Hackfall Woods: 06-11-2018

The NCVs were back to Hackfall this week - after only two weeks! Now that shows dedication. They needed to complete the jobs that were started last time. They almost made it but - as usual - it all took longer than expected. ..........................

The woods were looking a bit 

'misty moisty' after a night of rain.

Team one set off to finish oiling the seven remaining benches - 

not an easy job in the damp conditions.

Still - they did it well - until the oil ran out again, 

leaving four still to do.

Down at the cascades team two dealt with 

the continued clearing of the debris.

Nice raking action Osian!

Sally and Liz wondered if the job would ever end.

Up on the obstacle course that is the vista, from the Ruin to Fisher's Hall, 

team three were faced with lots of saplings ready and waiting for removal.

Undeterred by the atrocious conditions

 underfoot they coped admirably well.

There were lots of bigger trees higher up the slope, 

but things became a a bit hairy and the task had to be abandoned.

Team four decided they would brash pile all the felled ash 

that had been left by the contractors by the side of Fountains Pond.

A superb job they did too.

As always - there were interesting fungi and lichens to see.

One other heap was a bit more daunting so 

they were glad when help arrived with a 

good quality saw and lots of muscle power.

 A team effort got a very long stem out of the way.

Although this particular task did not get finished 

there were two more nice neat brash piles left at home time.

Handy Andy got to work on a high branch 

that had been left looking very tatty.

Back in the car park all of the tools and 

NCVs' boots were given a clean. 

Footpaths and tools: 30-10-2018

A close to home day for the NCVs.

This week's blog has been written by NCV Osian.

The NCVs stayed in Pately Bridge this week. Resident expert tool sharpeners and equipment maintainers, Jan and Phil were joined by a willing apprentice in the form of Will. So, there would be three working hard around the wood burner in the barn while the remaining volunteers chomped at the bit to get out into the cold wet weather to carry out a mish mash of tasks around Pateley Bridge’s footpaths.

Jan the man reigned supreme....

...over minion Will.

But then a man who can design and knock up a

 bespoke rack for hand axes deserves to be Kin Pin.

First up was a small quick task to clear some gorse from a footpath high above Pateley Bridge near the old quarries. Graham had the gauntlet thrown at him, literally, to start a fire suitable to burn wet gorse. He fulfilled this task admirably and threw in an extra feature; enough smoke to almost overcome the remaining volunteers cutting gorse 30 yards away. During the gorse removal a long lost set of stone steps were uncovered.

By NCV standards a minuscule affair.

The hidden steps start to make an appearance.

The NCVs soon had everything under control.

After a tea break augmented with Audrey’s flapjack (Thank you Audrey!), the team moved on to overgrowth clearance and path maintenance on the footpath above Quarry lane.

Tom was glad to escape the passive smoking 

environment he had experienced lower down.

 Lunchtime was spent enjoying the views, courtesy of improved weather,

 of Nidderdale and confirming it is the Knaresborough castle 

Ravens with the Yorkshire accent

 (via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf42vpQMJ9o). 

 After lunch, the roving footpath team got back into the cars to squeeze through the narrow gap between stone walls and precipitous drop to find and repair a step on a semi-mythical footpath somewhere on the top Wath road. 

Question, how many NCVs does it take to replace one footpath step? See photo below for answer.

Just mind that lump hammer Graham - 

Osian needs those fingers for tomorrow.

The team were very proud of what they achieved with the limited materials available.

With the step repaired, the roving NCVs headed for base to check on the tool maintainers who had done an excellent job, as always, of cleaning / sharpening / lubricating assorted tools. Will even manged a spot of cleaning and drain clearance.

Hackfall Wood: 23-10-2018

This Tuesday was the last one before the clocks go back and the UK starts its season of long dark evenings. In Hackfall there were the usual autumnal tasks to do - clearing culverts of fallen leaves, clearing vista lines of encroaching saplings, removing debris from the cascades and oiling the benches. There was also an unexpected job awaiting them in the car park.....

Once again a car had taken out the end of the gateway,

A job for a couple of walling experts - good job Anita and Sally were there!.

Have a coffee break ladies, before completing the job. 

And what a beautifully done job it was.

Team Osian and Ken made an excellent start clearing the cascades of debris.

There we are - nice and clean 

(until the next autumn storm brings down twigs and leaves).

It's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge.

 Ruth and David had plenty of work to do sanding and oiling all the benches. 

That is - until the oil ran out 3 benches into the job.

Never mind - there's always next month's visit.

 The vista line from the Ruin to Fisher's Hall definitely needed a hair cut!

Likewise the view from Mowbray Castle.
Why can't vista line plants just stay close to the ground?!

Mark and Ros E. got to work with the loppers up at the castle....

...reducing tall stems to stump level....

...thereby allowing the view to be visible once more.

The vista at Fisher's Hall was much more of a challenge.
The team of two were relieved when a few of the others came to help them out after lunch.

Apart from the masses of brambles that you 
had to wade through there was an ocean of horse tails to cope with.

Now - is this horse tail or an NCV having a bad hair day?

Apologies - there are no pictures of the two teams of culvert clearers at work. We'll make sure there are some next time.

There is this photo of one of the culvert teams having their lunch. It was the last work day that John and Kath will be out with the NCVs until next spring when the caravan site opens again. Enjoy your winter back at home guys!!

Back at the car park we all made sure our boots and tools were clean as, unfortunately, there is ash die back in the wood and we don't want to transport it anywhere else!!

Other NCV news

At least two of the NCVs put in some practice on their veteran tree identification skills after their training session last week. They discovered a few worthy candidates for the Woodland Trust inventory at Mayfield Farm - although, as you can see from the pictures below, this was not always an easy task!!

 Tony did some graceful limbo dancing to reach 

around the back of this likely veteran.....

... and Ros E. went riding astride a high level tree root

in order to get the measuring tape into the correct position.