Trowels and wellies at the ready -
marginal working required!
A break from hedge laying was on the cards this week as the NCVs were invited to visit High Rails Farm, near Heyshaw, in order to do some planting. However, they were not inserting tree saplings, as is a normal activity at this time of the year. Instead they were planting about 2000 marginal plug plants around the edges of a number of ponds. These ponds have been created as part of a wider wetlands creation project, run by the NNL's pond officer, Christie Irish. Apparently "the 17 new ponds, scrapes and wet gutters will all to help drain the bridle path and make the land a better habitat for wading birds on the moorland edge."
Liz's email asked everyone to bring a trowel and (ominously) mentioned that the ground was VERY MUDDY, so advised wellies. So - without any further ado - let's see what went on. Was anyone lost in the mire? Did anyone fall in a pond? Did anyone get into a scrape? Were all the plugs plugged in?
There was rather a long walk from
the meeting point to the work site.
Arrival at the gate gave everyone
a taste of what was to come.
The bridleway did, indeed, need draining.
The new drainage ditch shows just how
much water has already, thankfully,
been taken off the path.
Up at the worksite trays and
trays of plugs lay in wait.
What looked like numerous tussocks of rush turned out
to be rafts of potted sedges awaiting planting.
There was no chance of an early finish today!!
Luckily there was a 15 strong turnout
including no fewer than 4 new vols!
This group got busy on this pond....
...whilst others walked to the top of the site.
There was a breathtaking transformation
as each pond was completed.
Where once there was mud, now there was....
...mud.
Never mind. WE know that
the plants are there. Next summer
things will look a lot different.
Newbie Deb seemed to enjoy herself,
despite the filthy conditions.
Sophia felt herself slip sliding away towards
the water as she plugged in a marsh marigold.
James decided to kill two birds with one stone
and used the deep forward bend
planting technique to stretch his hamstrings.
A flock of sheep joined us in the hope we had something tasty but soon lost interest
when all we offered them was a trowel
and a sedge plant to plug in.
At coffee and lunchtime everyone joined together
to partake of the Michelin starred restaurant
facilities.
They had plenty of cake this week.
It was both Liz's and Brenda's birthdays,
so this made up for the lack of furniture
in the restaurant.
Thanks Liz and Brenda!!
On the way back to the road everyone
had to plant up the edges of the main ditch
with sedge.
The final job was trying to clean the worst of
the wet clay off wellies, gloves and trowels.
Liz had organised the delivery of a
state of the art outdoor cleaning facility
for the gang to use.
Did all the plugs get planted?
Not quite. These can be used on another
project pond.
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