Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Crimple Head Farm: 17-02-2026

Regular readers of this blog will remember the NCVs visiting Crimple Head Farm last spring, on a beautifully sunny day, to remove hundreds and hundreds of plastic tree guards. Today, they were back there doing just the opposite. They were continuing to plant the 1200  trees they started inserting last week,  as part of the winter Olympics, and encasing them in plastic tubes.

Fortunately, the weather, though not as warm as the tube removal day, was just as sunny - a far cry from the previous week when you couldn't see the end of the field due to the thick fog.

So - without further ado - let's see the gang in action. You know the drill - as do they. 

The actual planting site looked as
uninviting as it did last week due to
 the fact it was an ex-conifer plantation,
 complete with old brash and tree stumps.

Andy got to work shifting 
tree stakes over the rickety, 
rackety bridge. He narrowly 
missed getting eaten by the 
resident troll below.

Little Red Riding Hood
got going inserting trees.

Ruth dug for victory.

She was closely followed 
by an anon NVC.
It was far too cold to 
work without hats and 
many layers of clothing.

New recruit Mark took a sneaky
peek sideways to make sure
he was doing everything correctly.

"This chair's too big."

"But this pocket sized one is just 
right - just as long as I can figure out 
how to erect all the folding pieces."

These NCVs didn't bother fiddle faddling
with fancy collapsible seats.
They just sat on tree stumps.
Mind you, this meant they 
were rather spread out!

Liz's coffeetime flapjack was very welcome.
As were Mick's shortbreads.
Thanks guys!!

Julia pulled tubes out of tubes...

...while Friedy and Andy H. 
whiled away the hours discussing
films they had recently watched.

Mick wandered around looking 
for likely spots to insert rowans.
(Favourite trees for the workers
due to their nice, small root systems.) 

Can you spot the tree?

Now - at this juncture NCVs started making...
Lobster pots????!!!

No! Obviously not!
They are clearly shrub tubes 
for the Scots Pines.

By close of play the majority 
of the trees were planted.
Compare this view to the one 
at the top of the page to see what 
a difference a day makes. 

NNL comms officer, Will, joined us for 
the day and took over photographer 
duties. He is so clever, he can take
 selfies whilst planting trees 
at the same time!

Additionally - The small, select Ninja team were out last Thursday clearing a footpath. The good news was that the job only took 2 hours, even though there were only four out. The bad news was that the path was up at Greenhow in thick fog, mizzle, and a cold wind. 

The job looked far from inviting
on arrival.

Particularly at this point.

However - with a clip and a lop
the path started to look passable.

Eventually the way was clear...

...all the way along its length.

Unfortunately the wall on the 
right hand side is starting to collapse
and the stones needed to be exposed.

Friedy and Amy made a valiant 
attempt to put some stones back 
but the job was simply too much.
Nidderdale Wallers - a job for you perhaps?!

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