Cotton Grass on Kinder

6 Volunteers turned out last sunday and spent a few hours on the Kinder plateau planting cotton grass.

A big project with a lot of plants still to be put in. One of the limiting factors being the time taken to get up there.

I was supprised how much bare peat there was - it would be interesting to go and get an after photo in a few years time...

Sunday 11 May - cancelled

due to external circumstances the group had to cancel the planned work for this day

Hare Hill - Drainage and drinking.

The open parkland arround the gardens at Hare Hill have a lot going on underground.

They are drained by a historic network of channels that were covered when the field boundaries were removed to create the open views.

Some of these culverts have cattle drinking places built into them, and these are being rediscovered and some brought back into use. The structures are quite clever and should provide a continuous supply of fresh running water to the cows - while keeping the cows out of the water - reducing the polution that could occur if the cows had free access to a natural watercourse - they can't wade into it and the construction should reduced the amount of mud entering the water.

On Sunday, 12 of our members and a similar group from Congleton rebuilt this one, when we arrived the culvert up to the tree had been partially cleared and rebuilt. The water flow had been diverted round the work in a temporary channel. The Congleton group rebuilt the culvert feeding the channel, patched up the side of the cahnnel and relaid the flagstones. The structure obviously had quite a history and had been built / rebuilt at various times in the past with whatever materials came to hand. We continued this tradition reusing the Flagstones, sandstone, cobbles, oak, local clay, local sand.... There may be future work to open up an explore flags peaking out from under the heap of soil on the right - but for the moment that is being left to try to get the cows to only use the left hand side of the channel. The modern trough will also stay for the moment but the extra facility should reduce the mud / errosion in the field.
In the after photograph there is still some soil to be put back over culvert in the foreground that takes the overflow.

Gutters gulies, leaf mold and mud

6 volunteers turned out on the 20 April as Styal and spent the day clearing the gutters at the side of the Drive down to the Mill. With high visibility jackets we cleared the leaf mold, mud, and fallen sticks out of the gutters and from above the grates. We also cleared the sediment traps from under them. One passing toddler was fascinated by our mud - perhaps a potential recruit in 17 years time.

A number of members of the public stopped for a chat and gave a few words of encouragement or thanks. The days started damp but warmed up - time to get the shorts out?

More mud next Sunday even if it doesn't rain between now and then.

Drystone walling - peak district

Approximately 10 volunteers turned out on a damp day (20/4/8) and "patched" 2 "small" sections of drystone wall - on National Trust land between Edale and Hayfield. It may not sound like much but with 7 or so novices and three more experienced volunteers it kept us busy and warm.

As with may task the situation looks works before it gets better - you often have to take the wall down to its foundations to sort out an underlying problem before rebuilding it, and the net result is that during the preparation stages the gap just appears to grow. These photographs show the section where our beginners were taught - before and after.