Blog for a crisis

WE WON'T BE BEATEN!!!

The NCVs may have been laid off from their official Tuesday tasks for the time being but that doesn't mean they have been sitting around watching day time TV. Oh no, no, no! That is not their way at all. As rainbows started to appear in windows all over the country and beautiful spring flowers emerged in lots of places, a good deal could be done.This blog entry gives you some idea of the environmental related work they have been up to whilst in lock down and may help to offset all the awful news that abounds just now. 
Enjoy.....

The day that the NCVs' last task was cancelled, a few days before the official 
lock down began, Jan and Phil collected resources from the barn and worked 
(at an appropriate distance apart) at home to make some more NCV signs. 

 First off the blocks after lock down started was Anita, 

who pruned her over-grown shrubs...

...and reduced them to a very neat little habitat pile for 

any creatures visiting her property.

Paul was clearing out the area behind his garden shed and 

came across this little dodger. He's obviously got a very good 
garden for wildlife to be able to attract a newt.

Kelly Harmer has confirmed that this is a female Great Crested Newt!
Wow! Excellent to have one of these rare creatures in your garden Paul.

In addition - Paul's nearest daily walk is Hackfall Woods (lucky him)
 so he took his bow saw with him one day and removed a very annoying, 
protruding root that we had left last time we were repairing the footpath there.
Well done that man!

Tony worked very hard in his new woodland  labelling every tube 

(and that's a lot of tubes!!) with the date the tree was planted (by the NCVs) 

and marking those that appear to have died with a red dot. 

These will be culled if it turns out they are, indeed, no more. 

He also had to shift a log pile from close to a fence to allow it to be replaced. 

A new habitat pile was constructed with the logs and the encroaching gorse. 

Mind you - he's acknowledged that if the wind gets up the gorse may blow away.
🤞

 Talking of gorse - Ros E. decided to take her loppers along with her on some of her daily walks up the hill above Summerbridge. It was high time that the gorse, brambles and holly that were making the path virtually impassable, were cut back.

Ros E. also practised her hair cutting skills on this holly bush that 
threatened to scratch the head of anyone trying to get over this wall.

Liz worked hard to feed her family in the coming months by planting lettuce seeds.

I wonder how many of them will reach her table before the slugs eat them up?

Of course - slugs do have to eat. And toads eat slugs - so, even if the Milners don't get to eat many salads this summer, Liz is supporting the biodiversity in her garden this way.

Liz's two lovely children have been hard at work improving their garden too.
As you can see - they know all about PPE!!

Harry also did a great job clearing up the deep layer of moss that the birds 
had dropped off the NCVs' barn roof, with the help of his tractor and a stiff brush.
 Not bad for a 6 year old - thanks Harry. That's saved us a job!

Ken has invested in a bird feeding station to hang outside his kitchen window. 
He reports: 
"It has attracted all kinds of Finches, Tits, Robins, Blackbirds, Nuthatches 🌝
and, of course, Jackdaws and Squirrels 😠. 
It is a welcome change to watch some
 beautiful birds amid  all the current doom and gloom everywhere."

Andy has been busy on his farm sending in this for you:

"Low branches were cut off the trees along our drive, making room for 
the cars to get by to stop them wrecking the opposite side of the road!"

"This left a large pile of brash which, being a good NCV, I transformed 
into habitat piles in my embryonic woodland."

Brash piles seem to be an emerging theme!! Here's another from Ros K, resulting from a hard morning's work in the garden:

Ros K. wrote "Not one of my best brash piles but needs must in these strange times."

Don't worry Ros - I'm sure the local wildlife won't be too harsh in their judgement.

Once lock down proper began so Phil started work on the steps 

at the bottom of his garden which, apparently, were in dire need of refurbishment, 

He's done a grand job, in true NCV style, in spite of not having 

all the resources he needed. 
You are going to be in charge of the steps refurbishment jobs 
on a Tuesday in future Phil!!

Andrew has had mixed fortunes whilst working in his garden he reports that:

 "My wild life pond put in last year was crystal clear until a pair of 
mallard ducks moved in. They've pulled up all my oxygenating plants 
and the frogspawn has disappeared."
Oh dear - a trip to the garden centre is needed, after lockdown is lifted.

However - his recently planted hedges are all doing well, providing 
habitats for birds and other creatures, and he has been enlarging 
existing borders, putting in some others and planting up his raised beds. 
There will be so many more wildlife friendly plants in this garden in future. 
Much better for biodiversity than grass!

Julia and Dave made sure that whilst they were doing lots of hard work improving the environment in their garden they took time out for a rest now and again. 

Their before and after shot focused on what is really important!

Well - that's it for the time being. Not sure how long it will be before we get back to normal. Let's hope it isn't too long! 

By the way - Remember to clap and cheer at 8pm on Thursday for all those wonderful people who are keeping the NHS and all kinds of other services going across the country at the moment. Two of our very own NCVs - a retired nurse and doctor - are awaiting a possible call back to arms. 

WELL DONE EVERYONE

 - WE SALUTE YOU!!