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

Bracken bashing at Marsden Moor on Sunday 28th July 2024

Four of us made the journey to Marsden in West Yorkshire for a day's bracken bashing.  Daniel did a carshare with Victor and Adrian, and they met Andy S at the rangers office at 9:30.  Ranger Francesca ferried us in the 4x4 to the access point to the worksite and we then walked up to the worksite in Oakner Clough.  The task was to clear bracken from around newly planted trees because the bracken was overtopping them and shading them out.  Slashers were very effective at cutting back the bracken, but it was sweaty work on steep ground and in hot sunshine.  The hot weather could not have been more different to when we were last here last August in rain and wind!

We stopped bashing at lunchtime and had a picnic lunch in the shade of trees near the 17th century Close Gate packhorse bridge.  The bridge's low sides allowed heavily laden horses to cross.

After lunch, Francesca showed us a fossil 200 metres from the bridge.  Adrian said it was a Calamites, a genus of extinct arborescent (tree-like) horsetails to which modern horsetails are closely related.  Unlike their herbaceous modern cousins, these plants were medium-sized trees, growing to heights of 30–50 metres and lived in the Carboniferous Period (around 360 to 300 million years ago).

Calamites

We returned to the 4x4, cutting back ferns and nettles on either side of the footpath.  Once back at the 4x4 we drove via Slaithwaite (pronounced Slawit!!) to the Buckstones car park on the A640 so that Francesca could empty the litterbin and we did a quick litter pick.  The views from the car park were fantastic.  You could see for miles in every direction.  We counted five paragliders in the air.  The views from up there must have been even better!

Thanks to Adrian, Andy S and Victor for an excellent workday and to Francesca for hosting us and telling us so much about the Trust's work in the area and the important bog stabilisation work the Trust and Yorkshire Water are doing.

Daniel

Workday at Styal on Sunday 21st July 2024

Nine of us worked at Styal today.  Thanks to Neil for stepping in as worksite leader.

Scrub Clearance and Balsam Pulling at Erddig - Sunday 14th July 2024

 On Sunday 14th July three volunteers made their way to Erddig to join the Merseyside group.  The task set was scrub clearance in an area backing onto the Felin Puleston Car Park.  It was a fine day and Merseyside had a fair few volunteers so we became quite a large group.

After the usual ranger talk about the task and health and safety advice etc we set to the task of removing lower branches of trees and scrub clearance.

Overgrown site (before clearance)

Branch removal

Cutting back vegetation

Site cleared (facing car park)

Site cleared (facing river)

Branches pile!

By lunchtime we had cleared the area so we moved onto the second task of balsam pulling.  The ranger guided us to an area at the side of the river behind the car park that we have not worked in before.  Some of the balsam were very tall!

Very tall balsam!

More tall balsam!

Balsam pulling by the river

All in all it was great day and we had the added treat of accessing the lovely toilet block at Felin Puleston that is normally locked up.... I just had to sneak a photo (for those people that might never see it).

The lovely ladies restroom

Denise
Worksite Leader  

Balsam bashing and raking up cut grass at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 7th July 2024

Two of us (Martin and Andy S) travelled to Hardcastle Crags today and worked with the Slow the Flow volunteers bashing Himalayan balsam and raking up cut grass in a picnic area.  The ranger was very happy with the group's work.

Martin