Humberstone Bank: 29-10-2019

Guards! Guards!

Any NCV new to the group (or reader new to the blog) could be forgiven in thinking that the task involved watching something akin to a march past of the Queen's Guard this week. Tree maintenance at Humberstone Bank was to be carried out - and of course that entails checking out the tree guards. 

Well - no such luck. The task was far more hands on than that. Lump hammers and safety knives had to be deployed. Posts that had blown over had to be re-instated to the vertical. Others that were all wobbly had to be knocked further into the earth. Any tree guards (tubes) found to be devoid of trees had to be collected up. No sign of any smart red uniforms or shiny brass buttons anywhere. 

So - here's the tree guard parade ground pics......

Just another day at the office.

The wider view looked so benign,

 but at the work site itself there was a slightly different scene.

There was the odd barren wasteland strewn with defunct tree guards....

...and an area of waist high vegetation disguising the semi-bog of doom.

And so to work.

 

Many trees had blown over and needed re-verticalisation.

 On some occasions this worked quite well.

On others the perpendicular just wasn't possible.

 Ruth tried to demonstrate to the tree guards
 the position they needed to achieve.

 Yep - I think that's just about perfect Andy.

This piece of wood was all that was left of this particular post/guard/tree combo.

Even coffee time was held in a vertical position for the most part.

Ken came out in sympathy with the tree guards.

 

There was a choice of goodies - flapjack from Audrey AND chocolatey tray bake from farmer Jonathan. Thank you very much for that!

Then it was back to work and the righting of the guards.

Task leader Osian oversaw the job and measured each guard carefully with his protractor.

As the day wore on, smoke accumulated on the moorland.

The heather burning season is obviously underway.

Meanwhile - way down in Shropshire, thanks to flooding in the Rea Valley, Volunteer Co-ordinator Liz (who was meant to be on holiday) ended up having to work hard to dig a drainage ditch to alleviate the situation. A real busman's holiday!

Luckily help was at hand in the form of 

Grandpa Colin and Helpful Harry.

That's right Harry  put your back into it.

That should do the trick!

This little slug was hoping to hitch a ride from the undergrowth

 until spotted by Liz's beady eye.

Fishpond Wood: 22-10-2019

Best tool for the job?

Any NCV worth their salt would know that this week's task description heralded the need for a more substantial digging implement than the one shown above. Oh yes indeed! They were not being asked to dig up dandelions or daisies. Instead they had to remove the rhododendron roots that remained in the ground, after the original rhodie clearance, on either side of the main pathway into Fishpond Wood.

What was needed were heavy duty spades, mattocks, loppers and bowsaws - and lots and lots of energy and strength. 

Well - that sets the scene. Let's see how these tools were deployed and how many roots were removed......

The day started with everyone donning one of the smart new high vis vests.

These replaced the ones the mice had eaten.

Up in the woods the rhodie roots lurked below the soil looking reasonably benign.

That was until you started digging and realised that the job was NOT going to be that easy.

They were a bit like ice-bergs with only a small part showing above the soil level.

Keep digging Andy!

Andy eventually got this one out of the ground. 

As you would expect, the Mighty Osian set to with great gusto and eventually...

...won the battle with this particular monster.

Alistair was very proud to dig out the first of the roots.

No wonder he got this one out so quickly - it was, after all, just a teeny weeny one.

Dave partnered up with this headless NCV - 
a strategy that seemed to work well for the pair of them.
At least Dave could see where to dig.

Jan fell to his knees in the face of adversity and said a few Hail Marys

 in an attempt to help the job along.

Ros E. even attempted the see saw method in an effort to coax

 this recalcitrant root out of the ground.

Once the roots were out they then had to be collected up....

...and then used to construct two rather large habitat piles.

It was now lunchtime and everyone had had enough of de-rootification.

Consequently the group moved further along the path to the pond.

 Here they pruned back any encroaching rhodies 

and even cleaned off a set of steps.

Yes - I think that should just about do it chaps.

Just pick up those clippings please.

During this last part of the day we saw a few interesting things - 

such as this troop of fungus which we think may be Sulphur Tuft....

..and this Common Puffball that looked a bit like a white hedgehog.

This hollowing veteran beech was measured and photographed 

to be added to the Woodland Trust's ancient tree inventory....

...along with this hollowing birch, added as an ancient tree.

Back at the barn the day finished with the usual communal boot and tool cleaning session.

Cow Myers: 12-10-2019

BEWARE! Scrub Clearance to be done!

When they heard where they were headed this week the NCVs considered running out and buying some health and safety equipment similar to that shown above. They were to return to Cow Myers SSSI in order to carry out 'scrub clearance and autumn tasks' which sounded like shorthand for saying 'cutting down blackthorn with all the usual likelihood of scratched noses and a dig in the eye to boot'. The extra fluffy bits on a face protector such as this would also give some protection from any midges that might try to invade around the edges.

The photos below show whether their fears were confirmed......

Everyone thought that perhaps the work area may be a little 

on the moist side when they walked through this gateway.

Needless to say - their thoughts were confirmed 10 fold.

The word of the day was decidedly 'slimy', with NCVs having to squelch through muddy puddles and slither along slippery paths.

However - the good news was that they were not dealing with blackthorn after all.

Instead a stand of encroaching alders, birch, spindle and hawthorn needed 

pushing back to allow the special magnesian limestone flora to flourish.

Various bods set to with their bow saws, 

leaving the thicker trunks to Liz and the chainsaw.

"What do you want me to do with this now?"

 "Just pass it over here and we'll relocate it for you."

"We'll need to do a little bit of whittling before we start mind."

Anita started constructing a high quality brash pile 

using a frame of uprights to keep it contained.

A brash pile that sprang up at the other side of the site was 

constructed using a more 'laissez faire' approach.

Yes. Well. Shall we move on? 

 The brash piles contained all kinds of natural decorations.

 

As well as the main stand of trees there was also this year's

 growth that had re-generated from last year's pruning.

The job is a bit like the painting of the Forth Bridge. Never ending!

 Ken collected these short alder shoots and 

considered taking them home as a bouquet for his wife.

Complete the following sentence....

Jan and Will spent the day:

(a) working their socks off

(b) discussing the best way to use a pair of loppers

(c) debating the pros and cons of the current Brexit situation.

At coffee time most headed for the slightly drier area by the fence....

...apart from Ken who had the bright idea of using the very dry area on top of it.

Everyone was very pleased to see the contents of a tin 

that Andy had brought along to celebrate his birthday. 

The yummiest millionaire's shortbread - and all made by Andy's own fair hands.

Happy Birthday Andy!

Work continued on cutting...

...and brash piling all day.

 

Ah! Now that's a good way of ensuring a brash pile is nice and solid.

 Eventually all the trees that had been felled 

were processed and it was time to go home.

Everyone first passed through bio-security trench 1...

...before going through bio-security process 2.

So much mud to get rid of.

So much clean water needed!!