Nine of us gathered at the carpark at Alderley Edge this morning. We were expecting rain so had dressed for bad weather, but as it turned out we were wrong and it stayed dry all day - we even got a bit of blue sky.
The task was dead hedging in Clockhouse Wood (on the way to Hare Hill) continuing the work MNTV did on the 11th January. The instructions for how to walk to the worksite were fun, and mentioned several of the places we have worked at Alderely Edge before:
Turn right down the path - where we had trimmed a hawthorn hedge
Down the path to the “super high” stile
Along the path edged with gorse bushes - that we have previously trimmed
Turn left onto the path - where we had cut back and cleared vegetation
Past the bench that Andy and Neil had moved
Over another stile and turn right to find the dead hedge the group started earlier in January
The only hitch was that Issy must walk quicker than we do. She said 10 mins walk - we did it in 20.
We continued building the dead hedge beside the path, moving and sorting the felled silver birch, finding straight lengths to make into stakes, shaping the ends to a point with an axe, then hammering the stakes in to make a channel for the cut wood.
We weaved the cut branches between the stakes to form a nice edge to the path. This will help create a wildlife area by cordoning off some of the wood from visitors. We got lots of compliments and thanks from passers by.
