Azerley: 28-06-2022

The good news this week - NO BRACKEN.

Hurray!!!

The bad news - Balsam instead.

Boooo!

Yes - it is the time of the year when an NCV's 'just godda to do what an NCV's godda do'. There is no choice of task. It's invasive species eradication time. They just keep popping up out of the ground.

At least with balsam pulling you can see a difference in the area at the end of the day. Of course - whether there will be a difference in the amount of balsam next year is another matter. Seeds just keep coming into the area down the streams and on walkers' boots. Ground hog day comes to mind.

So - let's look at the pictures and see for ourselves what went on....

Now - is Kevin indicating the direction we needed to walk in 

or the average height of the balsam plants?

He explained that he was going to use his newly acquired

unicycle balsam eradicator to speed up the job.

'This shouldn't take long' thought these NCVs.

Not much here'.

How wrong can 3 NCVs be?

The majority was growing in vast swathes.

And, to add insult to injury, it was growing amongst

 the world's tallest stinging nettles.

Piles of dead balsam appeared all over the area...

Now - what is it that this trio found amusing at coffee time?

Possibly this pair of pooches?

"I'll jump if you jump..."

"Oohh no. It's a long way down."

Unlike the ladies, these three gents preferred

 to remain standing (or at least sitting

 on a more robust platform.)

The NCVs took a linear approach and 

gradually beat the balsam wall back.

Occasionally dead willow branches had to be taken 

away to allow access to difficult to reach areas.

The land owner laid on quite a treat for lunch .

A variety of the most delicious pork pies, the likes of which

 had never been seen before.

(It was suggested that any vegetarians may

 find the ones topped with mushy peas acceptable.)

There was even a goody for afters (if you still had any room left).

What a lucky lot we are!

Pass on our thanks to the landowner Kevin.

Ruth had the honour of pulling the last stems in the work area.

Friedy leapt for joy when 'home time' was called.

(Please note - there are still acres of balsam remaining.)

In recent weeks Liz has had an eclectic selection of items

in the back of her car. This week was no exception.

I mean - who knows when a chandelier 

may come in handy on a journey?

Anita immediately bagged two of its crystal 

pendants to use as earrings. And very regal 

she looked.....

... well at least for a few seconds!

Time to go home methinks!!

🙂

Low Riggs Farm: 14-06-2022

Today is International Bath Day - a time to slow down and relax. A time to take a long hot bath instead of just jumping in for a quick shower.

Well, the NCVs didn't have much time to do this before they had to start work right up at the top of Nidderdale. The drive to Middlesmoor, and the long walk down to Low Riggs Farm, meant that they had to leave early with just enough time to grab some breakfast and put on their work clothes. Hot baths would have to wait until the end of the day!!

So - what was going on up at Low Riggs? Take a look and see.....

In 2017 the NCVs did some footpath work up here. 

But that was back in the day before we had our 

swanky new brush-cutters to carry to the site.

The walk down from Middlesmoor wasn't too bad - 

whether the NCVs would feel the same, whilst 

walking back uphill at the end of the day,

was another matter.

Both above and below the footpath down the hill 

were some newly planted trees...

...and now - you've guessed it - bracken bashing 

and tree tube maintenance was required!

Alistair - being very keen - started bashing 

en-route to the work site.

What a star!

At the bottom of the hill Liz gave a small group 

a quick training session on how to use the brush cutters.

Anyone doing this had to don the correct safety gear....

...and prove that they could waggle their bottoms 

from side to side in a gentle rhythm.

"Snake Hips" Julia showed a particularly high level 

of competence in this skill.

Having cut their teeth on some flat ground they

 progressed to the advanced:

'cutting bracken on a steep hillside' module.

Dave managed to uncover the long

 lost footpath to Nirvana, last walked in the1600s.

Sorry - got that one wrong. 

It was just the footpath to Scarhouse. 

Those not using brush cutters got busy with their sticks.

The bracken was almost as high as an elephant's eye.

Many trees were now mature enough 

to be released from their tubes...

...and a number of trees were, sadly, no more. 

Tubes had to be removed and collected.

These mounted up - here is one of the three large 

piles created by the end of the day. 

Now - who's that hiding?

Everybody enjoyed their breaks in the sunshine, 

generally having a good laugh.

Andy - remember: 'Thou shalt not covet 

thy neighbour's outdoor seating.'

After lunch the team moved up towards the farm

 buildings, where another area needed similar attention. 

To reach it, without having to climb over a barbed

 wire fence, everyone had to breathe in and sqeeeeeze 

through this very narrow gap.

Luckily the bracken here was a good deal thinner 

on the ground and the job was soon done. Hurray!

Julia gave the information panel a quick 

polish with her glove. That's better Julia. 

You can read about the wildflower meadows now.

Up near the farm was a little band of young calves, 

all quite willing to pose for photographs.

So, now we shall leave the NCVs wending their way back up to the car park at Middlesmoor, hopefully for a nice, long, hot bath to celebrate today's special day. They will also need to apply copious amounts of anti-histamine cream to combat the 'Fizzing' legs caused by the nettles.

Their story will continue in two weeks time. Although they will be busy bashing bracken in Old Spring Wood next week, the editor is taking a week's leave and will be off grid on the Hebridean Island of Lewis, so there will be no blog.

Bye for now! (Or as they say on Lewis - “Tìoraidh an-dràsta!”)

By the way - nettles will not be worrying the NCVs down 

at the barn this summer, as Liz has used one 

of the new brush cutters to chop them all down!!.

Hackfall Woods: 07-05-2022

Two Bs or not two Bs?

That is the question.

Last time the NCVs were in Hackfall there were fallen trees to deal with, hurdles to create, an under-path drain to clear and benches to wash. "Surely there won't be much left to do this month", they said, as they opened their weekly task alert from Liz. "It will be a nice day of walking in the woods."

Well - they were partly right. There was a lot of walking as the main task was centred near the Dropping Well (nearly 2 miles from the car park). There was also plenty to do - and the majority of the work involved the two dreaded Bs - bracken and balsam!!

Liz arrived with the tools - and some very useful accoutrements.

Then it was off to the Dropping Well, via Mowbray Castle, 

doing any little jobs that needed doing en route; 

such as unblocking this drain.

What was the problem here?

Well - this sycamore needed pruning back...

...to ensure that the stone walling group can gain access 

to the tumbled down wall that needs re-building.

These 2 fallen branches definitely needed clearing.

That's better.

The group arrived at the field beyond the Dropping Well in time for 

morning coffee, and the most important job.

Bracken Bashing!

Luckily they didn't have to bash the whole field. 

Just inside the 11 tree cages to make sure

 all the newly planted saplings were not 

overwhelmed, like this lot.

The cages were hard to spot amongst the bracken, which was really tall.

Having found a cage you then needed to undo the wire doorway

to gain access.

The small cages were particularly challenging in this respect.

However - once in it was just a case of stamping

 and bashing (taking care not to harm the trees!)

Luckily the saplings had all been marked with a cane after 

they had been planted. (Thanks for doing that bit of overtime Paul!)

By lunchtime the first of the two Bs had been seen off...

...and everyone could have a rest and a bake in the glorious sunshine.

Lunch break over it was time for the second B of the day - 

- pulling and/or bashing the balsam on the 

hillside by the Dropping Well.

It was Sarah's first experience of this particular pest

and she made an excellent job of clearing it.

Osian made himself useful and got

 into those hard to reach spots.

There is also a lot over at the opposite end of the wood

but, apart from the odd stem like this, it is far too small 

to pull yet. A job for another day.

As is this - seen on the way back to the car park.

Apart from bracken and balsam there were other things growing -

 this rather lovely fungus won't need bashing.

And just to be clear about thistles.....

Last week's final blog photo needs updating. When Tony added all additional thistles that we had abandoned in a pile last week, due to the thunderstorm, the final pile actually looked like this. It's a heck of a lot of deceased thistles, given that they were small youngsters in the main!!