Nidderdale Conservation Volunteers' Blog

Tuesday, 3 March 2026

Trees Farm, Haverah Park: 03-03-2026

Hedgers' Weekly

National Journal for all hedge related issues.

BRING IT ON!!!

by countryside correspondent Suzie Sapling

During this first week of spring I am reporting from Trees Farm, Haverah Park in North Yorkshire - a beautiful part of the world which is about to become even more beautiful as the years go by. I spent the day with the Nidderdale Conservation Volunteers (NCVs) who made a start on an epic, three week long, hedge planting job. Their task was to plant 1900 trees as part of the joint NNL and Yorkshire Water 'Beyond Nature' project, the aim of which is to increase biodiversity and alleviate flooding. It was amazing to watch them at work. Such a slick team - clearly very experienced in getting young trees into the ground at a rapid rate of knots.

Here they are at work ...

Here is the boundary line to be planted.

Some nice old oaks mark the way.

Trouble is....the NCVs needed

to first get into the field.

This was, in itself, a challenge

for those with big rucksacks.

Even small bum bags

were somewhat problematic.

However, NCV Will showed the rest

the best technique. He was a limbo

dancer in his younger years.

Canes, spirals and some shrub tubes

were set out in place

and NCV Ken started doling

out the young trees.

Normally the team plant a double row
of trees. But this time a new three row
technique was used to make a wider hedge.

The weather was wonderful and the
NCVs enjoyed their coffeetime
in the sunshine.

Mind you, the tasty goodies -
provided by NNL rep, Emma, (very kindly
cooked by her daughter Lea) -
probably added to their smiles!

After coffee work went on apace.

Those working on the ditch side
of the hedge were taking their
lives into their hands...

...whilst those on the outer side
definitely had it easier.

By the end of the session the team
had worked half way down the field.

What fantastic progress! 900 trees planted on day one. A truly amazing effort. Only 1000 more to go! It will be interesting to hear how they get on with the rest of the job. I look forward to seeing this area in 10 years time when the hedge has grown and the trees are in leaf, flowering and bearing fruit.

Other countryside news

by countryside correspondent Gilbert Entwistle

The NCVs don't only plant hedges. There is also a small splinter group who go out every other Thursday to deal with various rights of way issues. Here they can be seen last week, cutting back the encroaching vegetation on an old packhorse way above Summerbridge. What a difference they made - no mean feat given they were dealing with blackthorn, holly, bramble and gorse!

This is the kind of thing they were

faced with.

However - Friedy started sawing;

Alistair and Ken started lopping;

And Tim cleared like

a man possessed.

By 2pm the bridle way

was fit for bridling.

What's that you say?

"Where's all the brash gone?"

Just down here where the path widens out.

Well done Team ROW!

Time to go home.

AND THERE'S MORE!!!

The Nidderdale walling group came to the end of a 14 year project which, though not hedge related, was to do with demarcating boundaries. Not only that, they immediately started on the next one!!!! Here's what their representative, Graham, had to say.....

Markenfield - the final countdown!

The wall we started to rebuild in October 2011 is now complete, all 420 metres of it; a completion ceremony beckons at some date in the future!

Andy and Graham spent the morning completing a final couple of courses and topping out the last five yard section at the start of the wall.

The "start" of the completed wall

Andy inspects the completed article

Across the gateway from "our" wall, there is another wall which had been rebuilt shortly before 2011. This has collapsed in places, most probably due to the nature of the ground and passing heavy agricultural machinery. As we don't have another significant winter job to do, we decided to tackle a refurbishment of this wall until such time that we can move to other suitable sites. For the sake of the blog , I am calling this the Southern Wall.

Five wallers dived

into the task of dismantling a 5m

section of the southern wall.

By lunchtime they had started the rebuild.

Whilst there were some big stones

in the foundations the rest was very

mixed and partly explains the

poor state of this section of the wall.

After lunch, Graham and Andy

came to help but, with the first section

becoming overcrowded,

Duncan sat down o the job.

Another 3m section was started a

little further away.

Andy and Simon resting after their dismantling efforts

By the end of play this had also been dismantled.

It's amazing the amount of work seven

wallers can get through in a day!

In the excitement of finishing the major task, I forgot to mention the exceptionally mild and benign weather, with Simon down to a tee shirt at times.

Spring has most definitely arrived!!

Tuesday, 24 February 2026

Hackfall Woods: 24-02-2026

Hedge work in the woods

As February drew to a close the NCVs finally got around to a long postponed trip to Hackfall. Regular readers will know that a small group of them had already been out there a good few weeks before, making a start on a Rights of Way (ROW) task that the vols were now going to continue - namely that of laying/coppicing a hedge at the Grewelthorpe millpond entrance to the woods.

So - it would be down to work from the get go. No need to walk way down into the woods. No need to waste time preparing things. Everyone could just crack on and lay the hedge.

Or so they thought.

However, on arrival Liz announced that everyone would first walk all the way down to below Fishers Hall to deal with fallen branches. Hmm. That wasn't in the original job spec.!

OK. Fair enough. That does

need shifting as a priority.

That's it lads. Sort it out.

OK Ken - you can stop now.

The path's clear.

Fallen tree number two...

...was dealt with by the girls.

A good opportunity for Ros to

practise her squats.

"Never mind taking photos -

come and help shift the beast!"

There you go - a nice clear path.

Off to Fishers Hall where 2 stems of

overhanging hazel needed dealing with,

both here...

...and here.

After coffeetime by the river it was

then back to Grewelthorpe

pond entrance and that hedge -

unclogging culverts en route.

Mick had the much coveted spade.

Tom had to make do with the

'heel toe and away you go' method,

making sure he remembered to

bow to his partner throughout.

Some culverts needed to turn corners.

Then - FINALLY - we were back at the start.

Time to tackle the hedge.

Mick toddled backwards and

forwards with the resulting brash,

delivering it to Ros who was

on brash piling duty.

Ken and Paul debated

what to do for the best.

That looks fine - on to the next stem.

Everyone was relieved when

lunch was called.

At one point a good old

tug of war was required.

By close of play the job was

unfinished but looking good...

..whichever way you looked at it!

And, finally (from walling volunteer Graham)......

... a Markenfield update from 18th February.

It was a bitterly cold day at Markenfield, with an icy wind blowing both sides of the wall. Andy and Graham continued the rebuild of the southern end of the wall, dismantling another three yards before starting to build again. Towards the end of the day, the rest of the group came to lend a helping hand. A morning's work next week will see its completion.