Footpath work and pine tree clearance at Bosley Cloud on 18th February 2018

The weather was kind to us (for February) - although we didn’t get treated to the glorious views from the top of the Cloud we did get a dry day.

Tim, the NT ranger, had two possible jobs for us to do:
1.  Improving a footpath which was getting muddy and wider as people took a detour out of the mud.
2.  Chopping down pine trees from the heath.

Footpath in its original state

Six intrepid volunteers turned up for the work day which Tim thought was enough people to get on with the footpath.  Tim reasoned that if he could carry one of the short wide logs intended to go across the path up the hill on his own then four of us could manage one of the 16ft poles to go along the edge.  Between us we did manage to climb up the hill with several of the long logs, but we did have lots of stops on the way.

Carrying a log uphill

The long logs were staked beside the path with shorter logs going diagonally across to encourage the water to flow into a stream beside the path.  Tim pointed out that the “stream” was in fact the old path, which had been eroded away after people had created a new path a few feet away.  The work we were doing was to stop the same thing happening again.

After lunch we swapped from carrying the long logs to carrying smaller birch trees up the hill with lots of branches to fill in the side of the path to “encourage” people to stay on the path.

With a section of path complete, and no one having the energy to haul any more trees uphill, we decided to tackle a few of the pine trees.  At the start of the day I had envisaged chopping down majestic pine trees and shouting “timber” and perhaps singing the lumberjack song.  The reality was pulling up the smaller trees (2ft tall) and chopping down the slightly bigger trees from the heath.  We cleared quite a large area in a short time, ending the day with the satisfaction of two jobs done.

Jenny (first time worksite leading today!)

*CANCELLED* Workday at Thurstaston Common on 11th February 2018

Today's workday was cancelled due to low numbers and a poor weather forecast.

Hedgelaying at Alderley Edge on Sunday 4th Feb 2018

What a lovely day!! Cold, but dry, it was a great day for volunteering in the outdoors:-)
Seven of us met up with Chris, the Countryside Manager for Cheshire and Wirral, in the National Trust car park at Alderley Edge (next to The Wizard Inn) and we walked to the worksite at Hill Top Farm. It was extremely muddy in places and, although most of us wore wellies, Hazel doesn't have any so had to tread very carefully so the mud didn't go over the top of her boots!
When we got there, we were continuing the hedgelaying work that has been going on during previous workdays.

We used an existing fire site and Andy started laying the fire, while the rest of us dragged the existing cut brash to the fire or went to survey the hedge.

Despite it being a dry day, the fire took a while to get going. Once it did, it quickly burnt the existing cut brash and the new stuff we were producing.
After a quick lunch (it was too cold to sit around for long!) we continued and, by the time we were due to leave, we'd burnt all the brash and had made an impact on the hedge. There's still a bit more to do that may be the task on our next workday in a fortnight's time - who knows:-)

Lunchtime!

Photo's by Adrian and Sue.

Hedge pruning at Ashes Farm near Hayfield - 28th January 2018

Seven of us met in Hayfield at 9:30 for a day’s hedge pruning with rangers Myles and Mark, Myles’s daughter Molly and the rangers’ dogs Willow, Elsa and Lottie.  Daniel had driven via Marple (!) - a new route for him recommended by Google Maps.  We moved our cars to Kinder Road before piling into the Land Rovers and heading up to South Head Farm.  Myles's first task was to light the fire in the living room - it was warmer outside the house than in!  Although SHF has a new boiler it isn't working at present.

We drove back down the hill to Ashes Farm and spent until elevenses pruning a hedge there.  We did this same job on 11 May 2014 and it had grown back a lot.  We left the cuttings in the middle of the track so that the farmer can easily pick them up using the grabber on the front of his tractor.

For elevenses, we returned to SHF and had cake and drinks in front of the roaring fire.  Daniel said that although he has baked many cakes he had not until this week made proper butter icing.  The cake was good!

We did another stint on the hedge until lunchtime then returned to SHF for lunch in the warmth.  After lunch we left SHF for good, did another 1.5 hours then ended the day at 3:30.

As ever, it was great to socialise in the fresh air and hear the latest Trust news from Myles and Mark, all the while surrounded by Mount Famine and Kinder Scout.  We are next at Hayfield in March.

Daniel

Hedge laying at Alderley Edge on Sunday 21st January 2018

This was the shortest day I have attended in 10 years with MNTV! The awful weather forecast hadn't deterred six of us, and we set off in moderate sleet to reach the worksite.

By the time we were ready to start it was snowing, and getting heavier all the time. We started by cutting brash to start a fire, and had brought lots of dry wood, newspaper and a full box of matches, helped by some firelighters from Ranger Dave. Even so it was 15 minutes and about 50 matches before we could get it to light.

Everyone attends to the fire

 As some of us started to work on the hedge laying task in hand, we were facing straight into the snow, which was now horizontal in the high wind. After 2 hours we were wet and cold, and hands were starting to turn white, so we packed up and Dave came round to give us a lift back to the car park.

The 'before' picture ... there was no 'after' picture today!

We'll hope for better weather next time!

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 14th January 2018

Ten of us met up with Lyme ranger Dan and headed off to Lantern Wood for a day of rhodybashing, or so we thought.

Dan told us on arrival that our task was more a clear up process.  There was so much rhody already cut down that our job was to drag it down to the fire and cut it up before burning it.  This task was made easier for us as Len, Lyme volunteer, already had one fire going for us so whilst we started to load that one he lit another so we wouldn't have too far to keep dragging the felled rhody.  Dan was replaced by Jamie at midday and Len left at 1pm.  

We stopped loading 1/2 hour before leaving to enable the fires to die down sufficiently to be left, only to have a dead tree close to the fire start to smoulder so Jamie cut it down just to be safe.

A good day’s work was done and a large area now clear.

Thanks to Len - a big help.

Christine

Hedge laying at Alderley Edge on Sunday 7th January 2018

This was our first workday of the new year, and following a recent trend, we began with a day of hedge laying near Alderley Edge. Eight of us came out to work off some of the Christmas ‘excess’.

 

We’ve had fair weather and foul on past workdays here, and thankfully today was the former: clear winter sunshine all day, although the temperature was sufficiently low to encourage an energetic pace of work in order to keep warm.

 

While Neil and Andy H tried to get a fire going (difficult with small pieces of fresh brash), Christine and Andy S continued a section of hedge that had already been started, while Jenny, David, Hazel and I broke into a new section at the top of the field. It was very thick, very thorny and needed a lot of trimming out before we could start laying any hedge.

 

Christine and Andy S's handiwork

With the local sheep being consigned to a neighbouring field, our only wildlife company of the day were a few robins that flitted between the hedge and the cut brash, although we also got a good view of a pair of buzzards being ‘bombed’ by crows.

 

The fire in its infancy

By the end of the day Neil and Andy H had got a good fire going, and we’d made steady progress on the hedge, Christine and Andy S in particular making good headway on their section. We’ll be back in two weeks’ time to continue the job.