Riverside, Pateley Bridge: 26-11-2019

艾 克 斯 诶 豆 贝 尔 维 艾 娜 诶 艾儿

"A hedge of 420 trees begins with a single sapling."
Lao Tzu (from the 'Tao Te Ching' - 6th century BC) 

This summed up the philosophy of the NCVs when faced with what seems to be an enormous task. With 420 trees to be planted in one day, along the riverside at Pateley Bridge, all you can do is start with the first one and go on from there. 
And here are the trees:

It is probably the same approach that the Woodland Trust decided on when they started their Big Climate Fightback. Their aim was to get people to pledge to plant 1,000,000 trees around the 30th November 2019. This group of 420 will be quite a nice little chunk towards that!

As it happens - the approach worked very well. The trees were shared out and all got planted. With a team of 17 on duty everyone only ended up having to plant, on average, 24.7 trees each. Easy peasy! 

And here they all are, beavering away - all for the good of the environment.....

At first the planting plan was revealed.

Then all the canes were inserted at an appropriate density 
over each 10m stretch, to ensure that the trees would 
be evenly distributed along the whole fence.

Spiral guards were next laid out, one per cane...

...and then planting could begin.
Ken was first off the blocks with tree number one.

Some members of the group doled out a variety of species 
to each 10m stretch, but this NCV got distracted by a 
swanky tree planting device - the wonderfully named 'Pottiputki'.

She immediately decided to try it out for size.

Having got the taste for this tree planting lark, 
Ken eschewed this 'one at a time' approach and made off with a fistful. 
Or are these his entry for the next carrot competition at the Pateley Show?

It was 'eyes down, look in' all the way along the fence line until,
 not too long after coffee time, the job was done!

Talking of coffee time - field owner Fran provided not one, 
but THREE cake choices at her 'cake station'

Everyone soon made short work of these delicacies.

Once the hedge was complete there were a couple of tidying jobs to be done.
First one - to create a habitat pile out of this heap of brash.

 Phil knocked in the necessary posts and 
Osian kept well clear of the lump hammer.

 A pile of a million sticks begins with a single stick.

 Slowly but surely, as this new, contained, habitat pile grew larger...

 ...the original pile disappeared.

And there you have it. The end result - a perfect home for all kinds of wildlife.

By this time the rain had really set in but, thanks to Fran's 
hastily erected gazebo, everyone could keep dry for their lunch.

After lunchtime all that remained to be done was to 
shift all this wood away from the bottom of a lovely old lime tree 
(now featured on the Woodland Trust's ancient tree inventory map).

 So - that's what the NCVs did.
No problem!

 Over the field to the side of the shed went the wood ....

...leaving the trunk of the tree visible.
Well done everyone - a good morning's work.
Have the afternoon off!

Humberstone Bank: 19-11-2019

The Call of the  

Tree Tubes 

Long awaited sequel by Jack London

It was to Humberstone Bank that the NCVs travelled this week to answer this call. During the last visit, about half the job of restoring tree tubes and their inhabitants was completed. Now it was time to see to the rest. No easy task given the nature of the ground where the trees are growing. Apart from the usual trip hazards underfoot, they had to deal with sub-zero temperatures, which had turned the earth into something akin to frozen tundra, and also had to make sure they kept well clear of four fox traps which had been set by the game keeper.

"How did they get on?" I hear you ask. Well - let's see shall we? 

The continuous lines of brash heaps were an indication 

that the site was originally a coniferous forest area.

In amongst the stumps of the felled trees the newly planted 
deciduous woodland did its best to remain upright, And often failed.

The loneliness of the long distance tree tube checker.

That's a bit better - let's hope it stays like that.

This one was flat on the ground - its trunk may now be vertical 
but its crown shall forever be bendy.

These two needed precision surgery, with a Stanley knife, 
to free them of their strangulating tubes.

Coffee and lunch breaks came as welcome relief 
from the constant battle to remain upright.

A small band of super sighted NCVs were sent to spot and mark out where 
the fox traps were. Can you spot this one?

Andy practised the Tango with this particular tree.
He is clearly 'Strictly' material.

Elsewhere Anita practised her double bass playing.
Not quite as tuneful as we would have liked.

Unfortunately not all the tree tubes contained a living tree.
Some contained dead ones and others were simply full of weeds.
Those that were defunct were collected up.

Cow Myers: 12-11-2019

IT'S BACK TO COW MYERS!

Well - here we were again, as happy as can be.
The NCVs were removing encroaching scrub and generally splashing and squelching around at the Cow Myers SSSI site this week. Lots of saplings to cut down and brash to turn into habitat piles - you know the routine. Let's have a look at how they got on.....

So many trees needed clearing!

OK - then let's get started.

That's one down. Only a thousand left to do!

Mind you - the more trees you cut down the more brash you generate.

Well that's OK. We'll just drag it away and put it to good use.

Ruth grew a very long tail as the morning wore on.

Very soon proto brash piles started popping up here and there, 
adding to those made on previous occasion.

So, quick as a flash, Andy snatched up a billhook 
and got busy making brash pile stakes.

These were used to keep the brash in nice shape.
Pack it in from each end ladies. Keep it nice and tight.

This pile was a MONSTER!!

Now then Osian - have you decided that 
two legs are just one too many?

This veteran coppiced hazel provided much welcomed shelter 

from the heavy rain at coffee time. Some sat around the front.

 Others sat around the back....

 ...and one youngster - well - he simply lounged at the side.

 

The hazel's branches offered places 

to hang up bags out of the mud, wet gloves to dry....

 ...and even cup holders.

After coffee this little chap was rescued from peril...

...this log pile gradually doubled in size.

 ...and by 2pm the NCVs had cleared enough saplings 
to be able to say 'enough's enough' without feeling guilty.
(Just scroll back to the top to remind yourself of the 'before' situation.)

The piles left in the place of the saplings will provide excellent 
habitats for all kinds of creatures and fungi 
and now the trees are out of the way 
the wild flowers will flourish in the extra light.