mid-morning refreshment break with cake.

Afterwards we continued with our task, before stopping a couple of hours later for lunch and a chat.

During the afternoon it started getting warmer.  Most of us had hats to wear and some of us decided to work in the shade under the trees.

There was a huge amount of balsam on the other side of a wire fence which I thought I could climb over and join David in destroying.  However I soon discovered it was harder than it looked to get into that area and, once I was finally over the fence, I found myself sitting precariously on the pile of balsam that David had pulled up and stacked against the fence.  For a while, I was laughing too much to be able to shift my body weight enough to get off it! - but fortunately I managed it in the end.

We all had a great time - we achieved a lot, had a good chat and really enjoyed being outdoors, admiring the butterflies, grasshoppers, bees, dragonflies, damselflies and other insects, on such a wonderful day.

Sadly there was too much balsam to destroy it all today, but hopefully we’ll be back soon to continue our quest.

Sue B

Balsam bashing at Dunham Massey on Sunday 5th July 2026

We had an excellent turnout today (13 volunteers) at Dunham Massey for another day of balsam bashing in the north woods with rangers Natalie and Daniel.  The balsam was plentiful and in places very tall.  All of the plants pulled out of the ground easily so lifting them and snapping their stems near the rootball was easy.

In amongst the balsam were some Japanese knotweed.  Ranger Daniel recorded the position of each knotweed using what3words and will return later and exterminate them all with herbicide.

At elevenses we demolished a lemon traybake that Daniel had baked the day before. 

We continued the balsam bashing until 3:30pm then called it a day.  A few left at 3pm to view Rembrandt's Self-portrait in a Feathered Bonnet (1635) that was on display in the house until 12th July.

Thanks for everyone for their hard work today and welcome to Emma, Jack K and Niamh who volunteered with us for the first time today.

Daniel

Replacing a fence at Formby on Sunday 28th June 2026

Eight of us met ranger Bree and five members of the Merseyside group at 10 o’clock on a warm and breezy morning.  After Gaynor sampled the ice cream from the kiosk already in full swing, we had a 10 mins walk to the work site, the play area near St Luke’s church.

The job was to dismantle the existing stock fencing and replace it with a more ecofriendly dead hedge.  The wood was rotten in places but the fence was overgrown with vegetation and still pretty sturdy.

All the material used to make the dead hedge was locally ‘produced’ by cutting down sycamore saplings growing close by.  The wonky stakes were a bit difficult to hammer into the ground but they give a real rustic feel suitable for a woodland.

Then the cut branches were piled up between the stakes with some of the outside ones woven round them to make it more stable.

We had an enjoyable day working with Merseyside.  We used a full range of tools - loppers, bowsaws, fencing pliers, wire cutters, hand axes, small hammers and big ones - so thank you to the National Trust for a tool refresher training day.

Jean

Balsam bashing at Dunham Massey on Sunday 21st June 2026

Another summer's day, another Himalayan balsam bash.

There was plenty of balsam for the ten of us to have a go at beside the north carpark at Dunham.  Luckily a lot of it was in the shade and plenty tall enough to pull without bending down.  We did however have to battle nettles and brambles.  A few of the plants were starting to flower, so we did try and get those first.

We found a picnic bench in the shade for the cake  and lunch breaks, and we were close enough to the Visitor Centre to keep our water bottles topped up.

 
We are back at Dunham on 5th July and may be pulling balsam then too.  Hopefully it won’t flower before then.

We posed for a photo by the picnic area on the way back to the cars.

Jenny

Balsam bashing at Lyme Park on Sunday 14th June 2026

Seven of us met Ranger Jason in the main car park and, as we were working down Red Lane which is near the entrance kiosk, Jason had arranged for the Lyme Park minibus to give us a lift back down the drive near to Red Lane.

We then walked part way up Red Lane and into a field on the left, over a stile.

As we walked towards the back of the field (which we'd removed Balsam from last year), we spotted some rogue plants, but the majority were down towards the railway line.

We found a convenient base to leave our rucksacks and the all-important cakes for elevenses, under the trees, and then we got to work.

The Balsam was still quite young, only David spotted a few plants during the day that would be flowering soon, the rest were fairly small (so lots of bending over required to get to them) and sometimes mixed in with nettles or brambles, but they usually pulled out quite easily without breaking the stems, so we got the roots out as well.

Part way through the morning, Ranger Claire arrived to help, bringing two youth volunteers with her.

At 11am we had our 'coffee break' and everyone gathered back under the trees. Usually the worksite leader provides cake by buying some or baking some, today was a bit more unusual because yesterday, at Lyme, MNTV had celebrated 40 years of volunteering - a massive achievement. A party was planned and a fabulous get-together of current and old members gathered to celebrate (see details in our 40th Blog). 

Ally, our Chairperson, and Jenny, one of the committee members, had baked various delicious flavours of cupcakes, many with 40 MNTV toppers on them, and I'd been able to bring some of the ones that weren't eaten with me today - a real treat!!

After our break, we resumed our quest to find and destroy more Himalayan Balsam. The aim is to prevent them spreading further when the flowers turn to seed heads, because the seed heads burst spreading hundreds of seeds over a large area, ready to grow next year

After lunch we continued again, moving to different areas of the field and, even as we left to go home, we were still spotting more to destroy.

We made a huge difference to the amount of Balsam in the field, but there is still more. Hopefully we'll get another go at it when we return to Lyme next month.

It was a great day - it didn't rain and in fact the sun came out in the afternoon. We welcomed newbie James, and also Emma who'd only been out with us once before. We had some interesting chats on our breaks and it was a very relaxed and sociable day,

Sue B (Worksite Leader)

Balsam bashing with West Yorkshire NTV at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 7th June 2026

Two of us met 10 West Yorkshire NT volunteers at Hardcastle Crags for a job you either love or hate - balsam bashing. It was a Goldilocks day, not too hot and not too cold. And we worked near the river bank so it was even (comparatively) flat.

It’s quite early in the season, the balsam isn’t in flower yet, so we were met with just a mass of green.

After a full days work, it’s still a mass of green! But it’s the green of wood rush not balsam.

It may not look very interesting but wood rush provides a home and food for the Woodrush Moth. It’s also a natural way to control erosion as the shallow roots bind the soil together.

It was a good day made even better by the flapjack provided by West Yorkshire at lunch break, secret ingredient - peanut butter!