Wholestone Moor week 3 - good in parts

Neil, Philip, Dave, Heidi, Geoff, Duncan, and Matt - Trevor and Brian in the distance, somewhere

A very cold day, and the atmosphere wasn't just meteorological. There needs to be some sort of tree society Oath that everyone takes, including promises not to criticise or correct other volunteers work, and not to argue unecessarily. Ask not what your tree society can do for you, but what you can do for your tree society. Aside from all that, we had a productive morning, in brilliant cold sunshine. Probably planted around 250 trees again, which wasn't bad going given that some were frozen solid and unplantable. Lets hope those trees thaw for next week, and that some of those frozen people skills also warm up.

Wholestone Moor - Finally we get to plant some trees!

Dan and Dave figure out which trees are which.

Officially then this is the second week at Wholestone Moor, a very large shelter belt site between farmland and the M62, but in reality this was the first week of real planting. I think we managed to plant over 200 trees, which wasn't bad going after having to transport the trees to the site, and acquaint everyone with the planting plan. Still deep snow in some places, and Trevor, who is six foot four, managed to go groin deep into a snow drift. So that gives you some idea. Cake was a luxurious bakewell tart. Other notable topic of the morning, Dan's new realtree multifunction gloves, with "trigger finger" (or nose picking) capability.

Winter madness

Philip knee deep, Neil in the background.

Well, it has begun to thaw, and we were determined to do something rather than nothing. So we went to Wholestone Moor to dig some holes. Snow was about 3 ft deep in places so it was a bit of a fools errand. Still, we got some fresh air and exercise, took some nice pictures, and had some nice cake. Cake was a lovely date and brazil nut affair, but Cath had her own date-less portion.

The Cath in the hat.

Slaithwaite Spa

Before, annoying tree in way.

After, much nicer view of Spa Mill

We are still up to our ears in snow, so we opted for some maintenance work this morning. The Society planted trees at Slaithwaite Spa some years ago, and the friends of Slaithwaite Spa had asked us to come back and trim or remove some trees that had begun to obscure the view of the valley from the benches. Its Kirklees land, so the Environment unit had been advised. Philip had his trusty chainsaw (plus safety trousers, helmet, gloves and ear protectors), and he was joined by Duncan, Guy, Heidi, Dave and myself. We had a pretty good time, though it was damned hard work because the trees in question were planted on a very steep slope. Duncan has kindly provided some great photos. There is a before and after pic after Philip took down the main offender tree, a pic of Philip at work, and a pic of me pinned under a bit of tree that I had just dragged down the slope. Oh, and we went to the Commercial afterwards for a rest and a pint.

Foolish boy

Man at work