Six volunteers from MNTV turned up today, despite rain being forecast for most of the afternoon.
We met Chris the Ranger in the main car park and drove from there to the Knot car park. Two joined Chris in his vehicle with the rucksacks and tools to drive down West Drive and up towards Paddock Cottage where they waited for the rest of us to join them.
From there we each carried a bowsaw and pair of loppers to the worksite, which was a densely wooded area, which we got to along a narrow, muddy and steep path. We took it carefully!!
Once there, Chris sprayed white spots on numerous birch trees and a few oak that needed felling so that more light would flood the area enabling the remaining oak to grow strong and proud.
It was dry to start off, then the rain came - the question was asked "Is this the rain that's forecast at 2 o'clock and will last all afternoon, which has come a bit early?". Fortunately, no it wasn't. The rain ceased after a while - phew!!
We stopped for a coffee and cake break and it started raining!! The same question was asked - "Is this the rain that's forecast at 2 o'clock and will last all afternoon, which has come a bit early?". Fortunately, no it wasn't. It stopped after a while - phew!!
We tried to start a fire using an out-of-date bandage with a lint pad of Neil's, some paper of Adrian's and Mary's flint and steel fire starter kit. It all worked well until we realised that the wood we were using as kindling wasn't dry enough to burn. That was very frustrating!
However, overall we made good progress, felling plenty of trees and leaving them to rot down where they lay. Then, just us we were starting to feel pleased with how things were going, the rain came again - it wasn't even 1 o'clock by then but the response to the question asked this time was Yes, it did seem likely that this was the 2pm rain that had come early, and it would likely continue all afternoon.
We agreed not to stop for lunch, but to finish felling all the trees with the white spots and then head home.
We enjoyed the day, working hard and having a chat, but it was a shame we couldn't get even more done.....maybe next time?
Sue B
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