Wood clearance and path work at Styal on Sunday 17th March 2019

Today’s main task was continuing a woodland clearance project in Chapel Woods at Styal. The rangers have been doing this for a while now, and several members of the public commented on the positive impact the work has already had. We also did some footpath work in the woods.

We met just after an almighty hailstorm, and endured a few more sharp showers through the morning but enjoyed pleasant sunshine in the afternoon.

We were taking out some squirrel damaged trees plus a few others that were leaning over close to the path.

Ranger Craig also felled one large mature tree with the chainsaw, expertly dropping it across the ‘cut through’ that we wanted to stop people from using. The tree then formed a handy perch at lunchtime!

While some of us worked on the clearance, another group went uphill reinforce the edge of the path above the river. This involved barrowing stone to the site, and laying and compacting the stone along the edge of the path. Later this will be topped with other materials to finish the surface. 

By 3pm we’d finished both the clearance and the path, another job well done.

Rhodybash at Lyme Park on Sunday 10th March 2019

Eight of us met in the rain at Lyme Park today for a rhodybash in Coalpit Clough.  For the first time that Daniel remembers he began a workday dressed in full waterproofs!  Rather dispiriting!

The contractors had been on site last week and with their remote-controlled 'robobasher' and excavator cleared a lot of rhody on the flat margins of the Clough.  The steep ground inside the clough is inaccessible to machines hence the need for humans!

Throughout the morning the rain, sleet and snow fell and the rhody was cold and wet.  Dan, ranger, battled to get a fire going which, on account of no wind assistance, he had to keep alive with frequent blows from the leaf blower.

We ate half a sultana cake between us for elevenses then carried on bashing the rhody until lunch at 12:30.  The weather took a further turn for the worse soon after and with worse still forecast Dan called off the workday at 1:30.  The walk back to our cars across the moor was a 'heads down into the gale' trudge and we were all glad to get back to the shelter of cars/car park and warm up.

Daniel

Workday at Hayfield on Sunday 3rd March 2019

Five of us plus Matt the ranger met up at the car park in Hayfield and then shared cars up to South Head Farm.  On the way up to the farm by the hairpin bend are a few trees planted by a stream, one of which we planted in memory of our friend and former MNTV member Susan Tarr.  Unfortunately the tree we planted didn’t survive last year's dry summer so we replaced it with a new alder sapling.

After our mid-morning break with sticky ginger and lemon drizzle cake, we made our way up the track nearby.  Those of you who came out to Hayfield last summer and cleared the drains up the track will be pleased to know that the hard work was not in vain, the rain water was running off the road as intended.  We went further up the track clearing pebbles that had being washed into the road drains on the way.

It was obvious where the work stopped last time and we continued up the hill clearing drains and filling in the deep (30cm) potholes in the track. The local farmer uses the track but the NT fire truck has limited ground clearance, and after the fires last year they were keen to level off the track.  A while after lunch the tops of the hills disappeared in the cloud and after filling in another few potholes we called it a day and headed home, just before the rain got heavier.

Jenny

*CANCELLED* Workday at Bosley Cloud on Sunday 24th February 2019

Today's workday at Bosley Cloud was cancelled owing to insufficient numbers.  The task planned by rangers Tim and David required a large turnout.

Daniel

Fencing work at Styal on Sunday 17th February 2019

This week nine of us worked with ranger Alex Bond (substitute for Vicky) at Bank House Farm near Styal, taking out old fencing in the area near Altrincham Road. We had a slightly delayed start due to some confusion over the meeting point as some members who haven’t been to Styal recently weren’t aware of the ‘new’ reception building.

After we met up we had a 15 minute walk to reach the workplace but the weather was perfect, dry and cool, so the hike was an added bonus. We really needed a tea break by the time we got there but after the safety briefing we started clearing the vegetation growing round the fencing. The terrain sloped quite steeply down to the river so care was needed; two of us took a tumble but no damage done.

Some of the fence posts were rotten and almost fell over to the touch but others were solidly in the ground and needed digging out. There was a double strand of barbed wire as well as normal mesh, so after the staples had been taken out of the posts coiling the wire had to be done very carefully. We were joined by a group of about ten youth rangers for a couple of hours so they added extra muscle power.

Cake sustained us as usual at tea break. Today it was chocolate brownies and madeira cake. Vicky had kindly donated a lemon drizzle cake even though she couldn’t work with us and that was demolished by the youth rangers just before they left.

We had two first timers with us, Fiona and Daniel, and hope to see them again soon.

Thanks to Vicky for the cake and Alex for the intrepid leadership and to everyone for their hard work and for making my first foray into leadership such an enjoyable experience.

Jean

Lyme Park sorting drainage and creating a cycle path Sun 10th Feb 2019

A great turnout of 14 MNTVer's joined by 3 Rangers, 2 teenage cyclists and 2 older cyclists, making a grand total of 21!!
We already knew before we arrived that there were 2 tasks on offer
: one being the creation of a one-way cycle-only path starting from beyond the gate at Knott car park, along the length and to the right of  West Drive - this, when finished, would be signposted as a one-way cycle-only path to try and encourage cyclists who would normally head down West Drive, maybe at speed, to use the new path, thereby enabling walkers, families, dogs and horses to have a bit more space as they walked along West Drive

Clearing undergrowth along the cycle path

: the second task was to unblock some of the drainage pipes under West Drive and dig out the channels at the side of the drive where they'd become filled with leaves and grass, so the water could gather in these then drain away instead of washing away the drive.

The drainage group at the end of the day

Volunteers for the tasks were decided by who had wellies with them (they did the drains) and the rest (including all the cyclists) worked on starting to clear the undergrowth for the cycle path along a pre-selected route.

Making great progress along the path

It was a great day, overcast occasionally but the sun also shone and it was dry all day. Sue D and Sue B both brought cake to share for morning break - fruit cake and sponge cake.
The 'drainage' group petted lots of passing dogs and talked to their owners, which was a nice respite from smelly drains, while the cycle path clearance group made a significant impact on their task.
The Lyme Rangers, Chris, Claire and Jack, were all pleased with the work we'd done by the end of the day:-)

Lunchtime!

*CANCELLED* Workday at Erddig on Sunday 3rd Febuary 2019

Sadly, today's workday at Erddig was cancelled because of the forecast of more snow and very cold conditions.  Winds over 35-40 mph and snow, both of which are classed as high risk for staff, volunteers and visitors, mean that the property and estate get closed.  This happened on Wednesday 30th January.

We are next at Erddig on Sunday 19th May and hopefully the weather then will be much more pleasant!

Daniel