Cakes anyone?
Apparently 17th May is officially 'World Baking Day'. So, did the NCVs spend the day baking?
Of course not!! They had far more important things to do. A new venue awaited their attention at Eavestone Lake, where a footpath required attention and some tidying up of the SINC woodland was in order. The only baking that was in evidence was to be found in the NCVs' lunch boxes.
Everyone set off with a spring in their step,
down the steep hill to the lakeside.
Once at the bottom of this hidden gem of a valley the lake
could be admired...
...as could Mrs Duck and her flotilla of 8 little ducklings.
that of clearing the path of this fallen tree.
Liz got busy with her chain saw...
...and once a path wide chunk was removed it was
rolled away to allow walkers easy access.
The brash that was collected and piled
will provide an excellent habitat for wildlife.
The other half of the group set off down the side of the lake to
find the 'tussocks' that were encroaching the path.
Once these were found the NCVs realised that
pulling the vegetation up by hand was far more
effective than slashing it.
The path looked much clearer once they had finished.
BUT......just a little further along the path a newly fallen
tree was discovered, completely blocking the way.
It was not there last week when the botany group
carried out a SINC survey here, but it is not surprising,
given that many trees are growing on top of bare rock!!
There was nothing for it but to walk back to the end
of the lake, fetch the bow saws and get sawing.
By coffee time sufficient space had been created
to allow a bit of crawling / limbo dancing.
It was a relief when the cavalry arrived to
lend a hand and a chain saw!
The brash was sent uphill to another habitat pile.
(Brenda was triumphant with her first kill of the day.)
All the big logs were piled down by the lakeside.
The path was clear as could be as we left.
Lunch time at the top of the lake.
Three had their lunch on the flat footbridge
overlooking this rather gorgeous view.
Although the view from the hump-backed
bridge was just as gorgeous!
The fourth, and final, task of the day was carried out
on the way back up that steep hill.
The NCVs went off piste in search of trees
that needed freeing from their tree tubes.
The tubes were brought down through the woods...
...to the path where they were removed from their posts...
...and piled up neatly for collection and re-cycling.
Tim kept them all under control with some well
placed posts.
Brenda with her second kill of the day.
Having created one pile of tubes the NCVs plodded on
and created a second...
...and a third (there were LOTS of tubes!)....
...before giving up and going home,
steadfastly ignoring the tubed trees higher up the path.
Liz had the bright idea of us calling in at the nearby
ice cream parlour, as it was so warm.
However - upon arrival everyone got rather a disappointment.
Tuesday is closing day.
No comments:
Post a Comment