Tuesday 25 November 2014

Back to Fishpond Wood, Bewerley: 25-11-2014

This week we left Hackfall Woods to its own devices in favour of further rhododendron removal and work on the old ice house in Fishpond Wood at Bewerley. Ten NCVs joined Paul and the Heritage Skills team on a cold but sunny morning and set off with three wheelbarrow loads of tools. Everyone split into three groups and got busy with their allotted tasks.

Teams 1 and 2 worked down by the lake on either end of the remaining stretch of rhodies, lopping, sawing and brash piling throughout the day. We are starting to win the battle - there is an end in sight. Two more weeks should see the lake side clear. Hurray!

Terry and Alistair get started clearing the almost impenetrable thicket.


Paul gets called on to help out with his chain saw.

Terry pulls the sawn rhodies out of the way....

...and passes them to the rest of the gang who get busy with the loppers.....

....before cramming the curly stems into the brash piles.

By the end of the day the result of the NCV's labour is clear for all to see at both ends of the path.
An impressive wall of brash was constructed 
alongside the path at the far side of the work area .....

....and a lakeside edge, clear of rhodies, appeared at the other.

Meanwhile team 3 worked up on the hillside clearing the vegetation that had overgrown the old ice house. This is in preparation for the restoration work to be carried out as part of the Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership project. They also staked out the line of the footpath that is to be created to allow visitors to the wood access to this historical building.

There is an ice house somewhere under here.

 Oh yes. There it is - all nicely exposed....

.... thanks to the efforts of the Ice Queens.



Ros E.

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Hackfall once more:18-11-2014

Another day at Hackfall!

17 Volunteers turned up including 3 Heritage Skills trainees and their tutors.

When will we finish you may well ask – well, I think the honest answer will be never. Still, it is a great area to work in.

Some teams worked on footpath repairs, others on removing brambles from the sides of footpaths and a third group worked on clearing the scrub around the forty foot falls.


Jan

The photos below fill in the details.....


 The NCVs pick up their loppers and head off from 
the car park in three different teams.

 One team starts on de-bramblification of the path 
from the car park (a very prickly job).


Tom brings into play his super-hero special power - 
a bionic arm that looks just like a mattock.

 Job's finished - not a bramble in sight 
and it's only lunchtime.

 Meanwhile, down at the 40 foot falls, the vista line is cleared.

 No nasty brambles to spoil the view.

 Will makes himself comfortable at lunchtime, 
in a chair from the latest range of IKEA seating.


After lunch Ed and Will, stationed up at the farm, get busy shovelling 
gravel into the track barrow, whilst Terry acts as overseer.


The gravel is then transported by Paul, 
at the breakneck speed of 1 mile an hour....

 ...to be dumped onto the muddy paths far below.


Anita and Sally create a good quality brash pile 
from the scrub that accumulates below the 40 foot falls.

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Hackfall Woods Re-visited: 11-11-2014

Today 14 NCVs and the Heritage Skills team joined Paul at Hackfall Woods for another day of work around the Fountains Pond and its environs. There were lots of different jobs to do so, once we had all arrived on site, we split into different groups and got busy.

The A team chose the spades and a large rake and set to clearing the culverts before making sure that the weeping rock and the stream from the pond were flowing freely.

Eyes down, look in -Tom gets cracking with a shovel 
and the stream to the weeping rock is soon a raging torrent.

Matt and Rob slosh around in the stream, clearing the debris as they go.

The photographer is in danger of being swept out to sea 
by the tidal wave that was released as work progressed.

The B team picked up the loppers and continued cutting down the brambles around the pond area, revealing the many boulders that were specially placed there many years ago.

The bramble gang, happy in their work.

A nice and tidy pond edge - what a treat!

Interesting things come to light as the vegetation is cleared....
candle snuff fungus which turns black as it matures to resemble snuffed out candles.

The pond's fountain performs at regular intervals as the NCVs work around it....

....thanks to the hidden technology nearby.

The C team took their bow saws and scaled the forty foot falls in order to clear the encroaching saplings.

Well - there's Jan and Colin.  Can you spot Graham and Phil? 
They prefer the high life.

Graham does a balancing act but Colin is not impressed.

The 12:30pm lunch-call was welcome, although everyone had to dine scattered about here and there as places to sit that were free of mud were in short supply.


The Fountains Bistro.

Jan knows his place and offers the best seat to his leader.

A table for two and a single diner at the far side of the pond.

By 3pm the jobs were almost complete and everyone was glad to pack up and head for the car park. One more week should see things rounded off nicely.

Ros E.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Hackfall Woods: 04-11-2014

On a beautiful Autumn morning 12 volunteers and leader Paul, together with 2 Tutors and 4 Heritage skills students, met in the car park above Hackfall Woods. We drank in the wonderful views towards Masham and beyond before taking a barrowful of the usual tools down to the woods.
A view of the pond from on high.


We regrouped at Fountains Pond where we were given details of the day's tasks. Pond clearance was an obvious one - well we had brought the waders down with us - together with attacking the brambles that have grown round the pond and overgrown the many paths in the vicinity.
Carl and Charlie select their weapons.

Watch out John - Laura's right behind you with her loppers...

                  This tree will just have to go...                .....and this one too.

Bravely Terry, Alistair and Julia donned the waders, while the rest of us took loppers and made a start on the troublesome brambles. It wasn't long before the fountain decided to entertain us at regular intervals, its waters glistening in the sunshine, looking stunning.

 The three pond dippers make their way into the cold water.

Here's one pond dipper that got away.

A small but perfectly formed nest is revealed...

... and Chris is able to make a wish on the newly exposed wishing stone.

By 2.30pm leader Paul called a halt to any further work - we had improved the look of the place considerably! We packed up our things to make our way up the path. That's the only drawback with Hackfall, it's always "a long way up from down" as one eloquent volunteer put it as she puffed her way back up the hill to the car park.

Almost there!

Ros K.