A cold and damp morning at Lyme Park - Sunday 14th December

Six of us met up with Chris, the Head Ranger at Lyme, for the last work day of 2025 on a cold and damp morning. He gave us a briefing on the job for the day, rhododendron destruction, but burning more than cutting. We would be working in Lantern Wood with Ranger Jason and three Youth Rangers.

Jason spent the first hour showing his trainees how to start a fire from scratch - a real challenge in the damp weather!
So we used the time to make already cut piles of brash more manageable for burning.

Jason managed to get a second fire going after a couple of hours, but it was a long drawn out effort due to the damp conditions and unpredictable winds.

Jack used his javelin throwing skills to load piles of brash without getting a face full of smoke.

The Youth Rangers left at 2 o’clock and we stayed with Jason feeding the two fires until 2:30. At three o’clock we put mesh fencing around the burning embers as warning to any walkers in the area.

The weather conditions made it a frustrating day. But it was still progress in the long job to clear the whole area of rhododendron, which Chris estimates is still a six years  long effort.