*CANCELLED* Workday at Bosley Cloud on Sunday 31st March 2019

Today's workday at Bosley Cloud was cancelled owing to lack of interest, perhaps because today is Mother's Day.

Daniel

Ragwort pulling at Formby on Sunday 24th March 2019

Today was our first workday at Formby since 30th November 2014!  Seven of us including two newcomers made the journey to the coast (three car sharing from Styal) and had an excellent day in the sunshine with rangers Justin and Hallam.  Hallam has been at Formby for only four weeks and until then worked at Hare Hill!

Our task for the day was ragwort pulling in a field a short walk from the rangers' office.  Ragworts are mildly poisonous to sheep, cows and horses and the intention is to introduce sheep into the field later in the year.  We were each armed with a rag-fork (perfectly designed for the job at hand) and a large nylon bulk bag and worked in ones and twos near the field entrance prising the ragworts out of the soft sandy soil and tossing them into the bags.

Coffee break was taken in the field (and coincided with a red squirrel appearing in the trees behind us!  Well spotted Hallam!) and lunch followed at picnic tables behind the rangers' office.

The field was next to a footpath and during the day passers-by asked us over and over what we were doing and why.  Come 3pm the bags were so full that it was difficult to drag them round the field so we collected everything by the entrance gate and called it a day and let Justin know by walkie-talkie.

Team selfie!

Daniel

Wood clearance and path work at Styal on Sunday 17th March 2019

Today’s main task was continuing a woodland clearance project in Chapel Woods at Styal. The rangers have been doing this for a while now, and several members of the public commented on the positive impact the work has already had. We also did some footpath work in the woods.

We met just after an almighty hailstorm, and endured a few more sharp showers through the morning but enjoyed pleasant sunshine in the afternoon.

We were taking out some squirrel damaged trees plus a few others that were leaning over close to the path.

Ranger Craig also felled one large mature tree with the chainsaw, expertly dropping it across the ‘cut through’ that we wanted to stop people from using. The tree then formed a handy perch at lunchtime!

While some of us worked on the clearance, another group went uphill reinforce the edge of the path above the river. This involved barrowing stone to the site, and laying and compacting the stone along the edge of the path. Later this will be topped with other materials to finish the surface. 

By 3pm we’d finished both the clearance and the path, another job well done.

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 10th March 2019

Eight of us met in the rain at Lyme Park today for a rhodybash in Coalpit Clough.  For the first time that Daniel remembers he began a workday dressed in full waterproofs!  Rather dispiriting!

The contractors had been on site last week and with their remote-controlled 'robobasher' and excavator cleared a lot of rhody on the flat margins of the Clough.  The steep ground inside the clough is inaccessible to machines hence the need for humans!

Throughout the morning the rain, sleet and snow fell and the rhody was cold and wet.  Dan, ranger, battled to get a fire going which, on account of no wind assistance, he had to keep alive with frequent blows from the leaf blower.

We ate half a sultana cake between us for elevenses then carried on bashing the rhody until lunch at 12:30.  The weather took a further turn for the worse soon after and with worse still forecast Dan called off the workday at 1:30.  The walk back to our cars across the moor was a 'heads down into the gale' trudge and we were all glad to get back to the shelter of cars/car park and warm up.

Daniel

Workday at Hayfield on Sunday 3rd March 2019

Five of us plus Matt the ranger met up at the car park in Hayfield and then shared cars up to South Head Farm.  On the way up to the farm by the hairpin bend are a few trees planted by a stream, one of which we planted in memory of our friend and former MNTV member Susan Tarr.  Unfortunately the tree we planted didn’t survive last year's dry summer so we replaced it with a new alder sapling.

After our mid-morning break with sticky ginger and lemon drizzle cake, we made our way up the track nearby.  Those of you who came out to Hayfield last summer and cleared the drains up the track will be pleased to know that the hard work was not in vain, the rain water was running off the road as intended.  We went further up the track clearing pebbles that had being washed into the road drains on the way.

It was obvious where the work stopped last time and we continued up the hill clearing drains and filling in the deep (30cm) potholes in the track. The local farmer uses the track but the NT fire truck has limited ground clearance, and after the fires last year they were keen to level off the track.  A while after lunch the tops of the hills disappeared in the cloud and after filling in another few potholes we called it a day and headed home, just before the rain got heavier.

Jenny