Scarhouse Reservoir: 10-07-2018

Picture Quiz - 

Today's National Awareness Day is..?????

Yes - you have it - National Don't Step on a Bee Day; the special day of the year when people get together to learn about the importance of protecting and caring for bees. 

Now, the NCVs already know a thing or two about how to improve the environment for bees, so no worries there. The only bee related concern they had today was trying to ensure that none of our little stripey friends got covered in gravel or bashed with a mallet. The reason why this could have happened was that the NCVs were helping to finish off The Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership project, up at Scarhouse Reservoir, where some new installed information panels needed surrounding with a layer of 'crusher run'. We'd been ordered to "bring your muscles!" by Liz - which gives you an indication of the level of input required. The photos below show the day unfolding and the job being completed.

The 5 interpretation panels were arranged around 
the inside of this beautifully built stone enclosure.

And very nice the panels were - most informative.

Unfortunately the floor below the panels was a little less beautifully constructed.
The upside was that the work area was next to the car park and the 
gravel was literally on site. All good news for NCVs on a hot day!

First of all something had to be done with the area of large stones - 
a health and safety risk if ever there was one!

This is where the mallet bashing part of the job spec came in.
The large stones had to be reduced in size.

Next the first gravel bag was split open.....

... and its contents were released.

 Once the first lot of gravel was raked out we then needed to 
fetch more large stone to create a base for the second bagful.

"I've been working on a chain gang, all the live long day..."

 Into the stone circle it went...

... where a bit more mallet bashing went on.

Then the second bag could be opened and 
its contents raked around.

HOWEVER - it soon became clear that there simply 
wasn't sufficient gravel to finish the job properly.

The answer? Give up and go home?

Of course not! Instead we all took an early break 
whilst Liz went off with the trailer to fetch another bag of gravel.

The journey was so long that there was plenty of time to make inroads 
into some of the packets of cake that Liz had brought. (Thanks Liz!!)

 There was also time to wander down to the 
dam for a peep over the wall.

The prolonged dry spell has taken its toll 
on the level of the reservoir.

Jan gave his feet a treat and took off his wellies....

... to show off his snazzy socks.

By the time we heard the trailer arriving back 
we'd even fitted in an early lunch!
Now there was no excuse - it was back to work.

 This time barrows were filled,,,,


...and wheeled to the circle....

 .... where the gravel was dumped and raked.

Yes - that should do it.
Very nice.

 No sooner had we loaded up the trailer with some of the spare stone....

 ....and all the tools....

...than two members of the public came by and read the interpretation panels.
They were very happy with the quality of the floor!

Please note that no bees were harmed in the filming of this blog entry.

Hackfall Wood: 03-07-2018

Please note that, owing to the editor being away on holiday in the furthest flung part of the outer Hebrides, with a very intermittent internet connection, this week's blog entry is but a shadow of its usual self. Having only been able to access two photographs from any sent, a brief summary of what was thought to be happening was devised. If there are any errors in the following information then an apology will be made next week.

The NCVs were back to balsam pulling this week. This time at Hackfall Wood, where the invasive weed keeps doing its best to penetrate the area from the Masham end. So, in retaliation, the NCVs do their best to fight it back to the perimeter wall, in an attempt to stop it gaining a hold.

The photos below show a couple of interesting finds - regular readers will be able to visualise the actual work that took place, having seen it all before.

En route to the battle ground the NCVs 
had to walk past a rather large wasps' nest.

Some bracket fungi were seen along the way.
Their orientation shows that they had obviously 
started growing after the tree had fallen.

A luscious green fern managing to survive in the dry conditions..
(Identification from the picture has been attempted but without a sample from the plant it is difficult to decide which it is. It appears single pinnate and the only one of these that seems likely is hard fern (sterile fronds). However - this could be entirely wrong!!!)

That's it for now - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!!

Dacre Banks Nature Park: 26-06-2018

This week the NCVs were carrying on the good work that the student team had begun a couple of weeks ago, when everyone else was busy with basketry and raised bed construction. If you have read the blog entry for that week you will remember that they were down at Dacre Banks Nature Park making a start on straightening and securing the 3000 tree tubes that have been there since February 2016. Plenty of work to keep us busy then!! The day was very hot but that didn't stop us achieving a good deal - we finished working at 1:45pm having checked and dealt with just about every tree in the area. This was quite a relief as the temperature had soared to 29 degrees by then!

A view of the nature park at the start of the day. 

Things didn't look too bad from up here - just the odd leaning tube here and there..

However - at ground level it was a different story.
Some trees had been bent in half by 
the gale a couple of weeks ago.

Others had been pushed to an extreme angle and needed 

returning to the vertical or, in the case of the many of the roses, 
simply setting loose from their tubes to allow them to ramble 
around more naturally.This required us to do the rather prickly
 job of unwinding their tangled stems - not always possible.

Everyone partnered up and got to work.

That looks better!

On and on - up and down the rows we went. 
We needed to work systematically to avoid double checking the same trees.

In spite of sitting in the middle of a plantation of 3000 trees not one 
of them was big enough to offer any shade for coffee time!

Liz had come prepared for good bio-security practice.

Note the tarpaulin to put our bags on and trugs for washing all the tools in later.

Everywhere was so dry that not a single tool had anything

 attached to it by close of play. Never mind - at least we were prepared.

Back to work in the relentless heat.
Water, sun hats and sun cream were a must have.

At lunchtime we made an effort and walked across the field to the stream

 where there was some welcome shade from two nice big old trees.

Phew!

Michael waved a magic wand at lunchtime and produced, 
not only a chocolate cake.....

... but also a delicious citrus one. (Thanks Gwen!!!)

The structural integrity of this was somewhat challenged by the high temperature, in spite of it having been in the fridge until 10 mins before this picture was taken.

Never mind - it was a good excuse to eat it. It wouldn't have lasted until tomorrow!

David - "I wonder where this tree went?"
Ros K. - "Don't ask me - I've been too busy eating cake to keep an eye on it. 
I think I need to let out the waistband on my trousers."

Meanwhile - further along the valley at St Cuthbert's school - Osian and the student group were doing a different task on this, the final day of their placement. He reported as follows:

Two of the students and their two supervisors cleared the St Cuthbert's school logo flower bed of lavender, ready for raised beds construction and planting by the school children. 

Lavender almost gone.

The boys also sorted through some stones to create a border edge to an area containing a bench and then back-filled it with gravel. 

A nice neat stone edging in place, 
weed suppressant was laid down and then on went the gravel.

There was plenty of that available.

Just a little bit more in these corners,

There you go - an excellent job!

All done and dusted, with tools cleaned in line with bio-security guidance, the student team headed to Pateley Bridge Pancake House (other pancake houses are available) for their farewell ice cream treats. We thank the students and theTeaching Assistants for their work during the year and wish them well for their future endeavours. 

Tools back in the trailer and the job's a wrap.