On the verge of .....the verge!
The NCVs returned to the verge at Glasshouses this week. But not to scythe as they have done of late. Instead they were tasked with preparing 'the hedge along the edge' for laying. This was a job that they did make some inroads with, a long time ago, when they removed a good deal of the old fencing that was all tangled up in the vegetation. It was certainly time to continue with giving this boundary hedge a lay, as it is far too tall to be as useful as it should be to wildlife.
The pictures below show progress made.
This was the nature of the beast
they were going to have to grapple with.
Lots of prickly hawthorn.
The NCVs were all over it like a rash in no time.
Hang on Will, what are you decorating
the trees for? It's not Christmas yet!
Apparently Will was not going Christmas crackers. He was just identifying which trees
were going to be left as standards.
"Hang on Anita. Why are you digging a hole?"
"Ros E - we are meant to be dealing with the hedge!!"
"Just wait and see - all will
be revealed at coffee time."
Slowly but surely the crown of each tree
was raised to expose the
trunk ready for laying.
On the far side of the hedge, along the bridleway,
the rakers kept depositing all the brash
that the cutters kept cutting.
Some was stashed on the other side
of the left hand fence but the rest needed
to be dealt with more creatively.
"Let's just knock in some stakes here shall we?
Can you guess what I'm thinking of doing?"
"Thats right! Create a dead hedge."
"Good thinking!"
As the real hedge got thinner the dead hedge got fatter.
At coffee time everyone was waiting to find out what the hole digging was in aid of.
There had been hints of a special guest....
At the appointed time a guest of honour arrived. It was retired NCV and flapjack provider, Audrey Summersgill, who had come to plant the tree that the AONB and NCVs had bought for her 90th birthday in August (see the end of the blog post for 1st August).
In goes the tree.
Thanks Andrew and Andy.
Audrey started to fill in the hole.
The NCVs cheered and clapped.
Liz handed around a tray of chocolate cake.
Ken played the national anthem on his phone
and there was a special fly past by the Red Arrows.
Oh sorry - not the Red Arrows.
A blue microlite.Without any coloured smoke streamers.
Just the tree stake to add and the job's done.
Happy 90th Birthday Audrey. We shall take another picture of you
standing there in another 90 years.
"Right - show's over - back to work!!"
By the end of the day 40m of hedge had been prepared....
...and the dead hedge was
looking very neat and tidy.
Tom gave the path a good rake and it was done.
"Hang on - not so fast. We just have
some seed to sow before we go home."
"That's it Ken - trample it in.
Now you can clock off."
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