Tree thinning at Hayfield on Sunday 1st March

Ten of us joined 4 High Peak Rangers and their 3 dogs at Hayfield. The day started bright but unfortunately, later in the afternoon, it deteriorated into rain and sleet resulting in an early finish!

As planned, we met at 9.30am in the Sett Valley Trail car park and then drove to near Ashes Farm, where we left our cars, and piled into the National Trust mini-bus, to travel the rest of the way.

We were working in a couple of the plantations at Ashes Farm, thinning trees and making wood piles of the offcut branches. We also cut away the bark around the perimeter of some of the larger trees to create standing dead wood.

We had plenty of cake! - Karin made some wonderful flap jack, Sue D brought some delicious fruit cake and Sue B took some tasty banana loaf!

The bad weather started around 2pm when it began to rain which turned to sleet. The NT Rangers had to stop using the chain saws for safety reasons so, as the rest of us were quite wet by this point, we all decided to call it a day.

We loaded the tools back into the NT mini-bus for a return journey, but had enough time to pose for a group photo before leaving.

Despite the weather, as always, we look forward to a return visit to Hayfield in the Dark Peak.