Hedgers' Weekly
National Journal for all hedge related issues.
BRING IT ON!!!
by countryside correspondent Suzie Sapling
During this first week of spring I am reporting from Trees Farm, Haverah Park in North Yorkshire - a beautiful part of the world which is about to become even more beautiful as the years go by. I spent the day with the Nidderdale Conservation Volunteers (NCVs) who made a start on an epic, three week long, hedge planting job. Their task was to plant 1900 trees as part of the joint NNL and Yorkshire Water 'Beyond Nature' project, the aim of which is to increase biodiversity and alleviate flooding. It was amazing to watch them at work. Such a slick team - clearly very experienced in getting young trees into the ground at a rapid rate of knots.
Here they are at work ...
Some nice old oaks mark the way.
Trouble is....the NCVs needed
to first get into the field.
This was, in itself, a challenge
for those with big rucksacks.
Even small bum bags
were somewhat problematic.
However, NCV Will showed the rest
the best technique. He was a limbo
dancer in his younger years.
Canes, spirals and some shrub tubes
were set out in place
and NCV Ken started doling
out the young trees.
Normally the team plant a double row
of trees. But this time a new three row
technique was used to make a wider hedge.
The weather was wonderful and the
NCVs enjoyed their coffeetime
in the sunshine.
Mind you, the tasty goodies -
provided by NNL rep, Emma, (very kindly
cooked by her daughter Lea) -
probably added to their smiles!
After coffee work went on apace.
Those working on the ditch side
of the hedge were taking their
lives into their hands...
...whilst those on the outer side
definitely had it easier.
By the end of the session the team
had worked half way down the field.
What fantastic progress! 900 trees planted on day one. A truly amazing effort. Only 1000 more to go! It will be interesting to hear how they get on with the rest of the job. I look forward to seeing this area in 10 years time when the hedge has grown and the trees are in leaf, flowering and bearing fruit.
Other countryside news
by countryside correspondent Gilbert Entwistle
The NCVs don't only plant hedges. There is also a small splinter group who go out every other Thursday to deal with various rights of way issues. Here they can be seen last week, cutting back the encroaching vegetation on an old packhorse way above Summerbridge. What a difference they made - no mean feat given they were dealing with blackthorn, holly, bramble and gorse!
This is the kind of thing they were
faced with.
However - Friedy started sawing;
Alistair and Ken started lopping;
And Tim cleared like
a man possessed.
By 2pm the bridle way
was fit for bridling.
What's that you say?
"Where's all the brash gone?"
Just down here where the path widens out.
Well done Team ROW!
Time to go home.
AND THERE'S MORE!!!
The Nidderdale walling group came to the end of a 14 year project which, though not hedge related, was to do with demarcating boundaries. Not only that, they immediately started on the next one!!!! Here's what their representative, Graham, had to say.....
The wall we started to rebuild in October 2011 is now complete, all 420 metres of it; a completion ceremony beckons at some date in the future!
Andy and Graham spent the morning completing a final couple of courses and topping out the last five yard section at the start of the wall.
The "start" of the completed wall
Andy inspects the completed article
Across the gateway from "our" wall, there is another wall which had been rebuilt shortly before 2011. This has collapsed in places, most probably due to the nature of the ground and passing heavy agricultural machinery. As we don't have another significant winter job to do, we decided to tackle a refurbishment of this wall until such time that we can move to other suitable sites. For the sake of the blog , I am calling this the Southern Wall.
Five wallers dived
into the task of dismantling a 5m
section of the southern wall.
By lunchtime they had started the rebuild.
Whilst there were some big stones
in the foundations the rest was very
mixed and partly explains the
poor state of this section of the wall.
After lunch, Graham and Andy
came to help but, with the first section
becoming overcrowded,
Duncan sat down o the job.
Another 3m section was started a
little further away.
By the end of play this had also been dismantled.
wallers can get through in a day!
In the excitement of finishing the major task, I forgot to mention the exceptionally mild and benign weather, with Simon down to a tee shirt at times.
Spring has most definitely arrived!!
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