Tuesday 26 August 2014

Fishpond Wood, Bewerley: 26-08-2014

Nine intrepid conservationists set off on foot from our workshop in the direction of Fishpond wood, armed with saws and loppers. We had unfinished business with the rampant rhododendrons. 

Off we go - ready to do battle with the rhododendrons.

There was a great deal of lopping of tangled branches and sawing of larger ones. Some spreading limbs were uprooted and small growth snipped off. Bush after straggly shrub met its fate and the piles of waste grew taller. 

Angela and Alistair start work on the trees 
at the bottom of the slope.....

...whilst Ruth, Joanne and Dave get going at the top.


Coffee was called at 11:15 and we needed no further bidding to have a break. Between coffee and lunch the bushes dwindled and the brash piles grew. Some were even moved to avoid toppling onto the path. After lunch the assault continued on the opposite side of the track until the workforce felt too many sore spots.

It must be coffee time. Note that people 
are still smiling at this point.

The beast is tamed from both sides at once.

Oh good. It's 12:30 pm. Everything stops for lunch. 
The smiles are not so much in evidence now. Tiredness is setting in.

John decides the other side of the path is safer for lunch - 
no one can pinch his goodies from there.

We reassembled at the barn and began to clear sand out of the newly made bread oven. This caused some amusement as first Angela, and then Alastair, put their heads right inside in the cause of removing the sand. It was like a tardis - more and more sand was bucketed away before the oven was declared empty. 

Anita takes over from Ros and the sand keeps on coming. 
She decides to have a good look inside.

Long armed Alistair is drafted in to reach the back 
of the oven and Ruth waits patiently with the bucket.

A small kindling fire was lit – without the aid of diesel, paraffin or petrol as suggested by the more sceptical members. It was then allowed to go out, with Ros E. standing guard until it did. The aim was to encourage a slow drying out of the clay to avoid it cracking. We drifted away, covered in sand.

Finally the 'small fire' is built by Will....

...and, as this video shows, within a short time it is a raging inferno. 
Well - almost.

Anita can't resist giving it a little rake.

Everyone stands back and enjoys watching the flickering flames.

Ruth

Tuesday 19 August 2014

Low Bramely Grange Farm and Hackfall Wood: 18 & 19-08-2014

Once again the volunteers were extra busy this week with a task on both Monday afternoon and Tuesday.

Monday - Low Bramley Grange Farm
At 12:30pm 3 NCVs met Kelly Harmer from the Nidderdale AONB office to help out with the hay meadows project work. This time we were sowing rather than collecting wild flower seeds, which brought the work full circle. The farmer had ensured that the field we were planting in had been recently grazed so that there were plenty of bare patches of soil. We also made good use of the loose soil created by some very busy moles!

Kelly gets the NCVs organised for the task 
with her bumper bag of seed packets.

We had to use rakes to disturb the surface of the soil before scattering on the seeds of a variety of species. We then covered the seed and trod over the disturbed ground to ensure that the seeds were well embedded. Different species had to be planted in different areas of the field depending on the types of growing conditions they favoured. As we worked black rain clouds gathered but, thankfully, the rain held off.

Rain, rain stay away.

The chocolate cookies, provided by Kelly (thanks Kelly!), gave us sufficient energy to complete the job by 4:30pm. 

The NCVs down tools to sample Kelly's
 home made goodies. (They were VERY yummy!)

Some of the sown areas were marked with a cane so that Kelly could then go and take GPS readings to enable her to find them next year to monitor their progress. It will be interesting to see how well our newly sown seeds grow. 


The cane marks the spot where the yellow rattle seeds have been sown.
(These particular ones were harvested 2 years ago on a REALLY wet Tuesday - see blog entry No. 1)


Ros E.

Tuesday - Hackfall Wood


At 10am sharp 13 NCVs met Paul to carry out what had been advertised as 'some path clearance work' in Hackfall Wood. This actually turned out to mean 'a morning of Himalayan Balsam pulling (hereafter HBP) followed by some path clearance work in the afternoon'. Obviously Paul realised that he would get a better turn out that way as HB pulling does not always pull in the crowds!

We achieved a good deal in the morning and actually managed to clear a big area of balsam. As long as we didn't look around the corner of the path we could feel that we had finished the job. Our work was assisted by singing a couple of HBP songs - the usual one to the tune of Rawhide for which Angela has now written the full lyrics (see end of entry) and a new one to the tune of 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' (I'm forever pulling balsam, pretty balsam in the wood....'). Some chocolate brownies at coffee time also helped the job along.

And they're off - HB is ruthlessly hunted down and pulled up.....

... before being carted off by barrow-man Dave L. 
(the only volunteer when 'a strong young man' was called for.)

Apologies for the lack of clarity of this photo - Paul was obviously suffering from HBP syndrome which results in sufferers experiencing severe musculoskeletal shaking 
of the arms.

At lunchtime we were entertained by a very bold bank vole that made its way gradually down the path in front of us - not a bit worried by our presence.

 

A passing vole makes enquiries about volunteering 
opportunities whilst checking out Terry's lunch bag for crumbs.

Angela (?) is clearly suffering from another HBP syndrome which 
manifests itself in a belief that invisible armchairs are available in the woods.
Sufferers do appear to be able to sit suspended in mid air for long periods of time.

(Please note that Joanne chose lunchtime to arrive - she obviously knew about Paul's
 'path clearance work' ruse in advance.)

The path clearance work was not too arduous and gave us an early finish. 


Is this clear enough?

Task completed and the long haul up and out of the valley is nearly over.

This meant that those NCVs who wanted to could return to the barn and meet Chris Bax, who had been running an earth oven course for the Nidderdale AONB throughout the day. It was good to see the fruits of our labours over the last two weeks being finished off, ready to be put to good use.



Chris  prepares to explain the bread oven construction 
method to the NCVs.

The instructions for how to make a bread oven can be downloaded from the following website:


And finally..... the lyrics of Angela's HBP song (to be sung to the tune of 'Rawhide'):

Balsam, balsam, balsam
Himalayan balsam
We love pulling balsam
Oh yeah
Hour after hour
Never let it flower
We love pulling balsam
Oh yeah

Ros E.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Continuing the bread oven and working in Fishpond Wood, Bewerley: 12-08-2014

Twelve volunteers met Paul at the barn on a day of sunshine and heavy showers.  First decision – should we or should we not don our waterproofs?  Well why not; they’ll keep us clean anyway.

Four of the men stayed to finish filling last week’s construction with gravel and to put the roof on the earth oven under the guidance of ever watchful Jan.  It is now ready for next week’s Earth Oven Building event being run by Chris Bax from ‘Taste the Wild’.

Jan is determined to keep a check on Graham's 
workmanship despite the heavy rain showers.

The bread oven team can finally sit back and 
enjoy the results of their labour.

And what a superb result it is! Perfect for making giant sized loaves of bread.

The remainder of us headed off to Fishpond wood armed with saws and loppers to tackle the rhododendron invasion.    Peter Brambleby has recently purchased the woodland and an interesting account of his plans can be seen at: 
A few facts about Rhododendron ponticum:

It is not native to Britain, but was first introduced in the late 18th Century. It became especially popular on country estates in Victorian times, providing ornamental value, as well as cover for game birds.

A suggestion was made that we should organise at field trip to the Himalayas to see these invasive species in their natural habitat.  Would Nidderdale AONB fund it?  Probably not!

Rhododendron invades areas both vegetatively and via seed. Established plants spread by lateral horizontal growth of the branches. A single plant may eventually end up covering many metres of ground with thickly interlaced, impenetrable branches. Where the horizontal branches touch the ground, they will root, continually extending the area of Rhododendron cover

Yes, this is what we were faced with!  And a right old tangle it was too!  But with a cheery tune from Paul we soon got stuck in cutting and hacking our way through the jungle. 

Right folks - let's make a start.

Looking better already.

Huge amounts of rhododendron were fashioned into piles, not quite our usual standard of brash pile due to the long and springy nature of the material and the slippery slope we were working on, but we did our best.

The woodland floor is finally uncovered.

Osian and Chris practise their trampolining skills on the brash pile.

An NCV selfie  - where is the male contingent?

Angela does a bit of 'end of branch pruning' to tidy up the brash pile.

Rhododendron seeds are tiny and hence wind dispersed.  Each flower head can produce between three and seven thousand seeds, so that a large bush can produce several million seeds per year. 

Oh, no!


Frequent breaks for refreshment, including Audrey’s flapjacks (thank you Audrey) kept our spirits up, but by 3pm we’d seen enough rhododendrons for one week and headed back to the barn.

Anita

Tuesday 5 August 2014

A week of many tasks: 04 & 05-08-2014

This week there were a number of different tasks for the NCVs to do over two days.......

Monday - Emergency Himalayan Balsam pulling at Dallowgill

Eight NCVs joined Paul at 1:30pm to help rid the wetland area created a few years ago of this troublesome species. 
High points of the afternoon included: working in beautiful sunshine, surrounded by spectacular views (we could see as far as York minster); having an afternoon of interesting and amusing conversation; knowing that you were doing a job for the environment (though I'm not sure that the bees agreed!)

The pond dug about seven years ago by 
the NCVs (with the help of a digger!)

The NCVs get started eradicating the weed.

At 3pm everything stops for tea.

Low points of the task:
  • realising that what initially looked like a manageable area that could soon be cleared was not that at all. Much of the balsam was hidden by the high clumps of reed.
  • experiencing regular eye piercing as you bent over to pick the smaller plants (reeds are very, very sharp).
  • wading through thickets of thistle and nettle in order to reach the balsam. (Paul suffered greatly here in his shorts!) 

 
Jan and John haul the balsam away.


 Joanne can't believe the progress made.

Ros E jumps on the piles just to make sure they don't regenerate.
"Begone pesky weed."

But the NCVs are made of stern stuff and coped with all of this very good naturedly, working through until 5pm.
And there it was - gone!

Ros E.

Tuesday - a day of two teams.

Team A worked at the barn.....

Today’s task sounded very exciting and a welcome change from bashing bracken and pulling balsam.

Ten volunteers met at our HQ and some were dispatched to clear the land around the barn which was overgrown; the rest waited eagerly for instructions to build an earth oven. The instructions supplied by Paul consisted of a small picture in the “Visit Nidderdale” brochure. There then followed a very lengthy planning meeting as to how to proceed. It was a very difficult task to agree which of the many suggestions should be adopted. A start was finally made laying the base and, with Jan insisting on tolerances of no more than 2 microns, it was a great challenge!


Step No. 1 - lay a straight line of sand.
Colin checks it for straightness.

And they're off - the beams start getting moved into position.

Should the baulks of timber be flat or vertical? Should they overlap or be cut to size? By now it was coffee time. 

 Jan keeps his beady eye on the proceedings 
as the box slowly starts to materialise.

Having got the base laid to Jan’s satisfaction our leader decided it was too big! Lengthy discussions followed and Paul conceded it was fine.

Hello - is there anyone down there?

Anita starts to check the angles are right - she is not impressed.

Now that's more like it. This one is just right.

Work continued apace and our colleagues, originally tasked with clearing, started delivering tons of stones to fill in the large container we had created.


The stone gatherers start gathering.

Over the wall they go - straight into the waiting barrow.....


..... and then into the oven base.

This common newt was saved from being crushed by a large stone.

At the end of the first day everyone was very pleased with the progress - it looked better than the picture. Jan chamfered the edges and declared he was happy. 


And there you have it - an almost complete bread oven base.

Next week we will complete the base in readiness for week 3 when an “expert” oven maker will show us how to finish the oven. Can’t wait for that first pizza.

Terry

Meanwhile....team B went to Pyefield and East Woods Farms

Three NCVs started the day pulling Himalayan Balsam that had appeared around the new pond we had created last year at Pyefield farm. What more is there to say? We came; we saw; we pulled balsam. Photographic evidence can be seen below.....

The job ahead. 
(Note the level of the pond water  - it is an indication of how dry the summer has been. However, there were lots of insects enjoying the damp conditions)

Gill gets busy with the balsam.

 
Some of the plants were ENORMOUS.

Morning coffee and goodies allowed a welcome break in the shade.

3 hours later - job's done.

After this task was complete we moved up to East Woods Farm in order to meet Paul and help him clear a tree that had come down over a wall. This was to help the walling group in their important task of protecting two cup and ring marked stones that have been discovered within the foundations of the wall. Apparently cattle have found a way through and the marks are in danger of being worn away. Again - the evidence can be seen below....

What a mess!

 One of the two cup and ring marked stones.

Paul takes a break from chain sawing.

The NCVs begin to drag away the brash.....

..... and Gill gets busy with a saw.

 Within a short time a brash pile starts to appear....

...and eventually becomes something to be proud of.

Right wallers - over to you!

Ros E.