Balsam bashing at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 25th July 2021

Today, seven of us met at Hardcastle Crags in West Yorkshire for a day's balsam bashing.  It was the Chairman's first visit since November 2017 (!), but others had been much more recently (27th June).  The task again was balsam bashing, but this time on a steep hillside ten minutes' walk from the Rangers HQ at Hollin Hall.  The presence of balsam in the midst of a wood belied the notion that it grows only on riverbanks.

Ranger Tim explained the reasons for getting rid of the balsam (non-native species, quick growing and shades out everything beneath, shallow root structure which doesn't slow water flow) and a foolproof method of identifying it even if flowerless (the leaves grow in threes from the same point on the stem).

The bash was a tricky job that required concentration because of the steep ground and the abundance of stinging nettles.  From time to time mountain bikers passed by, either hurtling down the stoney lane or climbing slowly up it.

It was good to catch up with Matt Smethurst on his first workday since pre-Covid and to welcome newcomer Sean Kilgallon to the group.  After five hours' work we had made a small but noticeable dent in the huge expanse of balsam.  There is plenty left for the estate's mid-week volunteers to have a go at!

Thanks to Ranger Tim for having us for the day.

Daniel

Workday at Hayfield (Nab Brow), clearing space around saplings Sunday 18th July 2021

Seven members of MNTV returned to Nab Brow on the 18^th July (the hottest  day so far in 2021). We drove in convoy up to Kinder reservoir following Martin who unlocked the gates marked “no unauthorised access”.  We drove into the Water Treatment area to park.

Unfortunately the carpark was at the base of the dam and we then had to walk up the steep cobbled path carrying tools, and plenty of water, to get to the work site.

We continued along the Reservoir to Nab Brow.  Some of the trees, mainly Birch and Oak that we'd cleared around in 2019, had started to grow well. But some saplings hadn’t survived, so the NT had planted more saplings to fill the gaps. The bracken had grown up, so our task was to find the tree guards and slash the bracken to give the sampling more light.

After a quick drink we started the game of hunt the tree.

It was thirsty work, so we stopped for Cake (ginger and lemon drizzle) at 11am, 

more drinks at 12pm,

back to work for an hour

before lunch at 1pm.

We then agreed to work for another 45 minutes then we gathered up the tools and unused tree guards, ate the final pieces of watermelon, and made our way back to the cars.

After such a hot day we decided a trip to the pub was in order, so we called in at the Royal Hotel for a well-earned long cool drink, before heading home.

Text from Jenny. Photo's from Jenny and Adrian.

Balsam and Rhody-regrowth bashing at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley on Sunday 11th July 2021

It was another day of Balsam bashing, along with some Rhody-regrowth bashing, in a beautiful location that we have only recently had the opportunity to revisit - Gawthorpe Hall near Burnley.

Gawthorpe Hall

Nine of us met Ranger Nik and his long-time volunteer Jeff in the staff car park by the Hall. They first showed us the Bothy and the walled garden where we had worked a couple of years ago, which had become overgrown during Lockdown. It seems to have been a mixed blessing as it has encouraged many more butterflies and bee's to visit the garden, so much so that there are plans to retain some of the wild flowers when they start getting on top of the work needed in there again.

Our tasks today were to tackle an area covered with Himilayan Balsam (amongst nettles and brambles!) and try and eradicate as much of it as possible before it could spread it's seeds, as it was already starting to flower. There was also an area of Rhododendron Ponticum which had previously been cut down, but was starting to regrow and needed cutting back again.

We split into two groups and tackled one task each group. 

When it came our usual morning break-time, we sadly realised that because our rucksacks had been locked in the Bothy for safety and to save us having to carry them with us, we needed Nik to unlock the Bothy for us. Unfortunately he and Jeff had been called off site to do a quick job, which turned into a long job, so we couldn't reach our coffee and cake!

Once Nik and Jeff returned, we had an early lunch and chat as Nik told us all about the current restoration work they are doing on Holcombe Moor: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/projects/restoring-holcombe-moor

Lunch time:-)

It was really fascinating to hear and, as Nik proudly showed us an areal photo which had been taken of the bunds, he told us that we may see more about it on the TV in the coming weeks. I decided to do a quick internet search when I got home, and I found this link that you may find interesting to watch: https://manchesterlocal.tv/news/restore-the-moor-improving-holcombe-moor-peatland/

Sue's happy - she's about to destroy her first flowering Balsam of the season!

After tearing ourselves away from Nik's tales, we went back to our tasks, some swapped groups to have a change of scene and we finished our day around 3pm. We're certainly looking forward to returning to Gawthorpe Hall or maybe work next time on Holcombe Moor:-)

Photo's from Adrian and Sue

Himalayan Balsam bash at Styal Country Park - Sunday 4th July 2021

Well what a wet day it was!.....despite this seven hardy NT'ers turned out to bash some balsam on Sunday 4th July 2021.

We were working at the periphery of the estate near the Manchester Airport runway, despite the reduced number of flights due to Covid we were bashing along to the background noise of aircraft engines warming up and flights arriving and departing over the hill.

We started pulling balsam at the side of a footpath on the Estate behind the Airport Inn.

No tools are needed for balsam pulling, you just need to ensure you tug the plant at the root to remove it fully, the balsam then needs snapping above the root and the first notch on the stalk.  It is quite a satisfying job but a little repetetive.

Balsam root

Snapped balsam

When we arrived it was lovely and sunny and we thought we were going to have a glorious day, how wrong we were, within 10 minutes of pulling balsam the rain came down and drenched us all.  So tea break and lunch breaks were spent in our cars!

Tea break in our cars

After tea break we had finished the footpath so moved into a wooded area to pull some more balsam and shelter from the downpour then it was back to our cars for lunch.

Luckily just after lunch the sun came out and we ventured further along the path into the Estate and found some patches of balsam near the River Bollin, some of the balsam plants were enormous as modelled below....

We soon exhausted that patch and headed back to the meadow area to find some more balsam and there was plenty to go at but it was on a slope covered in brambles so quite a tricky area to work in.

A very satisfying day, the problem with balsam is that it will just keep growing back so we will always have plenty to pull!  

Unfortunately we couldn't get a socially distanced group photo to show you how wet we were!