Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, oh I do like to be beside the sea ... well we almost were.
Six of us made the trip over to Formby to work with ranger Jess on what started out as a rather cold morning but with a beautiful blue sky.
We walked from the rangers offices to the worksite at Larkhill Heath. This is an area we have worked in before when we laid the hawthorn hedge. Today we were to chop down the broom and gorse which was growing very well and if not controlled would kill off the heather and overshadow other plant species as well as damage the hedge.
It didn't take long before the layers of clothing came off and the sun became quite hot - so much so that when we broke for lunch we changed jobs to give us some cover.
Formby cut and sell their own timber for log burners, so in the afternoon we moisture tested samples from each bay and as long as they tested below 19% they were bagged up and put into storage. We also moved bags around to make room in the sheds nearest to the logs that are still drying.
Currently Formby have plenty of trees to be processed because they have started clearing the area that is going to be the new car park, so plenty more logs to be cut and split. Some of these trees will be used to make more tables and benches - maybe a job for MNTV next time we visit.
Thanks to Jess for looking after us and thank you to my colleagues for their hard work in very warm conditions.
Christine