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!!