Hackfall Wood: 29-08-2017

This week took the NCVs a bit by surprise. Usually it is at the beginning of the month that we go into Hackfall Wood for our regular maintenance visits, not the end. However - as next week is going to be our annual summer walk we needed to earn our day off by getting busy and undertaking various tasks such as summertime path pruning, bracken bashing and clearing the stream down to the Alum Spring. Wellies were on the 'must bring' list!

The 11 NCVs split up into teams and off they went to do their various deeds - and this is what they did....

Tom slashed away with great ferocity at the bracken.

Ros K. picked a nice bouquet of Himalayan 
Balsam to match her wellies.

Angela used her loppers to prune a bit here and there. 

Way down at the bottom of the valley the silt shovellers got started.

When does the show begin?

Half the group had lunch at Fountains pond...

... but the silt shovellers, wanting to conserve their energy for
 the afternoon stint, stayed down at Alum Spring.

After lunch the desiltification  job became more and more challenging.

Keeping your wellies on was difficult. 
The gloopy, smelly mud stuck to your legs and wouldn't let go.

Of course, Melissa managed to get caked 
in mud from her toes to her waist.

Throughout the day various species of fungus were spotted:

                                      Bovine Bolete                              Fly agaric

                                   Honey fungus                                    Sulphur Tuft

Small Stagshorn fungus

Ros E. practised her Nordic walking on the long haul up to the car park.
Please note - shovels are definitely too heavy for this sport.

Additional News......

Last week a group of NCVs met at their workshop on Wednesday to build no fewer than 33 nest boxes. The boxes are going to be put up on trees in various parts of the Summerstones estate, near Scarhouse Reservoir, to help the small bird population in the area. The task was a daunting one but was made easier by the work put in a couple of weeks ago by Jan and Tony when they did all the initial cutting of the timber. The resulting 198 bits of wood and 33 pieces of rubber hinge then had to be organised to ensure that sides, lids, backs, fronts and bottoms didn't all get mixed up. No mean feat!!

The production team got busy - few factories 

would be better organised than this!

 Jan took on the task of drilling four drain holes in the bottoms.

We don't want the birds' nests getting damp.

 John sanded and sanded and sanded.

No splintery panelling for our birds!

Ros E decided to take advantage of the lovely afternoon

and moved her work station outdoors to make the all important 

notches in the lids to keep the wires in place.

  

And there you have it. 33 boxes - all identical. 

Well done chaps!

All that remains now is for a large owl box to be constructed and then the job lot can be delivered up-dale. Lucky birdies!