Greygarth: 27-07-2021

TOKYO 2020(1)

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Hot on the news of gold medals for Team GB in the men's swimming and women's Taekwondo events came a completely unexpected announcement from the Olympic committee - namely that a new sport has been added to this year's schedule. The OC did announce last week that there would be a surprise in store and they certainly lived up to their promise. Apparently this new sport has had teams training in secret, all over the world (but particularly in the Himalayas), preparing to do battle for the very first Olympic medals in BALSAM PULLING!!!

Yes - you heard it here first. The OC are hopeful that, by encouraging more people to take up this sport, they will rid the world of this invasive weed. One spokesman said:

"It's a win win situation - people are going to keep fit AND help the environment at the same time."

Team GB's entry for this event is a particularly experienced group of athletes who know one end of a balsam plant from another. The Nidderdale AONB Conservation Volunteers ("The NCVs" to their followers) have been in training since the balsam pulling season began this year and are in peak condition, ready to take on the World over the coming days. They will fly out to Tokyo tonight, but first spent the day on some final training to ensure that their techniques were honed to the nth degree.

Here we see them hard at work at Greygarth, Dallowgill - a gold medal is well within their grasp if they perform like this on the day.

Firstly, team members limbered up before their training.

Then it was off to the training ground - 

a pond surrounded by a sea of the pink stuff.

The team quickly surveyed the situation.

Lots of low growing plants not yet flowering.

The coach issued the expected instruction - 

"Focus on the flowering shoots. You can gain 

additional points by getting rid of the pink"

So that was the medal winning strategy the NCVs used.

Here Andy demonstrates how to best deal with a tall plant.

New team member, Rob was finding it difficult to maintain focus.

"No Rob," yelled the coach. "Keep your eyes facing forward

 at all times. Do NOT get side-tracked."

Fellow team member, Alistair, was called over 

to demonstrate this all important skill.

One NCV was being very thorough.

Or were they just trying to hide to avoid being

 picked on by the coach?

The six team members wearing wellies were sent off to the

 lower swamp area to get some practice in balsam pulling 

in boggy conditions, just in case the Tokyo site is a wet one.

They managed reasonably well for the most part although Alistair 

and Dave kept sinking down and Brenda slid into a very 

muddy trench.

She emerged with one very wet trouser leg 

and a boot full of brown water and a wriggly worm!

The coach gave her a stern warning - "That would have 

earned us penalty points young lady. Watch your footing in future.

She was sent off to work in a drier area.

Looking at the grin on her face one wonders if maybe she 

fell in on purpose to avoid having to work in the swamp.

No. Surely not. 

Those without wellies were sent off to train on the drier terrain, 

which required a different skill set.

Here, Paul and Ros K. demonstrate the face to face method 

where any plants in between 2 pullers don't stand a chance.

This approach can be extended to include a third team member. 

Here Andrew and Tony (far distance) teach another new NCV, 

Tasha, the 'triangulation' method. Apparently she was a natural .

Ros E. demonstrates the 'under the low growing tree' technique, 

always a tricky manoeuvre but one that can earn additional points

 if done well and can mean the difference between silver and gold.

Coach Liz gave Anita some one-to-one tuition on how

 to clear a pond ridge without falling in.

The NCV who stacked this pile of balsam would 

earn bonus points in an actual competition.

Liz even practised her first aid skills.

Who knows when you may need to clean and bandage

 a superficial scratch?

Mind you - everyone was warned against this sort of injury as,

 apparently, the OC do not look favourably on sloppy pullers

 who don't avoid brambles.

By the end of the training day the NCVs felt as if they were fully prepared.

Tokyo - here we come!!

There will be no NCV blog entry next week as the team will still be in Tokyo. Watch the BBC sports channel for news of their progress. (Other channels are available.)

NCVs - we wish you good luck.  

Go and pull balsam for Britain!

And finally - a non-sport related story.....

Can you see what Ros E. has currently got laid out in her garage? Clue - Tony has a similar arrangement on his dining room table and Liz has another in her garage.

Answer: Yellow Rattle seed heads - drying out in the sun. 

These were collected from Tony's Mayfield Farm flower meadow last Friday and are destined to be used to seed the verge at Glasshouses, once the NCVs have scythed it. The plan is for the yellow rattle to supress the grasses to allow more wildflowers to take hold.

It is amazing to think that Tony's meadow has become a yellow rattle donor meadow in just three years after receiving a similar donation. The number of wildflower species is rapidly increasing year on year. Impressive!

Summerstones to Lofthouse: 20-07-2021

 LET'S RID THE NIDD!!

Rid the Nidd? 

"Of what?" I hear you cry! Of balsam of course. What else?

This was the title of the task that the NCVs were alerted to this week - in particular the stretch from Summerstones towards Lofthouse. There were hopes that the job would be easy. That there wouldn't be much left given the amount of effort that has been put in over the last 3 years.

Shall we see if this was a naive hope? 

No fewer than two sports cars arrived at the meeting point at Limley Farm.

Very classy!

Then it was off up the road to Summerstones to make a start.

Ah. Here's some. Ruth crushed it beneath her feet

 just to make sure it didn't think about re-rooting.

The legs of another NCV had melted in the heat, 

so  he couldn't follow suit.

The descent to the river was a bit precarious.

Watch where you put your feet.

We don't want to start the day with a trip to A&E!

Cowboy Tom managed to negotiate the tricky pathway....

...only to find himself in Dead Man's Gulch.

The river had disappeared - swallowed up by a hole in the limestone.

Maybe the river is down this hole?

NO! Don't go in there!

The Monster of the Nidd may get you!

Eagle eyes were turned on to spot the balsam. 

There was not much to be seen along the river bed.

Oh - hang on - there's 2 pieces up here.

And here's a big one - a two man job.

The roots are down there somewhere.

With one mighty pull the plant was uprooted.

Got you!

Sometimes the plants were hiding in the most awkward of places.

No need to pull these lovely bell flowers up.

At one point Liz felt a strange sensation in her head...

and realised that her brain was slowly turning into stone.

A first aider ran up and administered an antidote.

There were patches of the river bed that were wet.

Just as well for these little fellows as they still have no legs!

At lunch time the numbers of balsam plants uprooted were 

compared and the general consensus was that if you 

had found more than 10 along the river you were doing well.

The NCVs had obviously done a very thorough job last year.

Luckily Zoe, from 'Moor and Valley' was spraying the rest of the balsam along the roadside so at 2:30 the NCVs headed home with prickly heat. Or was it nettle stings?

Just to finish - a little treat for you all. The latest, balsam related 'pome' from our very own bard.

Ode to joy - by Tony K.

 We tolerate the winter and look forward to the spring

But the summer is the highlight of our year.

It’s then those frightful fronds grow tall, our hearts begin to sing

The bracken bashing season’s almost here!

 

While others head for Wimbledon or watch the Thames regattas,

Those minor shows we happily ignore.

Our mission’s more important, for the thing that really matters

Is to fight invasive plants that we abhor.

 

We’re the dedicated slashers and the unrelenting bashers

Of this native but ubiquitous green pest;

So armed with sticks for bashing or with sharpened tools for slashing,

We thwack them, for these plants must be suppressed.

 

You might imagine when the bracken season’s near its close

That we find ourselves at something of a loss

But summer brings more blessings than perhaps you might suppose

It’s time to show the balsam who is boss.

There’s nothing gives such pleasure as our yearly bashing fest,

In comparison all other tasks can cloy.

The bracken and the balsam are the jobs we love the best

Which is why we sing our summer ode to joy.

Heritage training: 13-07-2021

This week the NCVs were involved with some rather unusual training. They were being used as guinea pigs to check out a special app that has been developed for the AONB.

This is what they were told to expect:

“The Scar House reservoir digital heritage app combines video images and audio commentary to tell the fascinating stories of Scar Village, the temporary settlement constructed to house workers who built the reservoir, and the lost Village of Lodge, a settlement with medieval origins on the reservoir shore which was abandoned to avoid risk of contaminating the water supply.

 

The app is now available to download via a Wi-Fi link at Scar House reservoir Café. It can be used on its own or in conjunction with onsite information panels to provide a fascinating accompaniment for a stroll across the site of Scar Village and a visit to the remains of Lodge on the northern bank of the reservoir."

So - no hard work this week. All they needed to do was to pretend they were visitors to Scar House Reservoir. Hurray! They could do that easily.

Here's a few pics from the day.    

Morning assembly.

The class was instructed to go to the nearest interpretation 

board to download the app from the QR code.

Some NCVs had a QR code reader on their phone.

Not everyone did - these two found that their phones wouldn't cope.

Plan B - link to the website via the wi-fi connection in the cafe.

Easy. Yes? No. Nothing seemed to happen.

OK. Plan C.

Let's walk up to a recently refurbished barn - 

The Scarhouse Workshop, a new training space.

This is one of Yorkshire Water's 'Beyond Nature' project farms.

Oooooo. Swanky!

The NCVs were happy to wait in here whilst 

the wi-fi connection was looked into.

Not only was the lovely Jo from Yorkshire Water 

ready to serve up teas and coffees...

...but she had also provided cakes!

Plan C was very acceptable.

Some very hopeful labs joined the NCVs outside.

'Go on - give us a bit' 

'No? What if I look at you with very appealing eyes?'

Ros K. drew on years of teaching experience

 to keep the labs behaving.

Whilst the NCVs scoffed their goodies, Jack - one of Yorkshire Water's

 contractors - explained the current work that is being done up at Scar. 

It involves the installation of 16 residia 

(water filtering chambers to the uninitiated).

Eventually access to wi-fi was achieved - by turning the router off

and back on again! Why didn't we think of that right away?

Now everyone could download the app and get started.

Whilst waiting for others to catch up Tom got into the groove 

by listening to his latest Spotify album 'BCC' ('Beat combo compilation').

This is where the NCVs finally began their tour.

It was fascinating listening to the history - and, in particular,

 the personal stories of the people who used to live at Scar village.

It's hard to imagine that, for 16 years, 2000 people lived here.

There was a chapel, a gym, an early Morrisons, a cinema and houses

which had much better facilities than many towns.

You could even catch a train to London or Scarborough!!

As well as the indoor house toilets there was a gents loo.

Here some NCVs model how it would have been used.

(No wee was passed in the making of this blog.)

Having heard all about Scar village the NCVs 

headed off, over the dam, to Lodge village.

Unfortunately - upon reaching Lodge a number of NCVs found that

the app was no longer working. There is obviously a way of 

holding your mouth in order to make it work.

These glitches were all taken account of in the feedback.

Never mind. Plan D - stand in groups with an NCV who had a 

connection and listen to the stories of the buildings together.

Hidden below this turf is a lovely cobbled street

 that the NCVs helped to uncover a few years ago.

Having been documented it is felt that the turf

 regrowth will better protect it.

Some of the buildings were still very obvious. 

The village was here for 700 years before everyone 

was moved out to allow the reservoir to fill.

Down here is a hidden gem - an underground root house, 

used for storing all the root vegetables that the villagers grew.

Brenda decided to go back to her roots.

...but, like Ros E. found only stalactites and sheep poo.

Time for some socially distanced lunch for those 

who had bothered to carry their bags this far.

The rest walked back to sit at a table (and eat the rest of the cake!)

App feedback was given and the NCVs set 

off for one last stop at the bottom of the valley.

What could it be?

Gorgeous!

2 lovely wild flower meadows were just about to be harvested.

Before the tractor moved in the NCVs took a closer look.

This time it was the other Ros who played the part of teacher.

An impromptu flower ID session ensued and with a bit of searching....

...everyone was able to work together to find a wide 

range of species including lesser stitchwort, germander 

speedwell, self heal, meadow buttercup, meadowsweet, 

crosswort, field bedstraw, white clover, knapweed, 

birds foot trefoil and the more unusual agrimony, 

to name just a few. And that was just along the verge!! 

All in all it was a great day to be a guinea pig!

And finally - a wildflower meadow related update from Anita:

Regular readers of our blog may remember reading about the environmental improvement work that various NCVs carried out during different covid lockdowns. Now Anita would like to share a spectacular outcome that she helped to achieve in her daughter's garden. We last saw a picture of it early this year, just after the area concerned had been cleared of laurel bushes (no easy task!) Now it is an absolute haven for pollinators and other wildlife and Anita et al need to be awarded an A* in garden improvement. See for yourself.....

Before work started

Spring 2021

Summer 2021

Let's take a closer look.

Can you hear the bees buzzing?

All achieved at virtually no cost

 (apart from a lot of physical effort!)