Sunday 15 December 2013

Dunahm Massey 15 December 2013

thanks to "Mick" for leading the day and the following words...

The last MNTV workday of 2013 was at Dunham Massey and a crisp, clear day welcomed nine volunteers to the park. We were actually working outside the park - across the road from the end of Charcoal Drive.This former car park, now intended to be woodland, is getting overgrown. After stripping ivy off the paling fence we were clearing the scrub and thinning out the smaller trees. 

The ranger was around for a some of the day, but had various members of the public and a deer with a plastic bag caught on it's antlers to attend to as well.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

The Green Room- The Importance of being Earnest Tues 10th Dec 2013

A few of us met at The Green Room in Wilmslow to see their performance of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of being Earnest'.

It was a fresh interpretation of this famous play with a minimal set and minimal furniture but still involving some extremely clever and witty dialogue around a handbag, a railway station and the true love of someone called Earnest:-)

The Green Room is a lovely, small theatre in Wilmslow and, wherever you sit, you are so close to the stage that you feel almost part of the production.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening!! 

Sunday 8 December 2013

Riverbank clearance at Styal on 8 December 2013


Ten of us worked today with ranger John Waller and Sunday volunteers Adam and Andrew clearing dogwood from a 30-meter stretch of the Bollin riverbank next to the millpond.  The dogwood branches on our bank (and the one opposite) were dipping into the river and a large patch of bottles/aerosols/polysytrene food cartons/footballs had accumulated behind.  The hope was that removing the dogwood would free the litter - if not today then in the next downpour.  (Towards the end of the day the 'litter slick' was breaking up in places but the litter was soon snagged on the riverbank further downstream.)

cleared riverbank with 'litter slick' behind
We lopped and sawed until 2:30pm, burning the cuttings on bonfires at either end of the footpath.  These were turned in at 3pm and then extinguised so that the public could walk safely along the footpath when we reopened it on departure.
dogwood burns well!
We had a fabulous sight at the end of the day when a kingfisher darted along the river in front of us.  Its vivid turquoise plumage was unmistakable.

During breaks and at the end of the day we went to the Victorian Fair in the mill yard.  Staff in period costumes were selling olde worlde sweets, Christmas wreaths/plants and serving hog roasts.

Friday 6 December 2013

Christmas in the Lake District - 29 November-1 December 2013

It is a tradition of ours to go away for the first weekend in December to celebrate Christmas.  We do a day's work on the Saturday, have a traditional Christmas supper and secret Santa and then on Sunday go for a walk.  We used to always go to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire but ever since their basecamp closed have gone to High Wray in the Lake District.

Happy Christmas!
We spent Saturday rhodybashing on steep wooded ground at Harrow Slack and gave the ranger Jamie a Christmas present by clearing most of the rhody there.  A roaring bonfire keep everybody warm.  Charlie had stayed at basecamp to start the chopping of the vegetables and Hazel returned to basecamp early to help prepare a delicious supper of turkey plus all the trimmings accompanied by the wine that we won at the pub quiz last month.  Later in the evening secret Santa visited and we played the names-in-a-hat game (if you don't know how to play join us next year!).

On Sunday we went for a short walk from the basecamp to Latterbarrow and enjoyed views of Hawkeshead, Windermere and the Fairfield Horseshoe.

(thanks to Ally for the above details and photo)

Sunday 24 November 2013

Alderley Edge - 24 November 2013

Ten of us spent today laying a section of hawthorn and blackthorn hedge near Daniel Wood, continuing work begun by the Sale volunteers two weeks ago.  Our group was a mix of old hands and new faces.  Reaching the worksite required a fifteen minute walk through muddy fields, and warmed us up nicely for the task.  Twenty Congleton and Macclesfield volunteers joined us after half an hour and worked on the hedgerow perpendicular to ours.

There were several parts to our job:
- first, taking down a 40-meter section of wire fencing and coiling up the wire
- pruning the hedge in such a way that the thorn trees could be laid to the left as we looked at the hedge
- laying the hedge and knitting it together using hedging stakes that we had whittled
- burning the brash (it burned very well and at one point the flames shot 12 feet into the air!)

hedgelaying and pruning
(the Macclesfield and Congleton volunteers are in the distance)
The weather was cold all day but mainly dry.  Elevenses and lunch were taken round the bonfire.  Daniel's Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Marble Traybake went down very well.  All 25 pieces were eaten!

When we packed up at 3:45pm in fading light we had laid 25 metres of hedge and pruned another 25 metres to the corner of the field.  Tim Ryan (Ranger) was pleased with our work.  He said the hedgelaying season runs until the end of February and was agreeable to booking us in for workdays in January and February so that we can continue this section of hedge (or other sections in adjacent fields).

Sunday 17 November 2013

Hayfield - Sunday 17th November 2013

Although not originally planned as a joint-workday, 9 of our MNTV group ended up working with 4 Sheffield University students, 3 National Trust Rangers and various dogs:-)

We met at the Mam Tor car park (known as Mam Nick) which Shane, the lead NT Ranger, had recently been asked to manage along with a couple of other NT car parks and land nearby. The diversion on the way was a 'challenge' but fortunately we all made it.

The tasks were: to tidy up the car park edges, remove a wire fence and wooden posts that were no longer needed and to thin the tree's surrounding the car park by cutting off the side branches up to head height. This was to improve security so the parked cars could be seen from the road as well as removing some smaller tree's completely to give other, stronger trees the room to grow.

Jon removing the side branches

Shane with some of the students from Sheffield University


We had reasonable weather although it was cold and a little drizzly for some of the day but then it brightened up and it was just fabulous being out in such amazing countryside.
There was a lovely atmosphere and everyone was chatting while they worked. There were a couple of new volunteers in the MNTV group: Sue who had come along after seeing our recent recruitment advert in the Manchester Evening News and Jon, who had been recommended to try one of our workdays by a fellow college student who had been out with us recently.

We always enjoy our workdays in the Peak District and today was no exception!

Thursday 14 November 2013

Pub quiz at the Unicorn on 13th November 2013

Nine of us met up at the Unicorn in Dean Row (Wilmslow) for their weekly Wednesday pub quiz at 9pm.  The maximum team size was 25 which meant we didn't have to split in two.  The quiz was the usual multi-round format and we had questions on bank notes (the faces round), pop music, general knowledge, sport, films, geography and literature.

Sample questions:

- How many points would you score if you bowled a perfect game of ten-pin bowling?
- Which movie had the strapline "They'll never get caught.  They're on a mission from God"?
- If you headed due east from New York which country would you first arrive at?
- Who wrote Moby Dick?
- Which English actress is married to Tim Burton?

To our surprise we won, beating the twelve other teams!  That's two wins in our last three quizzes!  First prize was a £20 meal voucher or two bottles of wine.  We chose the wine (white and rose) and will take it to High Wray at the end of the month for our Christmas weekend.

Gordon was behind the lens... note the two wine bottles!

Sunday 10 November 2013

Thurstaston Common (10 Nov 2013)

Five of our volunteers made their way to the meeting point in Royden Park sharing cars from Styal.

We spent the day with two Rangers and half a volunteer from Merseyside (well one volunteer for half the day) clearing European gorse from near a drainage ditch.  If the rangers knew exactly where the ditch was they could have used a tractor with a flail, to clear the gorse but it was hidden by the vegetation so this time it had to be done by hand.

The gorse was burn on a controlled fire - which was on corrugated ion to protect the heathland flora.  The rarer western gorse was left well alone.

Once the gorse is clear the other job will be sorting out the drainage but again - that can be done with a machine once the landscape if visible...

Sunday 3 November 2013

Biddulph Grange Gardens 3 November 2013

I was unable to attend this week - thank you Tim for leading and supplying these words

Four of us met in  the car park at Stile for a lift share to Biddulph this week.

The task had changed from the advertised one of Dahia bulb digging and sorting to the more arduous ones of badger fence construction and willow stump removal. Despite a few heavy showers the day was mostly dry with some sunny patches.

We had our breaks in the charming Cheshire cottage volunteer room which is well appointed with comfy chairs and brew facilities. The passages underneath the cottages representing an Egyptian tomb had been decorated with plastic rats, skeletons and other macabre objects for Halloween and a recorded sound track of screams and the gnashing of teeth made for interesting brew time listening. 


At the end of the day we were invited to the on site cafe where we were treated to pots of tea and massive pieces of chocolate cake. All in all an interesting and productive work day
 

sorry no pictures of the day itself.
 

Sunday 27 October 2013

Snowdonia Marathon weekend - 25-27 October 2013

This year ten of us made the time-honoured trip to North Wales to help out at the 31st Marathon Eryri (Snowdonia Marathon) on Saturday 26th.  As usual we manned the Bryn Gwynant (8.5 miles) and Llyn Dinas (11 miles) drinks stations and then helped out at the finish in Llanberis.

Llyn Dinas feedstation at 11 miles
This year for the first time each runner had their name printed on their race number which meant we could encourage runners by name (ie 'Go Dai' rather than 'Come on Stockport' or 'Looking good #1234').

Back at the finish we wrapped runners in foil blankets, handed them commemorative coasters and directed them to the baggage reclaim/refreshments building.  Up until this point the weather had been mild and dry but proper marathon weather (driving rain!) arrived at 3pm and we had an hour getting wet until we were stood down.

At the finish in Llanberis
The National Trust rangers were very appreciative of our help and asked if we ever visited Snowdonia for 'normal' conservation weekends.  The offer was made of accommodation plus worktasks so perhaps in 2014 we will have a weekend (say) rhodybashing at Craflwyn.

Back at the basecamp we had a tasty supper of Lentil & vegetable cottage pie and Apple crumble & custard.  This was followed by a surprise cake for Ally, organised by Sue, to wish her well from all of us because she leaves Manchester soon for Scotland.  The jam-filled sponge was covered in icing and decorated with a montage of photos of Ally during her four years in the group.  Ally - we will all miss you and wish you the very best for your new life north of the border.  Do keep in touch!

Bye Ally, we will miss you!!
The skies cleared late Saturday evening and we had fantastic views of the Milky Way, thousands of stars and a shooting star.  In the early hours it grew stormy and was very breezy at breakfast time this morning... not that that stopped Daniel and Matt going for a four-mile run!

We were keen to get home sooner rather than later before the 'worst storm since 1987' arrives and left the basecamp at noon, chasing rainbows across the moors all the way to Denbigh.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Clearing and burning brash at Styal 20 Oct 2013

the weir at Styal with brash piles in the foreground
The new fish ladder is in at Styal and expected to be opened next week; the hydroelectric plant is coming along. The MNTV group helped clear the ground for these projects and this Sunday we were helping to clear the area for what will be the path for public access to the site. The fish ladder is expected to be a particular attraction it will be possible to watch the fish making their way up the ladder through a series of pools. Several large fish provided evidence that the ladder will certainly be used, as they tried unsuccessfully to leap the weir throughout the day.
4 volunteers behind the first fire with hydro part built in background
Ten regulars turned out, all stalwarts of the group. Our task was to cut and burn brash from trees that had been felled. We were working in a very narrow area, muddy after the downpour the night before and with a steep slide down to the river for anyone who got too close to the edge.
Part through day with second fire lit
Add to this a ranger who was felling and winching trees on the bank and it was clear there was good reason for extra caution and high-visibilty jackets. The day ended with us all muddy; but no-one took an unplanned swim in the Bollin. It turned out to be a pleasant, sunny day despite the forecasts, with the rain holding off until we had all left for home.
leaving the nearly clear site at the end of the day
We cleared a lot, only being prevented from doing more by frequent halts when we all retreated to a safe distance while the ranger was winching up the felled trees.

Sunday 13 October 2013

Hare Hill (Recent Enquirers Day 1)- Sunday 13th Oct 2013

Although it was a grey and miserable day, our group of 10 plus Julia the Hare Hill Ranger, spent a busy day cutting back rhododendron ponticum, burning what we could and assisting Julia winch out the roots of some of the largest shrubs.

Some of our group had joined us after seeing our advertisement in the Manchester Evening News and local Free papers to recruit new members. Others were contacted by email as they had previously made enquiries about our Group but hadn't actually been out with us.

After we all met in the Hare Hill car park, we walked into the garden to be shown where we were working for the day. The weather at this point was okay as we got a fire going and started lopping and bow-sawing the rhody and dragging it to the fire.

By the time we were stopping for 11's, it was raining so we sheltered in the visitors room while we chatted and ate the cakes that Sue had made!
Some of the group who had never been to Hare Hill before were shown where the bird hide was and the walled garden, before resuming cutting the rhody.

The rain was much lighter by lunchtime so we ate near the fire under the shelter of the tree's. After lunch the winching of rhody roots was started while the rest of us continued cutting the rhody and Gabor loaded it onto the fire.


A good, but slightly damp, day was had by all and a job well done!  :-)

Thanks to Gabor for the photo's.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Helsby Hill - 6th October 2013

Four of us travelled down the M56 today for a rare workday at Helsby Hill, a dramatic sandstone escarpment near Frodsham. We would have been seven but for three overnight dropouts. Today was a joint workday with Chester NTV's 'Sunday' group and the ten of us including ranger Dave Morris spent the day cutting back regenerated growth (oak/birch) throughout woodland above the cliff edge and in the summit heathland. Herbicide was sprayed on the open cuts to ensure no regrowth.

View to Welsh border and Stanlow refinery
We were blessed with beautiful autumn weather all day and over elevenses of coffee and gingerbread and throughout lunch enjoyed the fantastic views from the worksite across to the Wirral and Liverpool. The vista from the hilltop itself was even better and in addition we could see Beeston and Peckforton Castles and the Welsh border hills.

Helsby Hill summit
Chester will be planning their January-June 2014 programme in the next few weeks and once we know their Sunday schedule we will arrange more joint workdays next year.

Sunday 29 September 2013

Styal Wood Fair - Sunday 29 September 2013

No workday today, instead we set up our stall in Meadow Mill behind Quarry Bank Mill on day two of the annual Wood Fair.  Twelve of us took turns throughout the day manning the stall and talking to passers-by about what MNTV did, where we did it, how old you had to be to volunteer with us, etc etc.

Beneath Sue's gazebo we covered a trestle table with photo albums and put up display boards to one side.  The photos on the boards were from the earliest days of the group (1990s) but the work they showed is timeless (rhody bashing, footpath work, fencing, pond dredging...).


By the time we packed up at 16:00 we had given out about 40 of our new-look leaflets and hopefully some of those who took them will enquire further about us.  Perhaps one or two will come on the "Recent Enquirers Days" in October?!

The weather was beautiful all day with lots of warm sunshine and after lunch there were lots of people in the Meadow.  At one point Simon Hiley (Styal Lead Ranger) said they were ten minutes away from closing the gates to stop people coming in.  There were several other stalls for the public to visit (wood turning, craft stalls, 'old' tools, Cheshire Search & Rescue) and some things to have a go at (archery, wood chopping).  The Apple Day events were up by the Apprentice House with apple tasting, apple pressing and an appearance by the Manchester Organic Growers.

Thanks to Matt for organising the day.

Sunday 22 September 2013

Alderly Edge Heathland restoration 22 September 2013

Five volunteers turned out and spent the day on a heathland restoration project - removing brramble and unwanted saplings from a grazing paddock - to increase the proportions of "desirable" species such as heather and billberry. Slow heavy work - we recon over the two weeks we may have covered an area similar to a tennis court.  - photo of three vounteers admiring/ discussing the cleared area and the pile!

Sunday 15 September 2013

Bickerton Hill workday on Sunday 15th September 2013 - cancelled

Unfortunately today's workday had to be cancelled due to predicted heavy rain and high winds:-(
We were due to repair fence posts.

Saturday 14 September 2013

MNTV trip to Nether Alderley Mill - Saturday 14 September 2013

Five members of the MNTV group attended our September social where we visited Nether Alderley Mill, which has recently re-opened to the public following restoration by the National Trust in 2012. We had an interesting guided tour around the mill where a couple of NT volunteers showed us the intricate workings of the machinery, together with some of its freshly milled flour. We also learnt a little about the lives of some of the previous millers over its long history, and some of them had literally left their mark in Victorian graffiti! As we were only a stones-throw away from the Wizard cafe, it would have been rude not to pop in for coffee and a cake afterwards, so all in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Sunday 8 September 2013

No work -so walked instead 8 Sept 2013

Thanks to Matt for text and photos
After failing to sort out a workday for today, four MNTV members met up at Alderley for a leisurely ramble around the woods and fields, passing many former worksites along the way.

After viewing the hedge we laid by the car park over the last two years, we passed Edge House Farm, which is being done up slowly, but in fine style.


We then headed over to Clock House Wood, detouring slightly to inspect the path we worked on last year, which was holding up very well, including a lovely drainage ditch at the bottom which I remember the volunteers  guys down there working very hard on.

As we walked through the grounds of Hare Hill, we saw some rabbit guards that had come away from some saplings (Tim suspected deer activity due to the chewing of the plants). So Marita hopped over to replace the guards, while Sarah helpfully stood at a safe distance, pointing out which ones needed doing. Even on a day off, we can't resist doing a bit of work.

Still at Hare Hill, we visited the tree that we planted in memory of our former member Jonathan Prance, which was doing very well. After heading across the Macclesfield Road, one member,  who recently moved house, took the direct route back to get home to do some gardening and inspect her filing system.

The three of us that remained followed the path to Bradford Lane, lined by some very expensive homes, before returning via some more hedge that we laid a few years ago.

There was just time to take in the view from the edge (the very edge in Tim's case!) of Castle Rock, and pop into a dark cave, on the way back to the car park.


It was warm and sunny, and a very nice way to spend a few hours, although we're glad we'll be back to conventional workdays in the forthcoming weeks.

Sunday 1 September 2013

Heathland Restoration - Alderly Edge 1 Sept 2013

Five volunteers turned out and spent the day on an ongoing project restore and extend an area of remaining lowland heath situated within "Rhodi" wood.

When we decided to stop there was a suprisingly large pile of dug out brambles - unfortunately there is plenty left for other volunteers or dates.

Monday 26 August 2013

High Wray in The Lake District - Bank holiday weekend (24th-26th August 2013)


Sunshine and a good rhodybash make the perfect weekend

Starring: Sue , Neil, Hazel, Ally, Tim, Gordon, Matt, Karin, Jamie the Ranger & guest appearance of Charlie

Eight of us travelled to High Wray Basecamp for the Bank Holiday Weekend to work with  National Trust Ranger, Jamie, who is also the high Wray Basecamp warden.
On Saturday morning Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel arrived at the Basecamp where we were met by Jamie.
On the way up the M6 the weather had not looked good but by the time Jamie met us it was turning into a lovely day. We emptied our cars of our gubbins and made ourselves at home,. At about 1pm Charlie popped in for a visit in time for us to eat our packed lunches. Charlie hadn't brought any so Neil insisted she have half of his ham sandwich and half his scone.
At 2pm Tim and Gordon arrived and again made themselves at home. The plan was to go for a walk in the afternoon but it was just so nice at the Basecamp that most of us just relaxed, chatted and watched the birds on the feeders that Jamie had filled up earlier in the day while Hazel and Gordon went for a walk. Charlie left at 4pm.
As Dinner was being prepared, Matt and Karin arrived having been for a long walk in the Langdales.
That evening we dined on Shepherds Pie and Apple Crumble & Custard and spent the evening doing the Bank Holiday Quiz in the Daily Telegraph that Karin had bought; Matt was particularly good on the sports section. There was a beautiful Sunset that night.
Sunday Morning dawned dry and bright, breakfast was eaten and Jamie arrived at 9am and helped himself to a cup of tea.
The task for the day was rhody clearance at Harrow Slack a densely wooded the area surrounding Pate Crag which is on the West Side of Lake Windermere near Far Sawrey. We travelled there in 3 vehicles and parked up at the shore of the lake. We took the tools that Jamie had provided up the hill to the crag. Some of us wished we hadn’t bought all those layers we always take with us on workdays!
We started sawing and lopping rhody and decided it was probably sensible to burn some of what we were cutting, the plan had been just to cut it and another group was going to come in and burn it after we had finished. The 9 of us cleared a fair amount of rhody and enjoyed chats with other members of the party. There were many trees on the hillside and we set up camp underneath a Yew tree where we ate lunch and kept our bags.
some of the rhody that we cut and burnt!

We headed back down the hill at 3.15pm having cleared more rhody than expected. It had again turned out to be a fabulous day and had seemed a shame for us to have been in the wood all day - but that’s sometimes the nature of volunteering. On reaching the bottom of the hill and henceforth the lake, some of us decided to take a paddle in the lake, it was very refreshing after having had heavy boots on for most of the day. It was at this point we said goodbye to Karin who was heading back home to get ready to travel to Belfast to run a nearly cancelled NT working holiday at Strangford Lough.
The rest got back in our cars and the “Lads” – Tim, Gordon and Matt – took things at “Lads” speed in Tims car. Hazel, Ally, Sue and Neil travelled with Jamie in his National Trust vehicle at a more leisurely speed and also stopped in a National Trust car park so Jamie could check the car windows to see if all the cars had paid to park there, which they had. On arrival back at Base the “Lads” proclaimed they were off down to High Wray Bay to go swimming in Lake Windermere. So the Ladies and Neil chatted to Jamie and had a cup of tea.
After a nice hot shower, we dined on Farfelle with Pancetta and spring peas with Charlie’s Chocolate Bread and Butter pudding for afters.
Monday morning again heralded another beauty of a day. After breakfast we cleaned up the basecamp and Matt headed for the hills while Gordon and Tim headed for home!
Sue, Neil, Ally and Hazel went to visit Wray Castle – it was brilliant – the castle itself is unfurnished and has had several different uses, including being a Conference Centre, which is why, round just about every door that Sue insisted on opening , there was an en-suite bathroom.
As the rooms aren’t furnished, they have been filled with activities mainly to keep the visiting children entertained, there’s a dressing up room, Beatrix Potter Room, build your own castle, decorate your own paper crown, Lake District Room managed by the Rangers of the Lakes, the old library where you can draw your own book on the wall that looks like a bookshelf. Having had a tour round the castle and explored it more we headed into the hot sun to eat our packed lunches. After lunch we explored part of the grounds and discovered many paths that we could have explored if we had more time. As we didn’t have the time, we headed along the path to the lake, where there were many people enjoying the lake and stony beach.
The four of us had an ice-cream before heading home (Ally took the photo which is why she isn't on it!)
Thanks to Jamie for fitting us in and finding some work for us to do – see you in December!
and thanks to Ally for the text and photo's

Sunday 18 August 2013

Drains, and Heathland restoration at Alderley Edge 18 Aug 2013

I enjoyed a muddy day at Alderley Edge - thanks to Tim for leading on the day and for bulk of this report. I had two cameras with me - both with flat batteries! 


Six of us met up in the car park at Alderley Edge and were led to a site where work had been recently done by the Chester volunteers.   Our task, working with a local volunteer, was to clear and extend an open land drain stretching some three hundred feet from a series of drainage ponds to the main road. The drain its self was a ditch some two feet across and three and a half feet in depth. The Chester group had cleared about two thirds of the trench, and by the end of the day we had cleared the rest and managed to excavate a further twenty feet running parallel to the road. During the morning two volunteers investigated drainage pipes discharging into one of the ponds from the direction of the car park. The first was 32 m long and appears to take surface water from the car park - the second 10 m and was redundant.

In the afternoon the majority of the volunteers went across the road to a site where the lowland heath is being restored.  Globally lowland heath is a very rare habitat found mainly in Britain and Scandinavia. We started to remove the bramble an small birch saplings, a task that the group will be returning to soon. 

Although the main task was extremely muddy most people kept reasonably clean and I for one was very satisfied with the work we did. 

One of the ponds that the water drains into looked a bit peculiar to me with very steep sides, and as mining was prolific in the area I suspected it may have been connected to that enterprise. Fortunately I have a friend who is part of a group who are exploring and excavating the mine systems on the Edge. He thinks this pit could be a caped shaft leading to a part of the system that is troubled by flooding and is going to explore the possibility further with the hope of rectifying the situation and adding the knowledge to the charts mapping the mine workings of the area.

Sunday 11 August 2013

Himalayan Balsam - Speke Hall 11 August 2013

Eight volunteers shared 3 cars for the journey from Manchester / Styal to Speke and a ninth met us there.

We spent the day pulling balsam from around a pond / lake a little outside  the formal grounds of the hall.

The camera batteries died on me - so I've only got a fuzzy photo of a pile of pulled balsam!

Saturday 10 August 2013

Walk around the Roman Lakes at Marple - Sat 10th August 2013

It was a small turnout, just Sue and Ally, but we had a lovely walk from the Royal Oak at Mellor, setting off at 10.30am, along the edge of the Linnet Clough Scout camp and across the Mellor and Townscliffe golf course before dropping down to the path leading to the Roman Lakes. We stopped in the café here for lunch after walking around the lakes admiring the wildlife which consisted of many families of ducks, coots and geese as well as a rabbit and a peacock.

The weather was kind to us, a little cool at times but dry for the entire walk.
It was a shame that more people didn't join us but I think the fact that it was during the holiday season meant that some people were away.

Sunday 4 August 2013

Quarry Bank Mill gardens - Sunday 4th Aug 2013

Three of us helped the new Head Gardener, Sarah Witts, remove weeds and brambles from a section of the garden at Quarry Bank Mill.

The weather turned out to be great for us as we were happed to be inside the NT staff room on both occasions when it rained - once we were having our morning break then, the second time, our lunch - how lucky was that?!

We were working by the path in the garden and were able to chat to lots of visitors who were walking past. Many commented on what a good job we were doing, which spurred us on. However there is still plenty more to do when we visit in the future.

Sunday 28 July 2013

Gully Blocking ("Hayfield") - Kinder Scout 28 July 2013

Eight volunteers met up at Hayfield and spent the day working on he Kinder plateau blocking gullies.

Sunday 21 July 2013

Balsam pulling at Dunham Massey on 21 July 2013

Eight of us (five regulars and three new faces) went to Dunham today for a day of Himalayan balsam pulling.  This invasive species, like rhododendrons, out-competes all others and must be eradicated to maintain a diversity of flora.  Eradication is by uprooting the plant and snapping the stem in two just above the root ball.  We cleared a swath 10-20 metres wide either side of the footpath linking Dunham Forest Golf Club to the road by the lodge at the end of Charcoal Drive.  Colin, the ranger who set us going on the task, explained that clearing the balsam from around the path should stop people inadvertently carrying the seeds into the deer park on the soles of their shoes.


The weather was pleasantly cool throughout the day after the heat of the last three weeks and none of us suffered sunburn or heat exhaustion - but we did all get nettle stings!

We walked to the worksite from the main car park near the house and on the way there passed the Old Stumpy chainsaw carving (which I remember seeing being carved on a workday several years ago).

Old Stumpy

Sunday 14 July 2013

Weeding and feeding at Biddulph Grange gardens 14 July 2013

Four volunteers travelled to Biddulph Grange gardens and were once again made to feel very welcome by the gardeners.   We spent the morning working in a shaded part of the pinetum weeding a bank that had some "rockery" like areas in it - photo hasn't come out.

In the afternoon we were asked to help feed various groups of bedding plants - every Dahlia in the Dahlia walk was fed individually by a team including our volunteers using watering cans which had been dosed with a much advertised brand of "soluble plant food".  We then repeated the process a parterre, geraniums in the Chinese gardens, a set of Red, Orange and Yellow flowers (whose variety I have forgotten!) at the house end of the Lyme avenue.
feeding the Dahlias individually

Many people asked why we were watering in the heat of the day - the answer of course is that the main watering IS done early in the morning before the garden opens - however the feeding is done when volunteers are available to help.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Pub quiz at The Plough in Heaton Moor - 8th July 2013

Last night we had our July social and went to The Plough in Heaton Moor for their weekly pub quiz.  We’d triumphed back in April and were keen to see if that was/wasn't a fluke!

Seven of us were there (Daniel, Megan, Ally, Phil, Sue, Andy, Lyn).  Sue gallantly sat out the quiz because teams had to be of six or less to be eligible for prizes.
 
Team MNTV
Round 1 (Faces) wasn’t easy.  We scored 28/40 (2 points per question) with Britney Spears, a very young Robbie Williams, Madonna  and Matt Goss among others to elude us.
Round 2 (Pop Music) wasn’t easy either!  We got 16/28 including 10/10 for naming all five of the UK’s winning Eurovision Song Contest acts.
Round 3 (Sport) was better (18/24) and Round 4 (Last Week) was good too (14/20).
Round 5 (General Knowledge) was best of all (20/24).
At the end we didn’t think we’d done particularly well and definitely not well enough to win.  We ended up with  96 points - creditworthy but some way behind the team whose answersheet we marked (106) and the winners (an excellent 118).

Here is a sample of questions from Rounds 2-4:

Who was the lead singer of Hot Chocolate?
Which country’s King Albert II abdicated recently?
Ingrid Kristiansen held world records at which three distances?
Who was the British Prime Minister at the outbreak of World War Two?

At the halfway stage we spent part of our £25 April winnings on a round of drinks.

Thanks to Sue and Phil for organising the evening.

Sunday 7 July 2013

A select day at Styal 7 July 2013

I was unable to get to Styal this week - which left a select few to get on with the work - so thanks to Adrian for this brief report -


As it was only the two volunteers from our group it was decided to scrap balsam bashing and work in the wood yard making firewood to be sold at a later date. 
 
We were using Styal's new tractor borne hydraulic log splitter and tractor borne circular saw, both serious pieces of kit and a joy to work with. 
 
At the end of the day 3 of us had reduced a large pile of logs and branches to small billets which filled 4 of the large white bags. A lot of work for such a small number.
 

Sunday 30 June 2013

Hayfield - 30th June 2013

After a cold and damp week, the weather forecast promised a nice dry day at Hayfield on Sunday. Phone calls and emails from willing volunteers came in right up to the last minute and by Sunday morning we had a baker's dozen assembled at Sett Valley car park ready to take on the bracken on the western slopes of Kinder Reservoir. The Trust are trying to regenerate an area of mixed woodland above the start of the bridleway that leads you towards William Clough and Kinder Scout. Our task was to clear the bracken from around young saplings to allow light to them and stop them from being suffocated.


The large group made light work of the hillside and by late morning we had completed the task!  Not to be defeated, Myles (the ranger) had other tasks up his sleeves: he set us about sweeping the hillside for spare tree guards (imagine a disorganised police line searching the hillside for evidence and you'll get the gist); got us to erect two new Bridleway sign posts and sent us into the more established woodland to do some further bracken control.
 
Apart from nearly loosing a fleece and a small dog amid the bracken, we had a very successful and enjoyable day. I just hope my loud sneezing (hayfever), the tiny insect bites and sunburn (I saw a few red faces!) haven't put anyone off returning to this beautiful worksite for another bash later in July!
Sarah 
Note from Sue: many thanks Sarah for swapping and leading this workday for me - it sounds like you had a great day!

Sunday 23 June 2013

Crassula helmsii take 2 - Dunham Massey 23 June 2013

We had a gap in the program labeled "to be confirmed".....

At fairly short notice this became a trip back to Dunham Massey to get on with the attempt to kill the Crassula helmsii in one pond by excluding light with black plastic.

The first task turned out to be helping to take down two "marquees" in the garden which had been used for a wedding and other events - as they are not designed to stand in high winds.  We then moved onto the pond.

The roll of plastic still looked quite large - but in actual fact it is a large pond with a lot of Crassula....

Our four volunteers donned waders, and used all the plastic that was left from last time to cover a section of floating Crassula mat that was showing beyond the first sheet that was put in place during our last trip to Dunham Massey.  Without more sheeting it did not make sense to disturb the rest of the crassula - so we packed up and went back to the carpark.

Before leaving we had a short session check the land between the carpark and the wall for Himalayan Balsam - this used to be a major problem and we have done many work days in this area.  The original strategy was to pull the plants but wasn't working then many of the smaller trees were removed which allowed machines to be used to eliminate the balsam problem.  This second strategy has succeeded as we found very few plants - which were easily dealt with.

I assume one day we will be back in the pond with even more plastic as so far we have only covered a small fraction of the invasive water plant, and it needs to be left in the dark for between 6 months and a year.

Sunday 16 June 2013

Formby 16th June 2013

Four of us travelled to Formby on a slightly cloudy day and met with Kate the Ranger and Robbie, another volunteer, at the Countryside Office to get the details of our task for the day. We had a choice of 'planting' dead Christmas trees at the side of the dunes to help prevent sand erosion or Balsam bashing. We opted to start with the former and see how we'd got on by lunchtime as to whether we'd Balsam bash in the afternoon.

While driving to the NT car park, Sue mentioned that she'd love to see a red squirrel during the day to which Adrian replied "I've just seen one running along that garden fence!". Sue was gutted that she'd not seen it.

Once we got to the dunes, we started planting the dead Christmas trees. It was glorious sunshine and we found it much easier than expected and very satisfying.
At lunchtime, we went down onto the beach and ate our sandwiches there - it was lovely to be able to enjoy the seaside on such a nice day. After lunch we resumed the tree planting and, as we were at the side of the walkway to the beach, lots of visitors came over to chat to us and find out who we were and what we were doing.
By the end of the afternoon, we'd made a big difference and had planted tree's at the end of paths that had formed from the dunes, where the sand was being away, as a line by the side of the fence.
Kate, the Ranger, told us that the dunes are moving about 4 metres a year and, although they do not want to stop the sand going into the sea and travelling up the coast, they do want to prevent the sand being blown off the dunes and into the car park and onto the path to the beach, as the dunes are part of Formby's natural sea defences and are needed there.
 
We had such a good day, getting a tan as well as enjoying the work and, when we stopped near the kiosk on the way out, Sue saw a red squirrel in a tree:-)  The day couldn't have been any more perfect!
 
 

Sunday 9 June 2013

Dunham Massey 9 June 2013

A wet, muddy, but pleasantly sunny and hot day was spent by seven Manchester volunteers, plus three from the Merseyside group. We were in the lowest of the ponds in the park to prepare it for an experimental attempt to control an invasive pond weed - Crassula helmsii. This semi-aquatic plant can (and does) grow to cover ponds and starve other waterlife of oxygen. You can find more information about it here: http://cabiinvasives.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/getting-swamped-australian-swamp-stonecrop-crassula-helmsii-in-the-uk/

In the pond at Dunham, the rangers wanted to try covering the the crassula with plastic sheeting in the same way you might kill off weeds in your garden. In order to do this as effectively as possible, we were there to remove the iris growing through the crassula so the polythene sheets could be flat on the surface to cut out the light. The iris will happily grow back again - we are usually removing excess from the ponds at Dunham once a year anyway.
Supervised by ranger John Mann, most of the group were in the pond in waders, pulling up the iris, with a couple on the bank dragging and piling it up. It was going to stay there to drain for a day or so.
This will allow the various wee beasties in the iris to escape back to the pond before it is taken away for burning. At the end of the day we laid the polythene, dug it into the bank and weighted it with logs from the pond. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the experiment.



Three moorhen chicks and their mother went happily about their business in the pond while we worked and there were plenty of fish, dragonflies and damselflies. The park was full of visitors, as you might imagine on a sunny Sunday in June, quite a few small children were envious of us paddling about.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Visit to the heronry in Macclesfield forest - Tues 4th June 2013

What a beautiful evening it was:-)

Six of us met outside the Leather's Smithy pub at Langley and got our walking gear on, ready to go and see the herons.
 
Unlike previous years when Kate has taken us on this walk, we decided to visit the heronry first rather than at the end of the walk. This was because, when both Kate and Sue visited the heronry independently in the few days previously, we'd each noticed that the herons were more active earlier in the evening, so thought it best to visit them first this time.

On our way to the heronry, we passed a family of mandarin ducks swimming along the reservoir (above) and another family of ducks climbing the steps at the side of the wier (below).

Unfortunately Sue and Hazel missed this second family of ducks as they were too busy nattering to notice them!

We stopped at two different view points when we got into sight of the heronry. There were some Canadian geese around as well as a coot and a Great Crested Grebe but the highlight was seeing the herons in the trees and some youngsters in the nest (unfortunately the photo's of the chicks in the nest didn't come out - they just looked like blobs on a nest of twigs).

However we did get a fairly decent shot of a youngster in a tree (below) with a nest in the branches above him and another nest (the one where the young chicks were) over to the left of the photo.


We'd all taken binoculars (and were envious of Ian's because they were super-dooper massive!!) and were able to see the herons and chicks clearly. It was a wonderful sight:-)

Before moving off to walk through the forest and back to the pub for drinks and eats, Andy took a group photo of us (below).

I don't know about the others but, despite putting anti-mozzie spray on, they got me anyway!!!
Back at the Leather's Smithy, a couple of us had a meal whilst the rest  just had something to drink and left around 10pm.
Our thanks to Kate who led the walk on what was a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

Sunday 2 June 2013

Broadleaf weed / invasive species removal at Styal 2 June 2013

Four of our volunteers turned out and met up with the rangers at Styal.
volunteer with "lazy dog" tool removing doc
volunteer with "lazy dog" tool

Five of use spent the day removing Himalayan balsam, broad leaved dock, and ragwort from a field near the Bollin at the Alrincham Road end of the estate. We had some impact on the problem but there was a lot of dock to attack and quite a lot of it is still there. 
trampled sward and disturbed ground where docks have been removed
trampled sward and disturbed ground where docks have been removed

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Cycle ride round the Heatons - 29th May 2013

Tonight we had our May social.  Four of us met up with ten members of Stockport Community Cycling Club for a ten mile ride round the Heatons and Levenshulme.  (At the same time ten other SCCC cyclists left us and did a six mile route).  Our ride was a circular one from Heaton Chapel railway station, across the A6, past Houldsworth Golf Course, along the Manchester Cycleway into Levenshulme, through Cringle Park, along the Trans Pennine Trail and Burnage Lane to the new East Didsbury tram station, through Heaton Mersey into Heaton Moor and back past Heaton Moor Golf Club.

Gordon had cycled from work in Wythenshawe to HC station and cycled back home afterwards.  He'll have clocked up 30 miles today!  I suspect the other three of us, who don't cycle often (Daniel and Sue hadn't cycled since the MNTV bike ride round Gatley and Cheadle last August!), might be waking up tomorrow with sore legs!

Thanks to Sue and SCCC for organising the ride, to Sarah (SCCC) for leading us and to Andy and Jim Court (SCCC) for the loan of bikes.
(L to R) Gavin, Gordon, Sue, Daniel