Sunday 29 January 2017

Hedgelaying at Alderley Edge on Sunday 29th January 2017

This was our second visit of the year to this particular hedge, and having also worked on it at the end of 2016, it's now starting to feel like an old friend. The sheep in the field are also like old friends now, although we had to wait until the end of the workday to give the odd fleece a ruffle.

Andy and Neil got the fire going before Tim showed our two new members how to lay a hedge. Then the Congleton volunteer group turned up, and started work on sections of hedge further down the field.
The hedge at the start of the day
 The morning was punctuated by the sound of saws and billhooks, and the occasional waft of smoke from the fire.

At morning break another MNTV regular Louise turned up with her spaniel Baxter (she was most definitely NOT hedgelaying today, having previously endured the Arctic epic of January 3rd 2016). Shortly afterwards another MNTVer Jenny also popped by, making this the first workday I can remember two separate members calling by when they weren't actually on the workday.
Who says a tree hugger has to be a human?
 At lunchtime we reset the teeth on some of the saws, which vastly improved their effectiveness, and continued the hard work until our different sections of hedge could be joined up. We tidied up both the tools and hedge, and were greeted by the sheep at the far side of the field as Chris the ranger came to pick up the gear.
The friendliest sheep in the world
We've one more workday on the hedge this winter, at the end of February.
The hedge at the end of the day

 

Sunday 22 January 2017

Rhodybashing at Lyme Park on 22nd January 2017

Undeterred by the cold weather, eight of us spent today rhodybashing in Lantern Wood.  Daniel had wildly overestimated how long the journey from home would take him and was parked up by 9 o'clock but that did mean he saw ~100 runners set off from the lake by the restaurants on the monthly 10K Parkrun.  He thought to himself he must do that race one day!

Everyone else appeared by 9:30 and we drove in two cars and ranger Dan's 4x4 up to the stables from where we walked the 1km to the worksite.  A fire was smouldering from Thursday's work party and Neil and Andy set about getting this going again to burn the cut rhody they had left behind.  Absent any wind it took an hour+ to get decent ignition!  We were glad of the fire's warmth because throughout the morning snow and sleet flurried.  Once Thursday's cuttings were on their way to being burned we began cutting into the rhody uphill towards the Lantern.


After cake break at 11 we lit a second fire a little further uphill and spent the rest of the day stoking both fires with our cuttings.  Looking around you could see big expanses of dense tall rhody - it will take years to clear the whole wood!  At 2:30 we stopped loading both fires and let them burn down until 3:15 when, marked with red and white tape, they were left to burn out.


Daniel

Monday 16 January 2017

Hedgelaying at Alderley Edge, Sunday 15th January 2017

In recent years we’ve had some cold and wet hedgelaying days in January. Sadly this wasn’t an exception! Heeding a very poor weather forecast, most MNTVers had stayed indoors, but four of us turned up with waterproofs and a determination to get on with the job.
A friendly ovine greeting? No, they just wanted food.
We got a lift to the worksite with Dave the ranger, and were then greeted by a flock of eager sheep who thought we’d come to feed them. The hedge had been ‘broken in’ in a couple of places, with areas left standing in between. While Tim and Andy worked at the front end of the bit we were laying, Christine and I worked on the broken in section. The job is actually well suited to a small group and we made very good progress.
Getting on with it, amid unrelenting misery from the skies.

After a brief and very soggy morning break, where we started to feel the damp and the cold, we got back to business, and eventually we joined up our different sections into one length of beautifully laid hedge. There was a bit of heave-ho required with a few of the bigger trees that had been broken in and laid out to the side of the hedge, as we had to lift these up to lay other trees that were underneath them.
 
We put in some stakes, broke in the hedge further down for the next group, and by 1pm we’d done as much as some larger groups have done in a full day. So we gave ourselves a metaphorical pat on the back, called Dave to ask him to pick us up, and went off to find somewhere warm and dry.
The beautiful fruit of our labours.

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Understorey clearance in the Northern woods at Styal on Sunday 8th January 2017

Today's work was in the Northern woods at Styal and consisted of removing trees and felled brash to allow contractors access so that they can fell larch trees and create a more open aspect which is more in keeping with the Greg's original planting in the area.  We burned the waste on a splendid bonfire which gave off a great deal of heat to keep us all warm on this cold damp January day.



Adrian