Hardwick weekend (6/7 Dec 08)

I missed this trip - Thanks again to Daniel for the text and photos

The group always spends the first weekend of December celebrating Christmas at Hardwick Hall. This year twelve of us made the time-honoured visit. We were blessed with two days of winter sunshine and starry night skies. On Saturday we cut down a small stand of sucker elms next to the approach road to the Hardwick Inn. The worksite was five minutes walk from the basecamp and we were glad to return there to warm up over lunch.

Megan spent the day preparing a sumptuous traditional Christmas supper, assisted in the afternoon by sous chef Daniel. Afternoon tea was mulled wine and mince pies, followed a couple of hours later by the feast itself. The turkey that graced the table had been reared on the Hardwick Park farm. We spent the evening playing party games including building towers from spaghetti and marshmallows!

On Sunday we walked up to the Hall to listen to the carol singers. The entrance hall and several of the first floor rooms were decorated in the theme of a Christmas carol or song! We ate a little more turkey for lunch and ended the weekend with gifts from Secret Santa's sack.

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Quarry Bank House - Gardens at Styal 30 Nov 08

Eight voluteers turned out on a frosty misty morning and spent the day with two bonfires, grubbing out and burning the remains of a group for cherry suckers that had grown up in the corner of the old orchard. Heavy work but it kept us warm.

Shugborough 23 November 2008

Six volunteers made the one-hour journey to Shugborough, the ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield, for a workday in the walled garden annexe. We worked with a National Trust archaeologist and 14 of the volunteers from the Wolverhampton group.

We spent the day clearing the garden of scrub (alder saplings, ferns and brambles) and burning the debris. Many hands made light work and we cleared a large area. The damp vegetation burned with difficulty and often the garden was thick with smoke.
Once the scrub clearance has been completed the garden staff will keep regrowth in check so that our efforts don't go to waste. If Lottery money is obtained the aim is to restore the garden to how it looked in 1805 by restoring the mushroom pits and rebuilding the greenhouses. With luck our efforts on Sunday will be the start of a multi-year project similar to the restoration of the pineapple greenhouses in Tatton that we helped complete last year.

Thanks to Daniel for the photographs and text

16 Nov Dunham Massey

Over 10 volunteers turned out to Dunham Massey and spent a beautiful day hedge laying. The section done last year (some of which is visible in the left of the first photo) was looking good and had grown in the time since we saw it last.

While not strictly before and after photos of a single piece of hedge the pictures give an idea of the stages the hedge goes through. The untouched hedge is overgrown at the top, & has gaps at the bottom. The gaps don't show due to the view point of the photograph - at this site if you stand back and admire your work you are likely to get run over!
Excess material is cut from the sides of the hedge, and thinned from between the plants so that we can get to base and work on the individual plants.
Each plant is cut part through and folded "pleached" to create a dense barrier - this does not kill the plants and has an effect similar to coppicing - rejuvinated the hedge allowing the same plants to live for far longer than if left alone and making the hedge a better habitat for some of our wildlife.

Hare Hill 9/11/8

Four of the usual suspects turned out on Sunday to investigate and perform maintenance on the network of culverts, and field drains that the Victorians installed under the parkland around Hare Hill Garden.

The area was originally boggy ground - and was drained to create grazing parkland. The slope from the highest point to the lowest is less than 1 degree - the system is an engineering marvel to work at all. The problem with the small slope is that the water flows slowly so it doesn't clean mud out of the system. After over 100 years of neglect the accumulated mud in parts of the network caused blockages, some of the land flooded and trees started to die.

So now the staff with volunteer help are gradually finding the drains and clearing the accumulated mud....

The weather was mixed and the work muddy, but we enjoyed ourselves - stopping for a silence at 11am.

We opened the system at five points, and cleared the accumulated silt between those points using drain rods.

2 November at Biddulph Grange

6 turned out to Biddulph Grange - braving a poor weather forcast.

The fire went well and the Rhodi fell.

The weather was overcast but we felt little or nor rain.

Staff were pleased - we cleared a section of Rhodi that was on the right of the Wellantonia Avenue as you look up the hill towards the country park.

Snowdonia Marathon

Another week where I have not been out with the group - thanks to Daniel for text and photo.
On Saturday 25th October 14 of us helped marshall the Snowdonia Marathon, an important fundraiser for the National Trust in the region. This is always a popular weekend and some of us have helped out for ten years or more! During the first part of the race we worked in three groups: two directed traffic at the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel road junction (4.5 miles), six manned the Bryn Gwynant feedstation (8 miles) and six manned the Llyn Dinas feedstation (10.5 miles). Cameramen from S4C (the Welsh language public service broadcaster) were in attendance to capture footage for Saturday evening's news and a one-hour marathon programme on Sunday.

After we had handed out the water, orange squash and jelly beans we drove back to Llanberis where most of us spent the afternoon directing runners through the town to the finish. The lucky ones had jobs in the warm dry community hall wrapping runners in foil sheets and returning kit bags.

The weather throughout the race varied from bad to atrocious and it is a testament to the hardiness and stamina of the runners that approximately 1500 completed the gruelling 26.2 mile course. The winner finished in a remarkable 2 hours 44 minutes and the last person crossed the line over four hours later.

Our accommodation for the weekend was the luxurious Hendre Isaf basecamp on the outskirts of Betws-y-coed. The piping hot showers warmed us on our return and the drying room did a great job of drying everyone's waterproofs, clothing and boots. The kitchen had ample facilities and we enjoyed a Saturday night supper of roast vegetables with pasta followed by apple & blackberry crumble with custard.

The weather had brightened up by Sunday morning and fortified by bacon and egg muffins we walked to Swallow Falls. They were spectacular after the heavy rains and the white water thundering through the gorge was a sight to behold.

PS - Daniel and Patrick have made a pact to run the 2009 Snowdonia Marathon. Watch this space for details of their training progress!

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The photo attached shows the leading runners at 10.5 miles. The runner on the far left (2) went on to win by 13 seconds from the runner on the right (1114)).

Holiday Catch up

I've had a weeks holiday in Yorkshire putting down a path, and sorting out ditches...

In my absence the group has had two sundays out -5th October -Rhodi Bashing in Lyme park, and 12 October Rhodi Bashing at Dunham Massey (near the golf course).

The group at Lyme had a good view of the some of the Lyme park deer including a couple of spectacular stags.

The group as a whole has also been organising social events - including a cylce ride and a bowling evening.

MEGA PLANT 27-28 September

The peat which has been exposed by fires and errosion etc is a problem both in terms of climate change and in terms of the cost of it getting into hte water supply system. This first photograph shows some planting in an area of bare peat


Roughly once a year - usually in late winter early spring the group has historically held a "megabash" - getting a larger than normal group together to attach the perrenial rhodadendron problem. This year was slightly different the National Trust in the high Peak (near Edale / Hayfield) have been working on a project attempting to revegitate the peat. The plan was 30,000 cotton grass plants over 2 years - we spent two "normal" sundays on this earlier in the year. As it was a big project our megabash was held in the autumn and we had a group of nearly 20 people up on Kinderscout working on this.

Over the course of the weekend approximately 20000 plants went in which completed the plan for this year. There are a few more for the spring then the area will be monitored so that the effectiveness of the process can be assessed for future reference.

The plants arrived in trays of 60 - there is an empty one in the foreground of the second photo, in the third photo there are two stacks of these empty trays visible - staked down to prevent them blowing away. Over the weekend we accounted for about three to four hundred trays and left a number of stacks like this behind for later collection. In the background of the third photo is an area of established cotton grass - quite a contrast to the bare peat.

The cotton grass grows best in the damper areas, and can grow in water - the higher areas will need to be planted with heather or will have to wait for nature to recover.

We had wonderful weather once the fog cleared on sunday morning - which certainly made getting to work interesting!

Beautiful Bickerton in the sun

We had planned to visit Helsby Hill, and spend a day working with the Merseyside group, however when I checked with Dave the warden it turned out he though we were coming to Bickerton, where he had more work. So we spent the day there working with the Chester group instead.

The work was continuing a task that had been started some time previously by contractors - they had removing birch woodland to open up the heathland to a point where it can be maintained for the future by grazing - we were clearing the last few trees. Some trees had to be left to provide variety and habitat. To get an idea of the area that has been cleared - there are two volunteers in the photo working at the edge of the woodline, if you double click on the photo and know where to look they are 2-5 pixels high!!

Finlow wood - Alderly Edge

I've missed another week - again thanks to Daniel for the text and photos.

17 of us worked today in Finlow Hill Wood at Alderley Edge, restoring a section of heathland by clearing brambles. We enlarged an area that volunteers from Phoenix Futures had begun to clear in previous weeks. Phoenix Futures are the leading provider of care and rehabilitation services for people with drug and alcohol problems in the UK and recovered addicts have worked with Tim Ryan (warden) on projects in and around Alderley Edge. Tim is hosting an openday on Wednesday at which northwest NT wardens and potential sponsors will see what Tim has achieved with his groups and hopefully go away and think about how they can forge their own links with Phoenix Futures.

During the day several of us also put in a new gatepost next to the entrance to the wood and widened a faint footpath to make it much easier to follow.

Hedge trimming ?

There were 17 of us today at Quarry Bank House! Several first timers and some others new to me but who'd been out with the group once or twice already.

We spent the morning and up to 2pm (when the heavy rain arrived) cutting down a hedge of sycamore and hawthorn trees that bordered the apple orchard at the top of the garden, and burning the debris. Alan (head gardener - who spoke at our AGM) said the aim is to restore the orchard. The few surviving apple trees were in need of a lot of pruning and there were big gaps where they'll need to plant more trees.

I missed this one - asleep at the wrong times. So thanks to Daniel for reporting back and to Tim for running the day.

Not to wet to work in the pond

14 turned out for the last Sunday in August. Everyone appeared to enjoy a muddy session in and around a pond in the Deer park at Dunham Massey.

The task was to clear a channel through the marginal vegetation and sediment at the upstream end of the pond. The photographs show the pond before during and after our efforts.

To wet to work in the pond

5 Volunteers turned out on sunday, and shared lifts to Speke Hall.
Due to heavy rain in the preceeding 24 hours the land arround the pond that we were supposed to be working in was waterlogged / underwater. As the planned task needed the staff to import a considerable quantity of soil from elsewhere on the estate using a tractor it was not possible to proceed.

So we ended up on plan b - cutting and burning more Rhodi - though the fire was a struggle due to the combination of wet conditions and "the wrong sort of Rhodi". There was very thick stuff and very thin stuff but very little normal sized stems - which made the fire more than a little challenging.

Holiday Catch Up

Despite summer holidays the group continues with varying turnouts...

3/8/8 at Lyme Park, ten turned out and spent a day in sunshine and showers. The task was clearing, patching and top dressing a path through the edge of Pursefield wood, near Paddock Cottage.

10/8/8 on Kinder Scout, 8 volunteers turned out - we could have been nine but I ran out of room in my car for giving lifts! (there wasn't enough time to get someone else to collect half of my passengers). We had another August day of sunshine and showers in spectacular surroundings. About 6000 cotton grass plants went in leaving the local NT staff to do a few more this week - as the planned total for this summer is 150,000!
I'm still getting layers of in ground peat out of my hands - perhaps I should of worn gloves...

Dunham - Plant pulling

Due to holidays only 3 turned out to Dunham Massey on 13/7/8. With the small numbers the available the pond was given a miss and the group instead turned to Balsam, Thistle, Ragwort, and Bracken! We hope the wardens children enjoyed the spare cake that was available that day

Rhodadendron through and over the garden fence @ Shugborough

5 Manchester volunteers and 9 from a similar group based in Wolverhampton turned out to the Shugborough Estate last Sunday.

We had plenty of cakes - as Daniel had brought some home made chocolate muffins - while Joe (the Gardener there) had provided a 2 cakes with the assistance of the tea room (Cherry / Apple and Date).

The task was simple the Rhododendrons along the edge of the gardens needed to be cut back away from the fence between it and the grazed "parkland" - to ensure that live stock do not poison themselves later in the year, we managed most of it - and left at the end of a successful day, full of cake with only a small section to be finished by the staff on Monday.

Joe also talked some volunteers from both groups though the decontamination procedure required if we ever have to work on plants affected by Phytophthora ramorum

Sand, wind and rabbit fencing

8 vounteers turned out to Formby on, despite weather warnings, on Sunday and spent a few hours patching a rabbit fence - that should help keep them out of the tree nursery. We then had some ice cream, walked round the squirrel sanctuary - spotting three, looked at the beach, where the wind and whipped up a lot of foam before coming home.

Fencing and Thistles at Lyme

10 turned out to Lyme Park (2 of whome were dads) and we worked with Chris the assistant head warden taking down a section of barbed wire cattle fence and re-placing with new posts & wire. Working in small sections to avoid the cattle escaping. Tony used the a mechanical post driver to put in the posts which saved a lot of effort.

As there were too many of us to keep busy on the fencing, some of us dug out thistles, which is a hard task, where the turf is dense it is difficult to get the spade in!

Bumper turn out after 2 cancellations and a wedding

There is a bit of break in the dates - due to external factors 2 workdays had to be canceled.

We sometimes don't work on bank holiday weekends but a number of our members were out and about - celebrating the wedding of Megan and Daniel.

After three weeks off we made up for the rest with a large turnout or to quote our leader for the day.
I think you'll agree we had an excellent day rhody bashing at Dunham today. I've only once before rhody bashed in warm sunny weather and it was a change to see the rhodies' bright vivid greens and purple summer flowers breathe their last on the pyre. Usually the lights a lot more subdued and the colours muted. Bumper turnout too - as much to do with the venue as the promise of walnut & chocolate brownies. Two were left over - both for me because Megan doesn't like nuts :). Good to see that we all managed to find an alternative route to the car park first thing given that unexpected closing of Charcoal Road for resurfacing.

Cotton Grass on Kinder

6 Volunteers turned out last sunday and spent a few hours on the Kinder plateau planting cotton grass.

A big project with a lot of plants still to be put in. One of the limiting factors being the time taken to get up there.

I was supprised how much bare peat there was - it would be interesting to go and get an after photo in a few years time...

Sunday 11 May - cancelled

due to external circumstances the group had to cancel the planned work for this day

Hare Hill - Drainage and drinking.

The open parkland arround the gardens at Hare Hill have a lot going on underground.

They are drained by a historic network of channels that were covered when the field boundaries were removed to create the open views.

Some of these culverts have cattle drinking places built into them, and these are being rediscovered and some brought back into use. The structures are quite clever and should provide a continuous supply of fresh running water to the cows - while keeping the cows out of the water - reducing the polution that could occur if the cows had free access to a natural watercourse - they can't wade into it and the construction should reduced the amount of mud entering the water.

On Sunday, 12 of our members and a similar group from Congleton rebuilt this one, when we arrived the culvert up to the tree had been partially cleared and rebuilt. The water flow had been diverted round the work in a temporary channel. The Congleton group rebuilt the culvert feeding the channel, patched up the side of the cahnnel and relaid the flagstones. The structure obviously had quite a history and had been built / rebuilt at various times in the past with whatever materials came to hand. We continued this tradition reusing the Flagstones, sandstone, cobbles, oak, local clay, local sand.... There may be future work to open up an explore flags peaking out from under the heap of soil on the right - but for the moment that is being left to try to get the cows to only use the left hand side of the channel. The modern trough will also stay for the moment but the extra facility should reduce the mud / errosion in the field.
In the after photograph there is still some soil to be put back over culvert in the foreground that takes the overflow.

Gutters gulies, leaf mold and mud

6 volunteers turned out on the 20 April as Styal and spent the day clearing the gutters at the side of the Drive down to the Mill. With high visibility jackets we cleared the leaf mold, mud, and fallen sticks out of the gutters and from above the grates. We also cleared the sediment traps from under them. One passing toddler was fascinated by our mud - perhaps a potential recruit in 17 years time.

A number of members of the public stopped for a chat and gave a few words of encouragement or thanks. The days started damp but warmed up - time to get the shorts out?

More mud next Sunday even if it doesn't rain between now and then.

Drystone walling - peak district

Approximately 10 volunteers turned out on a damp day (20/4/8) and "patched" 2 "small" sections of drystone wall - on National Trust land between Edale and Hayfield. It may not sound like much but with 7 or so novices and three more experienced volunteers it kept us busy and warm.

As with may task the situation looks works before it gets better - you often have to take the wall down to its foundations to sort out an underlying problem before rebuilding it, and the net result is that during the preparation stages the gap just appears to grow. These photographs show the section where our beginners were taught - before and after.

Gutters, Gravel, Mud and Leafmould

5 Volunteers turned out a Dunham Massey today,
we spent the morning clearing out cobbled gutters in the carpark.

In the afternoon we spread a pile of wood chippings in to a rather muddy path near Island pond (in the dear park.

We knocked off early as there were too many visitors to be able to work safely and effectively in the carpark.

Fencing at Lyme

6 Volunteers turned out on the 6th April and worked with the local "Lyme Park" volunteers replacing post and wire fencing.

Spring Sunshine at Speke

6 volunteers turned out at Speke and continued a long standing task of Rhodii Bashing in Stocktons Wood. It felt summery at times in the warm sunshine and I'm pleased after saturday's rain that the weather remained pleasant until after we had turned in the fire at the end. It was good to see some wildlife - lots of ladybirds and the Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The "Secret Garden" - Styal 9th March

Nine volunteers turned out to help get the "secret garden" ready for its official opening.

We completed a small fencing job, in the top corner of the garden and some general tidying / raking.

Hazel found herself a good seat overlooking the fencing work.

It will be interesting to watch how this garden unfolds in the next few years.

Two teams at Dunham Massey (2 March)

Ten volunteers turned out at Dunham Massey, and tackled two completely different task.

6 volunteers and a warden continued with the hedge that was started in January finishing approximately 20 more yards, while 5 others and a Gardener worked in the Garden.

There is a project to create a new winter garden and Dunham Massey to be formally opened next year. The paths have been laid, but there were some problems with soil levels around them. When we left there was more work to be done - but visible progress had been made.

Strangford Lock (Nothern Ireland)

Fourteen volunteers (some from Manchester and some from Ireland) travelled to Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland for the weekend of 23 and 24th Feb. They put in over 150 hours of work, litter picking and hedge laying. The weather prevented the planned task on islands in the lough, but the volunteers enjoyed their time anyway.

Birch on Thurstaton Common

Thurstaston common is a heath land habitat and as such is managed to maintain the rich biodiversity that such "poor" land can support. Left to its own devices it, like most of the land in England would eventually become broadleaf woodland - the first stage of this is invasion by species such as birch. Unless the land can be grazed, voluntary labour is the only way to prevent nature from covering the space with trees leaving species that need light and open spaces nowhere to live / grow.

Last sunday was a beutiful blue skied crisp winters day - working in association with our sister organisation the Chester volunteers, a few of us turned out, and helped clear an area of birch - producing a large pile of wood / brash which I am told will be chipped and disposed of locally.

More rhodi at Shugborough 10 Feb

I missed this day - so here is a brief quote from someonw who was there.

We rhodybashed on the main drive - attacking the very tall overhanging rhody at the end of the drive just before it opens out into the parkland. Beautiful weather - sunshine but cool.

A common conservation task "Rhodi Bashing" 3rd Feb

It is a well known contradiction in "conservation managment" that some of the most popular conservations tasks for volunteers appear to be higly destructive. The prime example of this is "rhodi bashing". The detrimental effects of Rhododendron ponticum on uk wildlife and biodiversity are well documented. Over recent years the public have become better informed and the number of people complaining about this type of work has dropped.

Working on a steep slope with a group of local volunteers at Lyme Park we removed a significant area of "Rhodi", this is only first step, further work by National Trust Staff will allow the regeneration of that area with native broadleaf species. It was windy but the sun shined, a good day for those who didn't believe the weather forcast.

Garden work - a gentle pasttime?

In November 2006, the National Trust aquired the house next to Quarry Bank mill at Styal...

The eight acre garden associated with this house is due to open to the public soon, and a variety of work is going on to prepare for this. Last sunday (27 Jan) we had a turn out of 11 volunteers, who helped remove the remains of a "modern" concrete fence between the house / garden and the mill. Comparatively heavy and hard work, contractors were due on Monday to replace this with something more appropriate.

"Quarry Bank House and garden were built within the confines of Quarry Bank Mill at a time when mill owners were proud to live adjacent to their source of wealth. It was set in the sandstone valley of the River Bollin, which provided power for the Mill and the humidity to help the cotton spinning process."

Postscript - the garden is now officially open - this photo shows the fence that replaced the one we removed

A winter job - Hedge Laying

On Sunday a team of 10 enthusiastic volunteers laid a 22 yard section of hawthorn hedge at the side of the A56 near Little Bollington, part of the Dunhamn Massey Estate. It was wet if not raining all day but that didn't dampen the spirits, most of us now know how to use billhooks, our pleachers may not have been smooth and we did coppice a few plants by accident but the resulting hedge looked mighty impressive by the end of the day. We consumed home made Christmas cake and two of our more experienced volunteers did an excellent job demonstrating the art of this old craft.

PS we did pick up all the tools including the one in the bottom of the photo!

Digging / Pruning at Biddulph Grange

6 Volunteers turned out on the 13th - and spent the day digging and pruning at Biddulph Grange Garden, followed by a meal at a local pub.

I'll get the cooking time right one day

We had 9 people out near Hayfield on Sunday(6th Jan) continuing a long term project to remove Rhodi from the moor.

I lit a second small fire to cook some potatoes - if we to do this again I'll need to build a slightly bigger fire, or cook fewer potatoes. I had the last two pots for my supper having cooked two spares, they seemed to go down well even if they did take a long time to arrive.

Good weather - a steady breeze to make the smoke predictable and sun shine always makes for a good day.