Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible: 17-03-2020

Thanks to this rather unpleasant looking blob all NCV tasks have been cancelled until further notice.

Rats! What are we all going to do with ourselves on a Tuesday? 

No feeling like you are doing something useful. 

No humorous banter with the gang. 

No 'green gym'.

No 'Audrey's Flapjack'. *

On the other hand....

No aching muscles. 

No coming home smelling like kippers. 

No muddy clothing to wash.

Do these benefits outweigh the disadvantages? 

No! No! No!

Down with Corona Virus.

Let's hope it runs its course and leaves us alone soon.

In the meantime - keep safe. 

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

* Note to all NCVs - Audrey made us a tin of flapjack for this week. She is now going to have to eat it all herself. At least she won't starve when all the shops run out of food.

Ellington Banks: 10-03-2020

SMOKED KIPPERS ANYONE?

There was no getting away from it. It was definitely going to be yet another day of going home reeking of kippers - a common theme of 6 of the last 8 tasks. Yes - one of the two jobs of the day was to be brash burning. Getting rid of the piles of scrub that had been removed from the magnesian grassland at SSSI Ellington Banks during the NCVs' last visit - that and cutting down some more! Let's see what transpired....

The day started with a wonderful rainbow which emerged as 
NCVs travelled to work and stayed for a good part of the morning. 
No gold was found however.

Volunteer co-ordinator Liz had had help when collecting the tools.
Young Harry sorted out the admin for his mum before heading off to school

Good book keeping Harry - not too shabby for a just 6 year old!

This was the area to be cleared this week. 
Plenty of wet patches to travel through when dragging brash off to the bonfire.

 A group of NCVs got to work like a swarm of busy bees...

...unlike this real buff tailed bumble bee that spent most of the 
time holding on to a jacket to stop itself being blown away in the high winds.

Liz impersonated a bee all day, chainsawing 
her way through the larger stems. 

Meanwhile two teams of brash burners got on to the setting of two fires.

One was fairly quick to get started.

This one, however, didn't really get going until noon.

Perhaps because it wasn't laid out quite so neatly as the other?

These two ladies worked their socks off and managed to burn these two heaps 
from last time by close of play, with just a little help from some others.

Up at the other end of the site the back of the brash pile was slowly 
but surely getting further and further away from the proto fire. 


 Hurry up firemen - get that bonfire blazing. 
There is no room to drag any more brash through!

At lunch time, seeing as the fire had actually started to look like something,
 it was decided to stop cutting scrub and concentrate on clearing the brash back log.


Everyone was on dragging or stoking duty.

Dave practised his caber tossing in readiness for 
his next trip up to the Highland Games.

And then, amazingly, all the brash was gone.
All that was left were the smouldering embers of the fire.

It was time for a sit and a relax - and a chance to get to know 

mountain rescue dog Gus who had joined in the fun all day.

And what of the work site?
Well - I think you'll agree that it was looking decidedly 
clearer than it did at the start of the day.

Not all the brash was burned. Larger logs were set to one side to make a log pile.

This meant that some of the invertebrates survived.

It's a pity that this brash has to be burned, rather than made into our usual habitat 

piles, but, when there is so much to get rid of, they would take too long 

and cover too much of the grassland.

Other NCV action this week.....

Longstanding readers of this blog may remember when a group of NCVs went up to the banks of Gouthwaite Reservoir, in March 2015, to plant about 130 trees as a screen for the newly constructed sand martin wall (SMW). On Monday of this week, during a SMW maintenance visit by 4 volunteers, it was decided that, as the trees were all so big, all the tree tubes should be removed before the plantation became impenetrable.(With 100% success rate, and so many of the trees being hawthorn and blackthorn, this point was fast approaching!) No sooner had the decision been made than the SMW was cleaned out and all the tree tubes were stripped off and cleared from the site - all before lunchtime. Well done that team!!

Tony went through the site like a whirling dervish, 

tossing unwanted tubes and posts to one side as he went.

Sue, too, removed tubes but then swapped to clearing 

up the sea of plastic that Tony left in his wake.

Having cleaned out all the SMW breeding holes single handedly,
Barry then joined in methodically separating out all the posts, tubes and tree ties.

Yes - you have every right to feel chuffed but just move out of the way please.

That's better - now we can see just how 

successful this tree plantation has been.

Wood Hill Farm, Clifton & Longside Farm: 03-03-2020

Pateley Pigeon Post 

NEW HEDGE FOR THE SIX DALES WAY!

by A.Hack

It was back to Wood Hill Farm, Clifton this week for most of the NCVs. They had been promised that they were not going to need suede gauntlets and goggles to protect themselves when removing overgrown hawthorn bushes. Apparently all they required was a spade and sufficient energy to plant just over 100 saplings. 

These newly planted trees are to be part of a brand new hedge to mark a section of the course of the Six Dales Way as it snakes through Farmer Myles' land. They were the last of 1200 trees meant to have been planted 3 weeks ago, but Storm Ciara's aftermath meant the task could not go ahead. The majority of the trees were planted by willing volunteers on the Saturday of Storm Dennis (well done those Vols) and these were the remaining ones.

As usual the NCVs were willing to let our photographer capture their work, so here they are, grafting away....

 These two NCVs made a start...

...then these two joined in.

Pretty soon EVERYONE was digging and planting.

In spite of the promise that hedge removal was not on the cards the NCVs got the trees planted so quickly that something else just had to be found to fill in the rest of the day. Cutting down prickly branches reared its ugly head once more. However - the NCVs rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in without any complaints....

Of course - hedge removal requires...

...the construction of a bonfire.

'5, 6, pick up sticks.'

'7, 8 lay them straight'.

As the hedge was removed so new trees were planted in the spaces generated.

Some were protected with spirals...

...whilst others had to be marked with some white plastic to make 
them visible for Farmer Myles to re-visit with tree guards later.

One NCV had to be given a severe talking to, 
by task master Ken, for sitting down on the job.

Elsewhere across the region....

At the same time a splinter group of NCVs was also hard at work.  The intention was to burn the remaining brash from the previous hedge laying activity at Longside Farm, Ramsgill(a tough ask given all the recent rain). They also needed to plant 100 saplings into the hedge to fill in the gaps that were left once it had been laid. Photographic evidence of their progress can be seen below.

For any readers who are wondering why a hedge needs laying - or how to do this - then spend a few wonderful minutes watching this old ministry of information film. They don't make movies like this any more..... 

HEDGING  (discovered by NCV Will)

(Health warning - smoking of a pipe whilst laying a hedge is not a necessary requirement!)

There were a number of sections of 
hedge that were totally devoid of vegetation.

Immediately the two NCVs tasked with doing the planting
 started inserting canes and sharing out the tree guards.

Within no time at all these two NCVs had the whole lot of trees planted 
and protected from any passing rabbits.
Now - what's going on in the background?

Behind the hedge lay a long line of brash, left from the original laying work.
 Clearly - not a one but a two fire job.
Three NCVs elected to carry out this part of the task.

Andrew and Graham worked at one end and soon had a roaring fire going.
Note that they started on a piece of empty ground.

At the other end of the line things did not go so smoothly.
Osian worked hard to breathe life into this bonfire.Having opted to start his fire in the centre of a brash pile (for ease) he struggled to generate a single flame that lasted more than a nanosecond. 

Sloooooowly Osian fed the proto fire with brash.
His job was made more difficult by the boss having forgotten to bring loppers.
Luckily Graham went to fetch some from home.

A clue to the root of the problem was clearly visible at the base of the hedge, which was completely choked with detritus from the recent flooding. 
The brash was obviously soaking wet.

In the end fire supremo Graham went to his car and brought out a secret weapon - 
his blow torch. That helped - but not a lot.

In spite of this, by the end of the session, all the brash had just about disappeared in a puff of smoke - AND - the hedge was, finally, after three years of work, complete!

Well done that team!