Hackfall Woods:26-02-2019

Spring is coming!

Yes - the start of March is fast approaching. February is drawing to an end. The NCVs toddled off to Hackfall for their final winter task day this week. 'Woodland and landscape management' had been promised but, the NCVs asked themselves, did this include removing anything prickly, yet again? Let's have a look shall we?

 

The day was a gorgeous one.

The sluice from the top pond was less gorgeous and in dire need of clearing.
There may well have been some old bramble prickles in this lot.

But, prickles or not, the team made a grand job of it!

No prickles in sight for canal digger Anita who helped to clear the stream below.

Paul may well have been dealing with prickles above the pond where 
he tried out a novel way of removing an unwanted branch.

This little tree seemed to require a good deal of strength to shift.

No prickles on the bridge - just the winter mud.

There were no doubt some prickly patches along the way here.

In spite of the sunshine there appeared to be a lack of 'joie de vivre' at lunchtime.
Perhaps some nice wildlife sightings were needed?
Just on cue.....

 This lovely brimstone butterfly fluttered by.

And a gaggle of ladybirds was seen basking close at hand.

A glossy shield bug came to pay a call and a bee buzzed by.
All guaranteed to put a smile on everyone's faces,
 4 buzzards soared overhead on the thermals.
(That's on the thermals, not wearing thermals - no need for them today!)

Plenty of prickle free rubbish was collected.
Why can't people take their buckets home with them?
Why do people bring buckets to Hackfall anyway?

Or their plant pots and scrubbing brushes?

Not sure what these are the old bones of.
Perhaps a Hackfallysaurus from the early Jurassic period?

Using a new boot buddy, Sally made sure that any hint 
of a prickle was removed from her boots before she went home.

And finally -  news from the boxing world......

Last week NCV Jan made three owl boxes for the Summerstones Estate. This week he made three kestrel boxes AND three bat boxes too.  From now on he shall be known as 'Super Box Man'!

And here they are.

Great work Jan.

Wood Hill Farm, Clifton: 19-02-2019

Just when they thought they had finished!!

Having spent the last two task days at Cow Myers Farm, clearing scrub, the NCVs thought that, perhaps, there would be a different flavour to the day this week. However - it wasn't to be. The clock is ticking and the bird nesting season is fast approaching. If there is any encroaching scrub to be removed then you need to get a move on. This was why  the group was directed to Wood Hill Farm, Clifton where there was a very old hedge that had to be removed. It had not been touched for over 25 years and simply(?!) needed cutting right down to allow regeneration to occur that could then be managed properly.

Liz's email promised "a similar type of task to Cow Myers in terms of amount of material and spikiness! A bonfire will be built to help remove the volume too." So - another week of scratched noses, pricked thumbs and going home smelling like a kipper.

How did they get on? Well - read on.....

Here's the hedge. Species within it included blackthorn, hawthorn, holly and rose 
so it was a case of pick your favourite form of torture and get busy.

 Dave waded in with a saw and made good inroads very quickly.

 Tom braved a particularly bad patch of thorny material.

Andrew was swallowed up by the surrounding branches never to be seen again.

Slowly but surely Andy nibbled his way into the centre of the hedge with his loppers.

Liz took the easy way out and deployed her chain saw 
leaving behind her a mass of tangled hawthorn for others to process.

Gradually the hedge started to disappear and a wide swathe of field opened up.

The NCVs left the large trunks to Liz and Farmer Miles to take down with their chain saws.

This they did with admirable skill.

While all this removal action was going on a good deal of brash was generated.

However - Julia and Will were put in charge of the fire lighting and, with a little help from a few stick collectors, things soon hotted up.

It wasn't long before Dave was beating back hell fire and brimstone.

Brash disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Miles managed to find time earlier in the day to make a gorgeous cake - 
a welcome sight at lunch time. Thanks Miles!

Before getting back to the hedge after lunch ancient tree verifiers 
(that's verifiers of ancient trees by the way - not tree verifiers who
 are getting on in years!) Dave and Ros E. couldn't resist 
measuring up the sycamore nearby.

At one point Julia designed a very nice parasol.

Tom found a piece of wood that had been gnawed by rabbits.
Apparently he saw it next to a hole that he knew was used by rabbits due to the smell.
From now on he will be referred to as Tom 'the nose' .

Down at the bottom end of the field things were getting cleared out nicely. Still some work to do but at least Miles can get to the trunks easily now to finish it all off with his chain saw.

By 2:45 pm everyone was exhausted and had to give up. 
Ros K managed a smile - not surprising given what had been achieved.

The AONB office has now bought a lot of bio-security equipment - 
we will show it in action every so often.

Remember Anita's sparkly, customised work gloves from last week?
Well Ros E had a go at decorating hers but her smiley faces had already lost two of their eyes and both their noses before they even got taken out of her pocket! 

STOP PRESS:

Whilst the group was busy at Wood Hill Farm, NCV Jan was up at the top of the dale making a special delivery...

Jan hands over three owl boxes he has made for the Summerstones estate.
Well done Jan!!

Cow Myers: 12-02-2019

YES!                        NO!  

This week the NCVs were back at Cow Myers, returning to remove scrub encroaching into the SSSI meadows where many rare flowers grow. It was definitely a packed lunch day today. There was no chance of a pheasant casserole or apple crumble this week. We did run the idea of buying a mobile kitchen past Alwin so that she could come out with us every Tuesday but she didn't seem to think it was such a good idea. Never mind - it was nice while it lasted. 

So - how did the scrub removal go? Let's see the progress report from the CMSRC (Cow Myers scrub removal committee):

Status of the 'to burn' heap at close of play last visit.

Status of the heap during the course of the day as work progressed.

One heap became two heaps that then merged into one mega heap.

Status of the heap by the end of the day. 

Committee's conclusion - Excellent heap removal progress was made.

Status of the 'still to clear' area at the start of the day.
A big hill to climb.

Status of the 'still to clear' area at the end of the day.
Committee's conclusion- potential wildflower surface area impressively increased.

Progress made in lighting a fire.

Committee's conclusion - conflagration coaxing second to none. 

Some NCVs were clearly out of their comfort zone 
when it came to handling unwieldy logs.

However - they heaved with great determination....

...and worked well in pairs to transport the brash to its final resting place.
Committee's conclusion - leaders in log lifting 

Status of the work party at the start of coffee time (20 personnel on site).

Status of the work party at the end of coffee time. 
(An additional 13 personnel arrived, cavalry like, from Askham Bryan College.)
Committee's conclusion - Commendable group number increase. 

Progress made by student group A in habitat pile construction.

Progress made by student group B.

Committee's conclusion- first rate construction from first time  constructors.

 Progress in clearing up the debris and putting it to good use....

... to dress the top of a HUGE log pile (this apparently makes it more inviting to invertebrates and 'seeds' the pile with fungus and microbes).

Committee's conclusion - ingenious use of floor sweepings.

 Progress made by one NCV in personalising 

her new AONB work gloves which normally look like this....

...but now look like this.

Committee's conclusion - superb use of sparkly bits.

Challenge to other NCVs - can you personalise 

your black thermal gloves in other ways?

CMSR committee's final verdict?

"Excellent progress was made clearing this important site. Well done to all those who took part in the task!"