More rhodybashing at Lyme Park - 4th October 2015

As I once more slid elegantly down the steep muddy slope on my posterior, I contemplated the clear blue sky and thanked the gods of weather who seemed determined to confound the so-called experts at the Met Office who had forecast heavy rain for the day.  Having reached the bottom of the slope I turned back up the hill and surveyed the work being undertaken by the eight MNTVers who had turned out to continue the ongoing task of rhododendron removal.

The project on West Park Drive at Lyme Park is the creation of a mixed deciduous bio diverse rich woodland to replace the monoculture engendered by the rhododendron.  As a group we have been involved in the task since its inception and it is nice to see the ongoing progress.

We stopped for a brew at eleven and where joined by two lads and their dad for the remainder of the day.  The two lads aged nine and eleven carried out sterling work felling some very large trunks to joyous yells of ‘timber’.  After lunch some of the group went to a part of the site previously cleared to plant a mixture of oak, cherry, broad leaf lime and rowan, the base for the woodland - soon to be followed by an understory of hawthorn and blackthorn.

The day went well with plenty light-hearted banter and we left the site with a feeling of a job well done at about four o’clock.  Thanks to Craig the ranger for staying all day and looking after the larger of the two fires we lit to get rid of the rhody.

Tim
(photos by Adrian)