Tuesday 24 November 2015

Bryan's Wood and Dacre Banks Nature Park: 24-11-2015

Today was a day of two halves for the 17 NCVs and 4 of the Heritage Skills group who joined James at Dacre Banks cricket ground this morning.

Before lunch we made our way up the hillside to Bryan's Wood in order to start work on coppicing hazel. This is done in an enclosure that has been fenced off  to keep the roe deer out and allow some regeneration of the woodland. A third of the area is coppiced approximately every 3 years and this year was the turn of the section on the far side. Unfortunately this meant that we had first to do battle with the brambles that had decided to cover the ground between us and our goal. In spite of these we managed to hack our way through and make a good start on the job before stopping for some lunch and a change of task. We'll return here next week to continue the job. The photos below tell the tale.....

 The brambles did their best to look unbeatable....

 ....but we NCVs are not to be beaten. 
With a snip, snip, snip we were through.

 Then the real fun could start - cutting all the stems 
right down, saving the hazel poles and brash piling anything else.

 James stood guard over the hazel poles - warding off 
incoming marauders like Hannah.

 Gradually the tall 'springs' were cut down...

 ...and passed on to the brash pilers.

This pile is a good example of what a high 
quality brash pile should look like. 

 Phil and Osian were very proud of their hazel poles.

 Laura was trimming off the side branches of these poles....

 ...which were then stacked by Hannah, against the 
fence, to keep them safe.

 Everyone collected a log to balance on, 
precariously, in order to eat their lunch.

After lunch we retraced our steps to the field between the River Nidd and Dacre Banks church. This is owned by Mike Emsley who is in the process of planting about 3000 British native trees of all types in order to create a community woodland & nature park. The first tranche of 450 trees have been provided by the Woodland Trust on the understanding that local schools will be involved in the planting. Other groups such as Open Country volunteers and the TCV organisation are also lending a hand. We arrived to find lots of trenches dug ready to insert the little whips - something that sounds easy but, due to the extremely wet conditions, was not quite so straightforward. Our boots, spades and gloves quickly became caked in thick mud. Again - the photos tell the story....

 The NCVs listened carefully to the planting 
instructions from the man with the plan.

 Some trees had to be planted in the ridges but the willows 
could go in the trenches as they don't mind their feet in water.

 Terry kept a strict eye on Ruth to make sure that 
she didn't plant a willow on a ridge or a hazel in a trench. 
(Or was he just having a rest?)

 A plastic spiral around each tree ensures that 
they will not be grazed out of existence.

 Well - I wonder who did the most work out of these two today?

Communal bathing in the nearby stream enabled 
us to get rid of most of the mud from spades, 
boots and waterproof trousers.

Ros E.



Tuesday 17 November 2015

Return to Fishpond Wood: 17-11-2015

Pateley Bridge Telegraph - Special Edition


The clash of the fire lighting Titans

Eye witness account from roving reporter Ros E.

In spite of the met office warning of the imminent arrival of Hurricane Barney 17 brave Nidderdale AONB NCVs met with 5 other stalwarts from the Heritage Skills team to help their leader in the seemingly never ending task of de-rhododendronizing Fishpond Wood. 

"Listen up you lot - today is not for the faint hearted. 
Anyone not wanting to brave the storm can stay here and sharpen tools."

Getting rid of the existing brash was the main feature of the day along with some further cutting to reveal the beautiful trees beneath this pernicious invader. The NCVs quickly saw that the only way to get rid of the enormous amounts of brash was to burn it - and one fire was simply not sufficient. Hence began a competition between two teams to see which could build the biggest fire and burn the largest amount of foliage.

Team 'Towering Inferno' got busy first and student Josh took on the responsibility of starting their fire once Osian failed.



"Here - let me take this over."

"There - that's more like it!"

Impressive to say the least!!

Team 'Flames R Us' then started their bonfire at the other end of the hillside. James headed up this one.

James got busy with a single match and one dry twig.

Then super hero, Alistair, used his special fire 
lighting eyes and willed it into action.

Not bad!

There really was no clear winner in this race for fire supremacy.

Meanwhile - some NCVs cut rhodies....

...both large...

..and small.
Others dragged brash...
 ...with one hand..

 ...or two.

Laura tunnelled into a particularly large rhodie 
and emerged, smiling, with great chunks of it.

The brash was passed down the hillside.....


....to those below...


....who fed it onto the conflagrations.



Some pieces were too long or heavy for just one person to lift.


 Student Hannah remained wet, muddy and happy throughout.

Lunch had to be taken in shifts to ensure the fires kept burning. Then the rain really set in. It poured. Heavily. But even that didn't stop the NCVs. 

Smoke and rain made visibility bad. 
Eyes streaming, hair singed, the NCVs battled on.
This high quality photo is to be entered for the Telegraph's up-coming 'Photograph of the year' award (Environmental improvement category) 

By two o'clock everyone was very wet (unless they were standing next to a fire) and smelled strongly of smoke. James decided that enough was enough and the fires were left to burn away.
The area is looking much clearer now.

Back at the barn Phil and Jan remained nice and dry having wimped out of the rhodie task in favour of tool sharpening. I suppose somebody has to do it!

 Phil put on his hat as the NCVs arrived back at the barn 
to make it look as if he had suffered cold working conditions. 
(The NCVs were not fooled)

Jan quickly rolled up the extension lead they had been using 
to power up the blow heater, TV and toaster. 
"I needed it to plug in the lathe. We've sharpened every tool in the barn - it's been really hard work" he claimed.
(Again - the NCVs were not fooled.)

Footnote:
The newly dredged lake is now up to full 
capacity and looking good!

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Hackfall Woods - scrub clearance rides again! 10-11-2015

Today 13 NCVs and a group of three from the Heritage Skills course met up for a return trip to Hackfall Woods to continue clearing the scrub that has infiltrated the vista lines. Additionally some of the path culverts needed clearing of dead leaves and silt. At least this week the view was visible from the car park and the high winds of the previous day had died down.

A team of 10 accompanied James to move further up the hillside from Fisher's Hall to the Ruin. This was no easy task as the going was precipitous in parts and the ground strewn with fallen trees and old brash. 

There was plenty of scrub to keep us busy.

Everyone got busy with loppers and saws.

Some formed a chain gang to remove the brash.

Laura was very happy in her work....

...but Phil had a sit down on the job when he 
thought no one was looking. 
Dock that man's pay!

The vista is looking a lot more open now....

......but there is still a way to go to 
get right up to the Ruin.

Whilst this work was going on the rest of the group worked their way along the path from Fishers Hall to Lime Kiln hill and took out the saplings that were getting in the way of the Weeping Rock and Sand-bed views - both of which Turner painted long ago. I wonder if there were NCVs around then to keep his vistas clear?

Team B got busy down at the other end of the woods.

The view from Lime Kiln Hill to the river is now revealed.

 Fisher's Hall was once again used as a lunch spot. 

This is where we all enjoyed the yummy brownies baked 
for us by Angela's husband John. (Thanks John!!)

Tony took it upon himself to deal with culvert and drain clearance, even making the effort to trail all the way back up to the tool store in the car park to fetch the set of drain rods. Give that man a medal!! Unfortunately there are no photos of him working as he couldn't take a selfie whilst also clearing a drain.

The walk back up to the car park seemed extra long today after all our efforts - a relaxing evening was called for!!

Ros E.