Mayfield Farm: 24-04-2018

On to pastures new....

This week the NCVs were working at a brand new venue - that of Mayfield Farm in Wilsill, which has been recently bought by their very own NCV, Tony. They were carrying out a number of different woodland maintenance tasks to ensure that the beautiful stream-side woodland area was brought up to standard in terms of habitat condition for wild flowers and wildlife.

The photos below show the variety of jobs that were undertaken. 

At the very top of the stream, near the house, the students' group 

started by removing wire that was acting as a sieve and catching debris.

Is it a sack? Is it a sofa?
No - just a roll of hessian.
The mysteries of Nidderdale waterways.

Ming dynasty porcelain, Roman pottery and Ikea pots made 
good target practice for the litter pickers.

Further downstream, in the woodland proper, 
there were great swathes of fallen wood to be cleared.

Now THAT looks decidedly better.
Where did it all go Ros?

 Well - we took it over here....

...and put it all into a tidy habitat pile there.

 The same job had to be done half way through the wood...

...on both sides of the path.

 So Anita dragged....

...and David pulled, until every branch and twig was cleared.

Another brash pile was created.

Then there were the bramble patches to cut back....

....and brash pile.

There you go. Everything cleared.

Now the beautiful wildflowers can flourish.

The path through the woodland was VERY muddy in places.

Three channels would have to be dug.

 So they were.

You may need to clean your boots tonight Andy!

 As trenches were dug....

...so they were lined with wood...

 ... and filled with stones to aid drainage.

The outlet from the pond was all blocked up....

...so Julia and Anita cleared it.

A decrepit tree house was taken down and the 
resulting wood transported down to the stream...

 ...where it was floated across.

A little bridge was in need of some chicken wire...

...so Ros K and Ruth made a good start on that.

 Everything stopped at 11am for coffee and....

...buns!

Everyone was very cosy in the wood shed.

Throughout the day NCVs were kept busy digging out and collecting rubbish 
that had been dumped over the years by previous owners.
"What have you found there Tony?"

"Just another lawn mower - to add to the other two. 

And the big rubber dinghy."

Stuff got piled by the path side.

There's  a little bit more here.

 Then had to be carried up the hill.

It was relentless.

There were many wheel barrow loads.

 And it was a very long way up that hill!!

 Are we nearly there yet?

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

Keep those tyres a rolling.

Rolling, rolling, rolling Rawhide.

Spring was in the air.

The hard work of the NCVs was amply rewarded by the provision of a wonderful Alfresco lunch. Many thanks must go to Alwin Knowles for all her hard work in catering for a group of nineteen hungry people - well done Alwin!! ☺️

Chef extraordinaire takes a bow next to the fast developing junk pile.

First help yourselves to sausages and buns....

 ...then on to the salad bar.

Finish off with some fruit salad or trifle (or both!!)

Everyone was very full - 
bending over after lunch was a problem!!

St Cuthbert's playing field, Pateley Bridge: 17-04-2018

We haven't done any hedge planting for quite a while - hedge laying has been more the norm over the last couple of years. However, this week the NCVs gave St Cuthbert's school a hand to plant saplings along one side of their playing field in Pateley bridge. As this grows it will become a wonderful haven for wild life - much more so than the fence that is there at the moment.

The field on arrival.

Looking at Osian's report below it is clear that the NCVs were on an efficiency drive.....

How efficient is the NCV union?11 NCVs, 3 students and their 2 TAs and 17 children from St Cuthberts planted just over 400 trees of a wide variety. The NCVs were so efficient that their 370 odd trees were planted by lunchtime. A quick bit of litter picking and some tree guard stripping of an established hedgerow nearby provided more guards for our saplings. 

First up the supporting canes were 
inserted in a double row.

Then the trees were collected...

...as were the tree guards and spades.

 

At last the saplings could be inserted into the ground 
and covered with plastic spirals.
Get through those if you can rabbits!

All the way along the fence trees were 
getting planted, fast and furious.

And then, all of a sudden, there they were.
400 trees turned into one hedge.

The day was sped along with the aid of Laura's cracking banana and walnut cake to celebrate a birthday today. One should not ask a lady her age and she didn't volunteer it. Happy Birthday Laura!

Cake close up - Mmmm. Yummy!

The birthday girl - smiling as usual!

"He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus."

Osian definitely looking like the task leader he is.

Hackfall Woods: 10-04-2018

A Wet Morning at Hackfall.

After all the partying of last week the NCVs were still on a high. The monthly Hackfall Woods visit was due and so, in spite of the dreadful forecast for the day (not so much April showers as April deluge) 10 turned out. There were a number of tasks to be done, but we decided to only work for the morning and prioritise the most important jobs.

NB Limited photography this week due to the weather conditions!!

A group of 6 set off to Mowbray Castle to remove two fallen trees. The progress with the first can be seen below. 

Andy showed off his lassoing skills.

Then the rotten roots were cut through....

...before the tree could be rolled away to the side of the path.

A final tidy up and then on to the second tree!
(No photos of that one.)

A group of four others set off to investigate what could be done to prevent the path near Fisher's Hall getting completely waterlogged....

Water streaming down the path 
instead of through a drain pipe.

David got the particularly muddy job, 
namely digging a new channel. 

It should work very well. 

The other job they had to do was to measure up for a new section of board walk next to the river. HOWEVER....

The stream down from Alum Spring was in full spate.

The raging torrent sped down the hillside and....

...prevented us getting across to reach the area we need to get to.
The same thing happened when we walked the long way around  
and came across a second stream - also in spate.

So no measuring for the board walk - though we were able to look at another example to find out how to construct one. Hopefully next time we'll be able to ford the stream safely.

En route to the car park, two of this team did manage to create a temporary barrier near Grewelthorpe Pond to prevent visitors walking off the main footpath and crushing the emerging bluebell leaves. (Sorry - no photo for this either.)

So - a good morning's work - in spite of the awful conditions!

The NCVs hitched a ride from a passing ark 

to get back to the car park.

Toft Gate: 02-02018

Apparently 3rd April is 'World Party Day' - so the NCVs decided to have a party. 

It was, of course, a working party - because that's what NCVs do. 

Work. 

Hard. 

No job too small.

This week they were having to labour on a task that they thought was done and dusted the last time they visited Toft Gate Lime Kiln. However - as is the nature of many conservation tasks - not all jobs stay done. A bit like the Forth bridge, the Toft Gate path constantly needs attention. Grass is growing over it all the time.

The state of the party venue when 
checked a month ago.

So - with spades, mattocks and wheelbarrows at the ready - the NCVs, donned their party hats, rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They wanted to show Liz Milner, their new volunteer coordinator who had joined them for the first time, just what they were made of. 

Liz outlined the party plans for the day.
Note the snow on the ground.

'Hmmm', thought Andy - 'this is not going to be easy'.
Problem? We were lifting up gravel with the grass.

"Leave the thin grass in the middle of the path and just concentrate on the edges" suggested Graham. Good plan!! 
Everyone set to.

Slowly but surely the grass was lifted and barrowed away.

No matter how hard Jan stared at the clods of 
earth, they refused to leap into the barrow of their own accord.

In the end he gave up and used his spade.
(Makes a change to sitting in the warm barn "sharpening tools".)

Barrowers went off at a good pace down 
the hill to the dumping area.... 

...where things all went a bit pear shaped ...

....as the barrows started to sink wheel deep into the mire.

Clearing the grass required lots of bending.

It was a relief to sit or stand up straight at coffee time.

By lunch time the majority of the path was cleared ready for some fresh gravel.
This is a job for another day, as the rain set in good and proper and, for once, 
the NCVs decided to leave the party early.