Sunday 21 August 2011

Shugborough 21 August 2011

Nine of us travelled down the M6 today to Shugborough, the seat of the Earls of Lichfield. BeforeSandstone CleaningAfterCleaning us

We spent the day working with Derek digging up reeds (glyceria and water burdock) from the riverbank nearest to the mansion house.

After we’d pulled the reeds we cleaned up the sandstone embankment by removing vegetation that had taken hold since the last clearance three years ago.

The group’s new chest waders kept those working in the river dry, but it was messy work and after we’d finished we had a dip in the fountain to clean ourselves up.

From the worksite we had good views of the arboretum and Derek pointed out the new sculptures that had been installed since our visit in March, e.g. Pocahontas, Dream Catcher and a baby elephant.

We ate Daniel’s chocolate cake for elevenses and had a Victoria sandwich courtesy of the tearoom for lunchtime pudding!

There were lots of passersby in the afternoon including a couple who volunteer at Styal/Hare Hill and who had had supper on Saturday night with one of our members!

Derek appeared on the BBC’s Gardener’s World last Friday with Carol Klein! If you didn’t see the episode it will be on the iPlayer for the next few days.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Hare Hill gardens 14 Aug 2011

Seven volunteers turned out to Hare Hill gardens near Alderley Edge for a task originally billed as clearing a pond. There was a small change of plan as it was thought that there might be newts breeding in the pond, so the task became "checking the land drains that feed the ponds". Though in the event we only managed to start on one.

We started with the small pond between the walled garden and the toilet, over the course of the day we located the first 60 odd feet of one of the land drains that feeds it. We dug down to the drain in about three places and found that it was in good condition - but difficult to access as it was under about 4 feet of garden soil which also contained a lot of bricks. This was real work - we've got use to similar land drains in the park that are only about 18 inches down and far easier to find!

We also proved by then end of the day that the bore of the drain was open for a distance of about 60 feet - initially there were a number of regions where mats of root were blocking it - but these were fished out on the end the drain rods with the aid of a "pig tail". We stopped about 3pm to clear up the tools and me - the other volunteers had managed to remain comparatively clean! As I was in the pond with the drain rods, and wellies I didn't take any photos.....

A small group had also visited some of the other ponds on site to investigate where the water feeds into and out of them, but they didn't find much - being wise enough to leave a wasps nest well alone......

A large tree will soon have to be felled near the drain we were investigating - but as they now know where the drain is - they should be able to carry out the work without damaging the drain.

Sunday 7 August 2011

Dunham Massey 7 August 2011


A Group of eleven of us worked in the old car park at Dunham Massey, pulling up Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). This invasive weed can grow to 10 foot tall! It's purply-pink helmet-shaped flowers may look pretty whilst in flower but once they turn to seed-pods these, when ripe, will open explosively dispersing up to 800 seeds a plant up to a distance of 7 metres away!! As if this wasn't enough, it's shallow root system grows in the top layer of soil or decaying leaf matter and, once the plant dies in the winter, there is nothing binding the soil so it is often washed away over the winter, causing major soil-erosion issues. This is particularly a problem when it grows on river banks. Fortunatley, as there was a large group of us today, we managed to clear a large area and, despite a bit of rain on occasion, we had a great day out 'balsam-bashing'!

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Macclesfield Forest 2 August 2011

After a bit of a drizzly afternoon, the sun came out and we enjoyed a warm sunny outing in Macclesfield Forest and some lovely views over Trentabank and Ridgegate reservoirs. As we congregated outside the Leather's Smithy waiting for everyone to arrive, a very cute puppy and his owner joined us. The puppy was only 4 months old and was so fluffy, he was just like a cuddly toy imititation. They had just returned from their walk and the owner was saying how beautiful it was; so on impulse the planned route was revised according to her instructions. We ended up making some quite steep ascents, but were rewarded by fantastic views. Only problem was we were not sure of a quick way back to the pub, so those joining us for a drink were well established and halfway through their drinks by the time we made it to the bar.