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.
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