Balsam bashing at Dunham Massey on Sunday 9th July 2023

Eight of us met Lead Ranger Steve at 10:00 on a beautiful sunny morning for the second balsam bashing session of the year at Dunham.

The work location this time, though near the car park picnic area, used to be a lake. It was drained when water was diverted to power the mill when it was still producing flour. This happened as long ago as the 17th century but the area is still very damp and is classed as a site of ‘biological significance’ for its orchid population. As we’re well into the balsam season the growth was the tallest we’ve seen this year.

We worked mainly on our own as Steve was also acting as Duty Manager but he came by regularly and talked about the plans being developed to make the estate more biodiverse. These include working with tenant farmers to introduce more ecologically friendly practices and reinstate 30 kms of hedging.

We managed to clear the area - safely away from the orchids! - and the whole group gathered to surround the last stand of balsam.

It was a very satisfying and interesting day and we’re looking forward to taking part in the hedge laying project.

Jean

Dismantling deer fencing at Lyme Park on Sunday 2nd July 2023

Eight of us met Izzy in the car park where she explained that we would be removing some deer fencing from around some trees, these trees now being big enough to fend for themselves against the deer.  We followed Izzy up to where she had left her vehicle by a gate into an area that is not accessible to the general public.  Once into this area and across a field we came to our worksite of Calves Croft.

We had to use loppers in a couple of instances to enable us to manoeuvre the posts out.  Apart from some of the strengthening posts having a lot of staples in them the job went well.

Sue Daber, both a Lyme Park and MNTV volunteer, came to see us in the afternoon as part of her Lyme duties, and treated us to more cake which was gratefully eaten.

Once all fencing had been removed we took it down to the vehicle for Izzy to take back to the yard.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work, to Sue for the cake and Izzy for keeping us entertained.

Andy H

Ragwort pulling at Formby on Sunday 25th June 2023

Five of us met up at the rangers office on a bright sunny morning not sure exactly what the task would be for the day.

We soon found out it was to be the back breaking job of ragwort pulling.  Izzie and Nathan explained that due to staffing issues they would not be able to work with us so took us to the worksite along with the tools and then apologised for the amount of ragwort that was in the field.  MNTV had actually worked in this field pre lockdown and cleared it so it just shows how prolific a species it is.

Izzie and Nathan did call on us a couple times but they were otherwise occupied with a dead sheep in one of their fields and a dead seal on the beach.  Not the best of days for them.

As the once sunny morning started to cloud over and get very humid we began seeing the first really black clouds come in from the sea.  At 2pm we were undecided as it wasn't raining too much but then it started to come down heavier so it was agreed we call it a day.  Just as well as it became torrential on the drive home.

Thanks to Nathan and Izzie for looking after us and to my colleagues for their hard work in difficult conditions.

Christine 

 

June social: dinner at Kandy in Macclesfield and then Alan Bennett's play People at MADS theatre

Tonight was our first social of the year.  Eight of us met at 6pm for dinner at Kandy, a Sri Lankan restaurant in Macclesfield that we have visited several times before.  We enjoyed the tasty food but the service of mains was extremely slow, so slow in fact that although knowing we needed to leave at 7:30pm the last plate was brought to the table at 7:25!  Anna was served last and decided to enjoy her meal at a leisurely pace rather than wolf it down so opted out of the play.  What a shame ... because the six of us really enjoyed it.  It was Alan Bennett's "People".  To quote from the MADS website:

“Doing the right thing isn’t always the right thing to do.”

People spoil things; there are so many of them and the last thing one wants is them traipsing through one’s house. But with the park a jungle and a bath on the billiard table, what is one to do? With her family estate lying in a state of disrepair, desperately requiring finance to keep the once grand residence maintained, Lady Dorothy is willing to go to any lengths in order to keep the property out of the hands of the National Trust. Her sister however, wholeheartedly disagrees. A sharp, critical and spectacularly funny play from the master playwright.

Thanks to Jenny for organising the evening.

Daniel

Balsam bash at Hardcastle Crags on Sunday 18th June 2023

Andy and Jean, the Dynamic Duo, met ranger Tim at 10:00 on a warm and still Sunday morning.  We started the day clearing bracken from the small orchard behind Hollin Hall that Tim has ‘adopted’.  It has a number of heritage apple trees that are healthy and produce plenty of fruit but bracken is starting to encroach from the neighbouring field.

We pulled up the bracken by hand, usually managing to take the rhizome as well.  Tim is mapping the areas as they’re worked to see how effective this is compared to using a ‘weed whacker’.

After an hour and a half the orchard was clear of bracken, exposing some Himalayan Balsam! But that’s a job for another day.

The second task was the never ending job of balsam bashing.  We worked in a gulley by the river just below the main car park, again pulling up the plants by the root.  The balsam hadn’t started flowering yet so every plant we pulled avoided about 700 seeds being spread.

Three hours later the gulley is still green but nettles are okay and hopefully the underlying blue bells and daffodils will put on a good show next year.

Jean

Balsam bash at Dunham Massey on Sunday 11th June 2023

We had a great turnout today.  11 of us met ranger Natalie to do a spot of balsam bashing in the woods by the carpark.  Once in the woods you didn’t notice we were by the carpark, but we did notice the shade which was a welcome feature on this hot day.

We had a cake break (carrot cake and Grapefruit flapjacks) at 11:15 and lunch at 1:15 and several water stops along the way.

The area we cleared of balsam a couple of years ago was doing well with bramble, rose, bay willow herb and nettles crowding out the few seedlings left so hopefully the areas we did today will recover soon as well.

The ground was dry so we mostly stayed clean which was useful as Natalie had kindly got us tickets to see the house which has opened a few more rooms in the servants area and had a few room guides in costume.  So we ended the day in the relative cool of the house.  – Thanks Nat.

Jenny

Staking the dahlia beds at Biddulph Grange Garden on Sunday 4th June 2023

We had another glorious day at Biddulph today.  MNTV are now the NT experts at putting in the stakes for the autumn dahlias.  Each time the process gets a little better.  The Garden had been on TV recently so was quite busy so lots of time to chat and promote MNTV. 

We had a “cream tea” at break and there were leftovers for lunch time. 

The sun shone and the Rangers Holly and Leslie looked after us well, supplying us with several cups of water so we didn’t dehydrate.

We even had time at the end to fork over the ground in front of the stakes ready for the plants to go in.  And those new to the Garden had a wander round.

To see the dahlias in full bloom visit Biddulph between mid-August and mid-September.  If you do, send in the photos and we can add them to the blog.

Jenny