Four of us met in the car park near the Wizard Tearoom on a beautiful warm and dry August morning. The job for the day was cutting back vegetation on the footpath opposite the Castle Rock viewpoint. It’s a popular and well-used route but it was getting a bit overgrown.
Loppers and slashers were the implements of choice. After a day's work the path was in a more useable state and we got a lot of thanks from walkers using the route.
Jean
We met Ranger Claire in the main car park near the kiosk in the rain (!!) and tempted everyone out of their cars into Claire's vehicle so we could get to a field which was off Red Lane, just outside the boundary of the park.
We climbed over a stile to get into the field and walked down towards the bottom of the field where the railway line ran past. There were still trains using the line even though Stockport station has just closed for a month so the bridge over the railway line can be demolished and then replaced. We thought there was probably a bus service laid on from Hazel Grove to help people continue their journeys.
We either had drizzle, rain or no rain, on and off all morning and into the afternoon, which meant that we hid under various trees for our coffee and lunch breaks so we didn't get too wet.
Although the balsam was spread about, we didn't let the rain or drizzle deter us. It was hoods up or hoods down, dictated by the weather, but it didn't stop us pulling up and destroying as much as we could, focussing on the stalks that were already in flower to ensure their seed heads didn't pop and spread the seeds far and wide for next year's growth in the next few days or so.
Into the afternoon, the sun came out and we stripped off our coats to enjoy the warmth. Ranger Jason came and joined us so Ranger Claire could head off to the office to complete some admin.
Despite the weather, it was a great day - plenty of chatter and laughs, and loads and loads of balsam destroyed.
Claire and Jason said they were impressed by the amount we got done, so we were really pleased.
Seven of us met up with ranger Ashley on a warm and dry morning. The Merseyside volunteers were also there so we made a 12 strong team ‘looking forward’ to a day of ragwort destruction.
Five of us joined Alysia and two of her colleagues for a day of various jobs. We were working in the tree nursery, which is in the field opposite the former Wizard Inn. It is a volunteer run project set up by the Alderley rangers. They have put in some raised beds and are starting to grow several species of trees and are now at the stage of expanding. This is where we came in.
They have been collecting shredded foliage from local landscapers and our initial job was to spread out cardboard and cover this with the shredding. Tick job done.
That was simple, next was to remove a fence post and put in two substantial posts to hang two single gates, not so simple. The ground was quite compact and took some effort to make the holes big enough for the posts. All this was made even more difficult as everything we were using was pre-loved. Holes had to be measured then measured again then drilled. No problem for MNTV.
As we finished this job Alysia said we had done what was required and it was possibly a bit late to start something else so we packed up for the day, just as the rain started. Perfect timing!
Thanks to Alysia and her colleagues for a good workday and my colleagues for their hard work good company and laughter.
Christine
Eight of us from MNTV (including a new volunteer) met with Ranger Jon and four Merseyside volunteers on this warm and humid Sunday, to "bash" as much Himalayan balsam as possible before it burst its seed heads and spread further around the wooded area beyond the overflow carpark.
Ranger Jon wasn’t particularly concerned about us tidily piling up the balsam once we’d pulled it up and snapped the lowest node of the stalk off to make it difficult to re-root. He was more focussed on us pulling up as much as possible so the balsam didn’t have the chance to spread its seeds into the Park.
In smallish groups we went into the wood and found patches of balsam to destroy - which was a very satisfying feeling. After our morning coffee break we continued the task, moving further into the wood. By lunchtime we were getting tired and were feeling a lot warmer than when we started. Most of us were in long sleeves to try and protect our arms from the brambles and nettles and some had caps on too to stop the midges and twigs from trees getting tangled with our hair.
It was a small turnout for our return visit to Speke Hall on 22nd June... just three volunteers.
We were again working in Stockton Wood but this time we were working right at the back of the woods next to the tyre factory. The task was balsam pulling but with hardly any balsam it was more like weeding the woods!
Due to the balsam being spread out across the woods we could not really get a before and after picture.
As you can see below the wood is very dense with prickly bushes which made the task quite difficult at times.
We ended the day just after lunchtime as we had cleared everything and the ranger did not have anything else for us to do. A bonus to get to the supermarket before the shops close!
Denise Clark
Worksite Leader
Six of us met Ranger Al in the Lifeboat Road carpark. The forecast said cloudy but there wasn’t a cloud in sight so we slapped on the sun cream just in case it stayed like that.
We drove from the public carpark to get closer to the worksite which was on land south of Lifeboat Road recently given to the NT to manage by Sefton Council. We went through an automatic gate into a very exclusive housing estate with a very large new manor house which would rival several NT stately homes!
The task was chopping down White and Grey Poplar saplings to reduce the vegetation in the area and allow for more sand dunes. The saplings spread along root systems, so are clones:
They plan to have contractors in to take out the big trees ...
... but the smaller trees will grow rapidly when the larger tress are removed, so needed to be nipped in the bud.
Al explained that Formby has about 10% of the country's entire population of Black Poplar, which we were leaving alone. They have done genetic testing and the 800 mature black poplar trees in Formby are all clones from just two trees! The black poplar is an endangered species and most of the trees are male.
During the day we had a walk over to “Devils hole”, an area of shifting sand dunes deep enough to have a pond at the bottom – although it has been so dry recently there wasn’t much water in it.
Ariel view when there was more water about:
We slowly worked our way around a patch of established woodland cutting down the smaller poplars and stacking the brash in the trailer. The brash will get used for dead hedging to make a stockproof fence to help control the longhorn cattle they hope to have grazing on the land in the winter.
The day continued warm, but with an onshore breeze it wasn’t too bad. We managed to clear a long strip beside the wood, but there is still plenty of work left for the local group to do cutting the rest of the poplars down.
Jenny
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We had our first social of the year today. Six of us met in Macclesfield for dinner at Wetherspoons on Park Green then walked round the corner to MADS theatre to see their production of The Girl On The Train - an adaptation of the best-selling novel and film. It was a really good show and kept us all enthralled from start to finish.
Daniel
Well it was an all girls workday on Sunday 18th May at Speke Hall, in all my years vounteering I don't believe we have ever had this before.
Five of us spent the day in Stockton Wood (next to the car park). Ranger Ian explained that the wood can be quite waterlogged so drainage trenches had previously been created throughout various parts of the wood but over the years these have filled up with soil and leaves.
When we arrived at the site there was little evidence of a trench been there previously.
We split up into groups to work on the trench in stages so that we would eventually join up the line.
It was hard work digging the trench as tree roots were found in the soil.
