Azerley: 28-05-2019

Pretty flowers? Invasive Weed?

"HIMALAYAN BALSAM??? - MOST DEFINITELY AN INVASIVE WEED.

OFF WITH ITS HEAD!!"

This little exchange should give you a clue about the NCVs' task this week. We were definitely not carrying out a botanical survey. If only! No - it is the start of the Himalayan balsam pulling season. Time to rip this tiresome, invasive plant from the very ground in which it thrives (to the detriment of everything that is trying to grow around it).

The first batch of the year was growing, in abundance, on the Azerley estate - somewhere we have been doing battle with this species for a while now. It was two weeks later than last year's first visit to this venue, so we were hoping for some taller plants to get a hold of than last time (much kinder on the back muscles).

Let's have a little look to see what transpired,,,,,

Well - the good news was that, thanks to the good job 

we did last year, we did not have to re-do the same area.

Instead we had to walk across to a SSSI part of the estate.

The bad news was - the balsam had not yet reached 

the towering proportions that we had hoped for.

 Once we had negotiated the fence...

...which was easier for the long legged NCVs ...

 ...everyone was down on their knees picking micro-salad sized vegetation.

Osian: "I should have brought my reading glasses."

Andrew: "Reading glasses? A microscope would be more useful."

Paul: "Do I get the prize for finding the smallest balsam plant?"

Trainee game keeper Matthew: "Ha! They are bigger over here!"

Everyone looked over, enviously.

Every so often you would hit a rich vein of taller plants.

These were pounced on with great joy and guarded, jealously from fellow NCVs.

The midges were biting and there were numerous flying insects that caught the attention.

Some were quite spectacular, like this Ichneumon wasp - 

so ably snapped by game keeper Kevin.

The Hooded Claw did his best to coax another interesting insect into a better position for a snap but it was camera shy and zoomed off before the shutter fell.

Everyone enjoyed a delicious pheasant sausage and venison burger lunch, kindly provided by Kevin and his wife, Emma (thanks for that!!)

Lunch was eaten in a wooden hut, designed by the owner of the 

estate and constructed by Kevin, using larch from the estate.

After lunch the rain set in so waterproofs had to be worn.

It was a lot less easy to bend over after all those sausages!

Slowly but surely what had first looked like this....

...began to look like this. 

Lots of balsam free tracks into the area.

Balsam was heaped up and stamped down.

The piles got bigger and bigger....

 ...as the HB free tracks got longer and longer.

A good job was done - though still more to do of course!!

Back at base camp boots were cleaned to ensure 

no balsam seeds were carried out to other areas.

Time to go home folks!

Humberstone Bank: 21-05-2019

This week saw a return to Humberstone Bank, helping farmer Jonathon with the woodland management work we didn’t get around to earlier in the season, namely tree guard removal and stake checking or replacement. This meant that few tools were needed - just some lump hammers and Stanley knives. It's always good to be able to travel light (although lump hammers don't quite fit the 'light' description!)

As the photos show - we made a good job of tidying up the piece of woodland on the opposite side of the valley from the one we planted up last time, although it was an extremely challenging day as far as the terrain goes.....

This is the scene that greeted us in the first area of the wood - 
lots of tubes to deal with here!

 Some trees had got so fed up waiting to be freed from their extremely
 tight corsets they had decided to take matters into their own hands.
Stanley knives were going to be the tool of choice here.

This one had done a good job in disrobing but 
couldn't quite get free of the plastic it was laying on.

 New volunteer, Wendy, was soon caught up in her work - quite literally!!

 Ros K. found it easier on the knees to sit in the dust to do the job.

 Osian was lucky to find a patch of woodland that could accommodate his lofty proportions.

Andrew, on the other hand, spent a good deal of his day bent over, under the low hanging branches, carrying the discarded tubes away.

We started out with one pile down by the fence, 
but then the piles proliferated right up the hillside.

Farmer Jonathon will come to collect them 
all up with his quad bike and trailer (thank goodness!).

Walking across the top of the hillside provided other challenges.

And once up at the top we had to work downwards.

The slope was so steep we often had to resort to 
walking on all fours to get back up.

A few of these tiny little, self seeded beech trees were found in amongst the big boys.
Let's hope they manage to escape the attentions of the roe deer population, 
seeing as they are not protected by tubes.

The tree tube piles just kept on growing in size and number.
Farmer Jonathon is going to have his work cut out collecting them all!!

Lunch in the sun, at the top of the hill was very pleasant.... 

...but, unfortunately, provided us with a grandstand view of the area we had planted last year. Many of the trees had been blown over by a gale.

 As we had finished the first job by 1:45 we decided 
to move across the valley make a start on putting the place to rights.
Now the lump hammers came into their own!

The band of 5 remaining NCVs fanned out across the slope and got busy knocking the posts upright, replacing any that were broken and tightening the tree ties.

Within just 45mins every tree was standing vertically again.
Let's hope there are no more gales for them to contend with.

Back at the cars everyone was relieved to take off their boots after such a hot day's work. And - of course - they made sure that said boots were cleaned off.

Hackfall Woods:14-05-2019

Did you know that this week was 'National Feet Week' in the UK? The one week in the year when we are meant to look after our feet properly and visit a podiatrist?

No? 

Nor did I and I'm not sure now many of the NCVs did either. As none of them gave a prior podiatrist appointment as the reason for not turning out and nine did show up for duty at Hackfall Woods, perhaps they were waiting until after a day of walking around the woods, on a hot day, in wellies or stout boots, before booking in for a bit of pedal pampering.

The reason we were back at Hackfall was, of course, our monthly landscape maintenance visit. We were promised a day of path improvements, the carrying of timber and some tasks that 'may require wellies', so - lots to keep us busy.

The roving photographers caught various NCVs at work.....

 Ah - so here's the timber that was to be carried.

It kept on emerging from the back of the van.

 The kissing gates along the way proved to be a challenge...

...but not one to hold up proceedings for too long.

Down, down, down, into the woods went the wood.

Yet another obstacle overcome.

One team focused on creating a hurdle and a dead hedge 
to stop visitors using this steep shortcut down to the sandbeds.
The slope is getting badly eroded.

Posts were inserted at the top of the slope.

Lots of thin stems were harvested from nearby... 

 ...and weaving began.

Down below two rows of posts were inserted and the space between filled with brash.

By lunchtime the two barriers were complete.
Hopefully they will make people realise that this route is not to be used.
We shall see!


 Meanwhile - at the other end of the sandbeds, 
where visitors ARE meant to descend, 
the steps were in dire need of attention.

 Soon, boys were lying in dirt, using more of the wood to sort out the problem.

A bit of freehand angle cutting was going on....

...and a certain amount of standing around, watching men at work.

Alistair in action.

David and Tom in in-action.

The steps were much improved by the end of the morning, 
although some extra wood is still needed to make two more boxes towards the top.
Well done chaps.

After lunch team hurdle worked on a similar job near the Hutts bench
to deter 'off piste' pedestrians, whilst team steps went off to reveal 
a lost footpath near Fountains pond. (No photos for this - sorry!)

En route back to the car park, Dave proudly showed us the culverts he had cleared so beautifully before coffee time.

What a great place to spend such a glorious day!!