Balsam bashing and fencing at Styal on Sunday 6th July 2025

Eight MNTVers met ranger Caera to work on two different tasks at opposite ends of the Styal estate.

It’s the peak of the balsam bashing season and four of us worked on clearing the hillside near the new housing development at Bank House Farm.  It was a routine job made more difficult than usual by the steep, wet and uneven ground, but we made a good start on a job that will keep us occupied for a good few years to come.

The other group helped Caera complete fencing in fields near the Apprentice House that used to be planted with potatoes when Bank House was a working farm.  The soil has been enriched over the last few years and will soon be home to Highland cattle.

Gordon sent in this report about the fencing:

We were working in the corner of the field where the path from the Apprentice House to Norcliffe Chapel approaches the chapel lych gate.  This photograph was taken from the Apprentice House path.  A gate has been hung but it had no post to close against - this gate is at the left hand edge of the to photo.  The corner post visible in the photo was in but not braced and the hole for the corner post at the far end near the edge of the woods was part dug.  The part dug hole was finished and that post embedded in rammed earth then braced.  A clapper post for the gate and another king post were dug in.  Some intermediate posts and other bracing were added.  Useful work but this still leaves the staff a lot of more to do to have the fields secure ready for the Highland cattle conservation grazing after the hay has been cut.

Jean

Balsam. bashing at Dunham Massey on Sunday 29th June 2025

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.

We carried on after lunch and were pleased by the end of the afternoon to see how much balsam we’d actually cleared - unfortunately though, there’s still a lot more to still do,

Sue B

Balsam pulling at Speke Hall - Sunday 22nd June 2025

 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.

The balsam was mostly quite small but we did occasionally find a larger plant!

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!

Photo above is a lovely wildflower bed just in front of the visitor centre.

Denise Clark
Worksite Leader

Cutting down poplar saplings at Formby on Sunday 15th June 2025

Six of us met Ranger Al in the Lifeboat Road carpark.  The forecast said cloudy but there wasn’t a cloud in sight so we slapped on the sun cream just in case it stayed like that.

We drove from the public carpark to get closer to the worksite which was on land south of Lifeboat Road recently given to the NT to manage by Sefton Council.  We went through an automatic gate into a very exclusive housing estate with a very large new manor house which would rival several NT stately homes!

The task was chopping down White and Grey Poplar saplings to reduce the vegetation in the area and allow for more sand dunes.  The saplings spread along root systems, so are clones:

They plan to have contractors in to take out the big trees ...

... but the smaller trees will grow rapidly when the larger tress are removed, so needed to be nipped in the bud.

Al explained that Formby has about 10% of the country's entire population of Black Poplar, which we were leaving alone.  They have done genetic testing and the 800 mature black poplar trees in Formby are all clones from just two trees!  The black poplar is an endangered species and most of the trees are male.

During the day we had a walk over to “Devils hole”, an area of shifting sand dunes deep enough to have a pond at the bottom – although it has been so dry recently there wasn’t much water in it.

Ariel view when there was more water about:

We slowly worked our way around a patch of established woodland cutting down the smaller poplars and stacking the brash in the trailer.  The brash will get used for dead hedging to make a stockproof fence to help control the longhorn cattle they hope to have grazing on the land in the winter.

The day continued warm, but with an onshore breeze it wasn’t too bad.  We managed to clear a long strip beside the wood, but there is still plenty of work left for the local group to do cutting the rest of the poplars down.

Jenny

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Putting in fence posts at Styal on Sunday 8th June 2025

Six of us met up with Ceara including a new volunteer Sam, who travelled from Rochdale by bicycle!  OMG, I am tired at just the thought of it!

We had a change of task from the original balsam bashing to putting in fence posts.  The worksite was around the fields off the footpath from the visitor centre to the village.  The reason for the change is that that they want to put Highland cattle in the these fields in the next few weeks.  The cattle are currently at Bank House Farm and they need to be moved soon, so this has become a bit of an urgent job.

The fields are currently wild flower meadows and the cattle will help to maintain the natural growth.

We had a great day.  It was hard work but we had lots of people stopping and asking what was going on in the fields.

Thank you to Ceara and my colleagues for their hard work and good company.

Christine

Staking out the dahlias at Biddulph Grange Gardens on Sunday 1st June 2025

I could just refer you to a previous blog for Biddulph...late spring, but that would be unfair.

Our annual pilgrimage to Biddulph to put the stakes in for the Dahlias along the famous Dahlia walk.   

The day started well with some sunshine poking between the clouds.  The Biddulph gardening team had organised everything with the end stakes in each bed set out, and the right number of stakes set out by each bed.  

 We had to put a line across between the stakes measure the gap divide the gap by the number of SPACES required in the map. Then place the stakes equal distance apart.   It turns out that despite my maths degree, arithmetic  is harder than it looks. But we did get the hang of it eventually.  The stakes were hammered in to make a solid support for the Dahlias.   

 We had a break for 11's when the local church bells peeled. 

                                                            

We went back to work and managed to get all the stakes in by lunch time. 

We just about managed to dodge the short shower. After lunch we set about digging holes in front of each stake so the gardeners could easily plant the Dahlia corms out this week.  We met a lots of members of the public during the day. We often paused to explain who we were and what we were doing, despite our earnest efforts no one  believed that the stakes would bloom once watered. 

We plan to be back in the autumn to take the stakes back out and label up the Dahlias ready to rest for the winter. 

Sunday 25th May 2025 - Spring Bank Holiday weekend - no workday