PLASTIC GUARDS BEWARE.
THE NCVS ARE COMING!!
This week the NCVs were tasked, not with picking up lost toy soldiers, but rather with removing tree guards from trees that no longer need their protection. The woodland was on Trapping Hill, above Lofthouse, and the old tubes were to be transported to a Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust site, especially funded for recycling tree guards. There were around 7,500 trees, planted in 2011, in need of de-tubing, so plenty to keep everyone busy!!
Everyone gathered at the Lofthouse memorial hall car park and car shared up to the woodland where work could begin.....
Land owner Les gave us our instructions
and pointed us in the right direction.
Lots of trees - lots of guards.
Many of the trees were well overdue for release!!
The plantation was in a steep sided gully -
no-one was meant to go down the very steep sides.
Of course - that didn't stop some doing so.....
Work was challenging as it involved being down on your hands and knees, crawling...
...or on your bottom, sliding down, from one tree to the next.
'Dave the Brave' kept us all safe from ticks....
...and Andy was put on lone sentinel duty
to watch out for marauding lions.
Julia battled through the bracken and was never seen again.
Brenda, as always, kept smiling in the face of adversity.
The tubes were all taken up to the top of the slope and
manhandled into large bags for transporting to the gate.
By lunchtime we estimated that 900
guards had been removed!
Everyone was well provided for.
Friedy had made birthday goodies (Happy Birthday Friedy!!)
and landowner, Ulla, had also been busy in the baking
department. (Thanks Ulla!)
Work continued after lunch until the far wall was reached.
The job is far from finished but that was
where we had been aiming for.
We reckon about 1200 guards have been taken off this week.
Now they are going to have to wait until
the spring before they are collected.
Days from a bygone age number 2....
Hmmm.
Now which NCV is this, someone deep in his newspaper? Take a guess and check next
week's blog to see if you were right.
Gosh so pleased to see the trees doing well. Howie Docherty a volunteer many years ago & friend of Graham Alistair & Anita was involved in planting the trees originally. A day that was very foggy & damp I seem to remember.
ReplyDeleteThanks again everyone - great to meet such a cheerful bunch, and you really worked your socks off. The trees look happier already... Hi Howie, yes, the planting has brought big improvements in biodiversity and habitat. A job well done
ReplyDelete