New recruit, Laura, volunteered to tell the story from Bryan's Wood........
No wet walking boots this week!
The Bryan's Wood party (eight of us) quickly got to work, carrying on where the hazel coppicing left off three weeks ago. Before any work began though we thought it would be a good idea to eat some of the lovely flapjack kindly made by Audrey (and delivered to site by Tony) as it was about 10:20am.
The gentle sound of sawing through the hazel poles was broken briefly by Paul's chainsaw buzzing through the thicker stems of the birch trees growing amongst the hazel. Very soon, there was enough brash for Ros E. to start off the next brash pile and this kept her busy throughout the day.
Ros tries her best to orchestrate
the ever growing brash pile.
(Editor's note: Hannah - you asked me to ensure that the brash piles were well built. This responsibility lay on my shoulders very heavily indeed. I trust that I have not let you down.)
There were quite a lot of long bramble stems to fend off around most of the hazel stools but they were easily cut down with the loppers and the new blades on the bow saws were a joy to use.
Laura pays homage to the hazel
- before cutting it off in its prime!
After lunch (alas-back to packed lunches) there was more hazel coppicing before we all joined in with cutting down the poles, bundling them up in 10's and helping Ros E. and Alistair to fill in the gaps in the impressive brash pile with smaller branches.
Busy, busy , busy -
the NCVs gradually clear the area.
Terry tries to woo a particularly shapely
hazel stem but she's just not interested.
By 3pm there were still some hazel and birch thinnings left to trim so they were arranged upright beside the brash pile for another Bryan's Wood volunteer day or to be made into twiggy reindeer for Christmas? (Paul's idea). In the meantime there should be plenty of insects, and at least a hedgehog or two, moving into the brash piles and settling down for a cosy winter.
Laura
(Editor's note - four NCVs were determined to finish clearing the brash and actually left the wood at 3:45pm, just as it was getting dusky. It was worth the extra time spent knowing that we have a nice clear start next time. However - it does mean that there will be no twiggy reindeer for Christmas!)
Meanwhile, back at Clifton ......
Despite two previous weeks of hedge laying at Clifton
village hall the job still had to be completed so an elite (?) taskforce of
five assembled to finally lay this hedge (to rest)! Hannah and Dave were
already hard at work before 9.30 am closely followed by Ros K. and Julia. Anita, the straggler, at 10am prompt, was
cruelly admonished for being late!
The NCVs get started from where they left off last week.
The experienced team and the plucky amateurs quickly got into the swing of trying to tame the vicious blackthorn, hawthorn and rose to our will and before we knew it, it was time for lunch.
Julia trims off the tall hazel poles to size...
.... while Ros K holds up the hedge with a stick.
This holding up a hedge job started to pale as the day wore on.
Hannah prepared to start the 100m dash in an
effort to avoid being asked to take over.
Sitting in the sunshine on the village hall veranda with our picnics, talk quickly turned to important topics of the day such as the shock result on ‘Strictly’ on Sunday and the politics and personalities of the Paradise and Downton Abbey.
Sadly this hedge was not going to lay itself, so it was back to work and as the daylight began to fade we were finally able to stand back and admire the finished result, which is a testament to all the hard work of so many of our volunteers over the last three weeks. I can’t wait to see what our hedge looks like in the spring.
Nice and tidy at the back and at the front ......
..... from every angle the hedge looks great!
Off now to extract the last of the thorns from my fingers!
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