Clearing Trees of Heaven at Dunham Massey on Sunday 23rd October 2022

Talk about dedication!  Nine MNTV volunteers turned out at Dunham Massey today in pouring rain to do a bit of Tree of Heaven removal.  Yes I had to google it as well.  It is a plant that was brought to Europe from China in 1740, so we can't blame the Victorians for this one.

We had a quick catch up with Colin, Lead Ranger, on what is happening at Dunham.  Previously, the rangers were responsible for just the immediate estate but now all 16 farms that make up the full Dunham estate are coming back "in house" so in the next couple of years a major restructuring will take place, including planting approx 750,000 trees, miles of hedgerows as well as making wild meadows and farming the land.

Anyway, back to today.  Tree of Heaven is an invasive species that unfortunately self seeds hence it spreads very quickly.  Our job was to cut back all except the trees that needed chainsawing and then take the cuttings to the yard to be burnt at a later date.  This looked a big job, especially in the rain which was persistent all morning.

We were fortunate to be able to use the benches in the gardeners' compound, which was undercover, for our breaks so at least our cake stayed dry.  It did stop just before lunch and someone even thought they saw the sun!

Once we had removed all the trees and small saplings we then cleared the path of overhanging branches and brash and just to finish off we raked up and removed all our droppings plus the sweet chestnut shells that were a slip hazard.

Before clearing saplings under a huge Tree of Heaven ...

... and after

Colin was made up with what we had achieved in the day and we look forward to being back soon.

Thanks to my intrepid colleagues for turning out on such a rotten morning.

Christine