Building a "dead hedge" at Alderley Edge on Sunday 15th February 2026

Today marked another visit to Alderley Edge to continue building the “dead hedge” in Clockhouse Wood – a project we started on 11th January and have been progressing alongside other volunteer groups ever since.

Seven volunteers (Adrian, Andy & Christine, Daniel, Holly, Gordon and Jean) met rangers Alysia and Mark at the Rangers’ yard at 9:30.  The rangers transported a few of us to the worksite in their pickup, while the rest walked the mile-long route, which took about 20 minutes.  After a brief introduction from Alysia, we got started.  Everyone except Daniel had worked on this hedge before and knew the routine.  We divided the tasks between us and largely stuck with them throughout the day.  Two of us searched the surrounding area and collected suitable branches to be cut into stakes or used as infill, two whittled cut branches into stakes, one hammered in the stakes to form the hedge’s framework, and two wove branches into the spaces between the stake walls.

The hedge essentially functions as a large habitat pile, filled with offcuts from the rangers’ coppicing work in the wood, and will hopefully serve as a wildlife corridor.  It also attractively edges the footpath and will stop it inching downhill.  Around ten dog walkers passed us over the course of the day, most of whom offered very positive comments about the hedge.

The weather turned out far better than forecast, with only one brief shower before lunch.  The worksite was situated down a slope and sheltered from the wind, though windproofs were still needed all day.  We took our morning break and lunch among the holly trees about 100 metres from the worksite in an even more sheltered spot.  Daniel had baked a sultana cake – a simple six‑ingredient “working holiday” recipe he believes came from Charlie Spiller (one of our Honorary Members).

By the time we finished at 3pm we had completed 15 metres of hedge and installed stakes for a further 5 metres ready for the next group to work on.  In fact, we reached the first section of dead hedge that Andy said he and Neil had built about two years ago.

All in all, it was an excellent workday and very satisfying to be building something for a change rather than our usual “seek-and-destroy” mission!

Our next visit to Alderley is on 8 March, when we might be planting the hedge trees received from the Woodland Trust to mark our 40th anniversary in April.

Daniel

Woodland work at Lyme Park on Sunday 8th February 2026

Ten MNTVers, including Jasmin, a new recruit, met Jimmy the Ranger in the main carpark at 9.30am.  Jimmy said we’d be working along West Drive so some set off walking there and others drove and parked in The Knott carpark.

Jimmy took his vehicle along West Drive to where we’d be working.  He showed us the steep slope we’d need to climb to bring down the birch trees that had already been cut and left on the slope, either in piles or just randomly dropped.

Once we’d started bringing them down and putting them into piles near the road, Jimmy went to get his tractor and trailer so the trees could be loaded and transported to Crow Wood, near the children’s play area, to be used for dead hedging (habitat piles in the shape of a hedge).

The work was challenging and tiring, but we started making a difference quite quickly.  As it was hard working on such a steep slope, we tried not to move too much and instead formed human chains so the birch could be passed down the slope from person to person to make it easier and safer.

Ranger Jason turned up to join us, which was a help.  We started flagging a bit so had an early coffee break and cake, but got back to the task fairly quickly afterwards and started loading the tractor trailer.  After another 90mins or so, we had an early lunch with more cake!

After lunch, some of us went on the slope opposite to pull out some rhododendron regrowth while the rest of us finished stacking the birch and filling the trailer.

It was a tiring day but very enjoyable, especially when the sun came out in the afternoon.  The rangers were very complimentary about how much we’d managed to get done, and the quality of our work, which made it all worthwhile.

Sue

Dead hedging at Alderley Edge on Sunday 1st February 2026

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.  

Jenny

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 25th January 2026

Nine of us met Ranger Jason on a cold and wet morning then hiked up to the current work area in Lantern Wood.  There’s a regular volunteer rhody bashing group during the week who cut down a lot but in the wet conditions they fall behind with the burning.  This is the third such session this winter and it’ll continue like this until bird nesting season.

We started cutting down the piles of brash into more burnable size while Jason started the fire.  But we had the same problem with the weather, very dank, so it took a long time to get a fire under way.  In fact, a second fire was abandoned and we concentrated on building up the first.

Jason told us about the Trust’s plan for the woods which is developing over a 50 years+  time period.  The wood was originally moorland that one of the previous occupants of Lyme Park planted with pine trees.  This gradually dried out the soil.  The current project, estimated to continue for another six years, will clear the rhododendron and the ground should start to slowly revert back to peat.  A few pines will be left to create a wildlife corridor connecting the surrounding moorland.

On the walk back down to the carpark we met some of the Highland cattle now resident at Lyme.  They seemed a lot happier with the weather conditions than we were.

Jean

A change of plan...on the Styal Estate - Sunday 18th January

Ten of us met up with Stuart to remove ivy from hedges on Apprentice Lane.  Change of plan ... a hedge in fields just of the car park was a more pressing task.

We worked down here two years ago removing fencing from one side of the path.  Now the rangers are in the process of laying the hedge on the other side but it is full of ivy which needs removing first.  Time is of the essence as no sooner than you know it March will be here and hedge laying has to stop because of nesting birds.

It was forecast to be wet all day and we did start in the rain but by late morning it stopped and didn't start again until we got back to our cars at home time.

We always have people saying hello and in same cases thanking us for what we are doing, but today more people than ever thanked us as they walked past. It really makes you feel that coming out on a grey, miserable, wet day is all worthwhile. 

Thanks to Stuart for a great workday and to my colleagues for their hard work and good company.

Christine

Building a "dead hedge" at Alderley Edge on Sunday 11th January 2026

8 volunteers braved the weather at Alderley Edge on Sunday 11th January.  The task set was coppicing and dead hedging in Clockhouse Wood, this is an area that the rangers are turning into a hazel coppice.  Dead hedging not only creates habitat but also keeps visitors to the path and the rangers are hoping to introduce dormice eventually!

It was a very cold and windy day with lots of sideways rain, we were all well prepared in layers of clothing, waterproofs and numerous pairs of gloves (they kept getting wet).

We met the rangers at the compound and split up into two groups, some people travelled to site in the land rover and some walked.

Once at the site we were given a talk about the task and then split up into small groups so that we could work on each section of the hedge and eventually join up.

The photo below is the site as we found it, the path is on the left and on the right is all the coppiced material we would be using for the hedge.

Before photo

A couple of people chose to make the stakes for the hedge (see photo below).

Making stakes

Some people hammered in the stakes.

Hammering in stakes

Everyone else started to sort the brash and layer the hedge.

Laying the hedge

We had a tea break late morning and managed to find a relatively sheletered place under some holly bushes/trees.

By lunchtime we had completed most of the hedge and it was getting very cold, we made a group decision to work for around another hour and finish slightly earlier once we had completed the section of hedge that the rangers had planned out.

End of workday group photo

Completed Hedge

Despite the weather it was a good task to do and we were very pleased with the finished result as were the rangers.

Denise
Worksite Leader 

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.

Woodland work at Alderley Edge on Sunday 7th December 2025

Organising this Sunday was a breeze because the Ranger at Alderley was so organised she sent us photos of the work she wanted doing two weeks before the workday! She did think the workday was a week earlier, but still it’s the first time I’ve had photo instructions. Video next time?

Here is a sample of the photos:

So we started by collecting the tools from the shed. Luckily Jenny, our MNTV leader for the start of the day, had been at Alderley Edge during the week and had had training on how to use the winch. A big tree had come down across a path near the Wizard Tea Rooms so we used the winch to stabilise the tree whilst it was cut and to drag it off the path.

We drove round to the quarry off Mottram Road and had a look at the different tasks that needed to be done. In the (almost) dry weather we decided to start by cutting back the brambles to make a good path to the upper quarry field. We then moved the piles of brash that had been left (by us) last year to further under the trees, leaving the meadow more open.  It was good to see that not many new birch seedlings had appeared since last year.

We paused briefly for a drink and cake. The cake was loosely based on a bread pudding and incorporated some of the leftovers from last weekend at Calke Abbey (using up cheerios, fruit and fibre, bread rolls, milk, cream, apples and a bit of butter from the weekend all mixed with a jar of Christmas mince meat). It was delicious and has been christened “MNTV cake”.

The other nibble made from bacon covered in dark chocolate was deemed “edible but strange” and christened “Dead rats”. You can see why below - so not one to repeat.

We then moved swiftly on in the drizzle to the lower meadow and had to cut our way through brambles just to reach the worksite. The alternative path was too steep and slippery for us to carry the heavy equipment down. Once through to the meadow we headed for the patch of trees we had been asked to clear.

There was a sturdy tree nearby to anchor the winch to. A couple of people went round trimming the tops off the trees, leaving a waist high stump, ready to be winched.

The winch was time consuming to get set up but once it was all in place it made light work of pulling the trees up with hopefully enough root to stop regrowth.

Our intrepid leader and dubious culinary delights provider left early claiming she had to go and  sing at the Macclesfield Hospice "Light up a Life" service. Nothing to do with the rain I’m sure! Everyone else worked through lunch break as it was so wet - sustained by the chocolate bacon perhaps? We  packed up a little earlier than normal to go home, have some food and get warm and dry, returning the tools to the shed on the way.

Jenny

Removal of red osier dogwood at Quarry Bank Mill on Sunday 23rd November 2025

Nine of us met up with Ceara before walking to South Wood to begin the task of cutting down and stacking red osier dogwood.  No, I  didn't know what it was either and had to ask good old Google!  It is a non-native species that grows prolifically and seems, once established, like rhodi to tangle itself.

We started around the mill pond, disturbing a heron that was stood minding its own business, stacking all the cut shoots by a tree that had come down in storm Claudia.  Ceara asked if we could help to move the tree, so once brew finished we set to loading up the trailer using straps to help carry the big pieces, between four people, as well as cutting some into more manageable sizes and dragging as much as we could out of the pond.

That was hard work not made any easier by the downpours that kept up all day.  There is still some to move because they need a chainsaw on them.

Finally back to the dogwood which was further down the woods along the riverbank.

Thank you to Ceara for a good workday and especially thanks to my colleagues for all their hard work in the most inclement weather.

Christine

Buckthorn clearance at Formby - Sunday 16th November 2025

Well what a bumper joint workday we had!  Over 20 volunteers from Merseyside NTV and Mancheseter NTV joined the ranger for a day of Buckthorn clearance.  The Buckthorn has been pre-cut and were stacked up in piles waiting to be burned.

We split up into four groups:

Group one group went off to treat grey poplar stumps with herbicide

Group two attempted to light the furnace and the generator decided to give up the ghost but we didn't need it in the end as there was a good breeze, after several attemps we managed to get the fire going. 

Clearing rubbish from the furnace

 

Generator not wanting to work

We soon had a roaring fire!

Group three dragged chopped Buckthorn to the furnace ready to be burned.

Group four were taken on a tour to look at a project to remove grey poplar which has been left unchecked for 30-40 years.  A contractor has been removing the poplar, the timber will be chipped and go to biomast to create fuel.  The area has been cleared to stop the grassland from converting into woodland.  Willow and hawthorn have been left in place.

Area of grassland cleared of poplar

At the end of the day we had the task of putting out the fire, it was very exciting pouring water into the furnace!

What a great day we had, lovely weather, lots of cake and good teamwork!

Denise
Worksite Leader