Harder than the rest

 

Philip and Jess

In a fit of unquestionable bloodymindedness we planted 481 hedge plants this morning. In truly atrocious weather. We were all wet cold and tired by the end, and there moments of mild temper frayedness. But also triumph! We are truly "harder than the rest".

We were; myself, Philip, Jess, Dianne, Peter, Ben, Geoff, Dan, Dave, Stephen and Matthew.

https://youtu.be/5Ro96tZ1Hr0?si=Fva9epe5AJmpjRG5

Girls on film

Dan and Philip in the weeds

First day of planting of the season, and it was a day of proper old school tree planting at Rochdale Road, above Slawit. 

We were: Dave, Geoff, Peter, Hap, Stephen, Alastair, Dan, Jess, Dianne, Tanya, Sam, Tol, and Matthew. I was there very briefly, but had a family gathering to attend.

45 eared willow, 105 downy birch, and 100 sessile oak were planted.

Geoff and his monstrous rig.

Geoff did some filming for a training video. So cue some nostalgia.

Girls on film (was going to use the original video, but it looked a bit dodgy to modern eyes)

Sunshine after the rain

No autographs!

Up to Scammonden for guard removal and retrieval.We were; Geoff (see above), Tanya, Jim, Dave, Cath, Dan, Jess, Dianne, Hap, Philip H. and myself. Hap brought cake! It rained, then the sun shone.

https://youtu.be/4y5TOVldgkQ?si=YBys6Cmmwiy1wSjy

For the record, Geoff, Cath, Jess, Dianne, Dave, Jim, Dan, Hap, Philip H. and Stephen went to Scammonden yesterday for guard clearing. We did quite a bit and finished off that top area including bringing some old guard piles off site, and some stake recovery.

The flowers of (b)romance

 

Dan, Jim and me.

High up above West Slaithwaite this morning, at Slacks, and Deep Gate. Straightening trees and collecting old guards again. We were; myself, Philip, Tanya, Dave (briefly), Geoff, Steve, Dan, Jim, Catherine, Tom, Hap, Matthew, and Paul.

https://youtu.be/jBaQOdsTAKo?si=nubSyEvXmilchXW9

 

Matthew!

I was unavailable this week, but some stalwart souls were at Butterley collecting old tree guards for re-use or disposal. These people included, Matthew, Geoff, Tanya, Dave, Philip H., Dianne, Jess, Paul and Dan.

Peace

 Second week above Marsden, no alarms and no surprises, just lots of old plastic tubes removed, and few straightened. We were; myself, Jim, Catherine, Tanya, Geoff, Paul, Hap, Philip H, Dianne, and Dan.

https://youtu.be/jZeKT0UctOQ?si=5o-JR8IknMof8B2y

Tee se itse

Up above Marsden today removing old tree guards and tidying those that still need to be on. We were; myself, Geoff, Philip H., Philip B., Jess, Dianne, Paul, Jim, Ben, Dan, and Steve. 

https://youtu.be/Bv3MG-3gjks?si=EGRhrZjY251cjSEP

Say goodbye

Why do women carry things on their heads?

Our final day at Wholestone. We were; Ben, Geoff, Dave, Hap, Dan, Jess, Dianne, Tanya, and myself. Dave brought cheese, cake and whisky.

We celebrate finishing

https://youtu.be/b5bXQl67RgE?si=ViDNcTm1CvC0ualP

Back at Wholestone for more guard removal. We were; Geoff, Steve,Dave, Jess, Dianne, Jim, Cath, Dan, Philip H., Ben, and myself.

Another Wholestone session. Details to be confirmed. Geoff, Dave, Ben, Steve, Philip H.,

Root down

 

Before

After

To Scammonden! To do some weeding of some White Rose Forest planted trees. 

We were: myself, Philip, Dave, Geoff, Hap, and Tanya.

Tunnocks tea cakes were our reward, courtesy of Tanya.

Blindin' tune for this event

https://youtu.be/HkD1EhuTPxI?si=43ZWpJ3qNLhjbNf5

Just 25 minutes of valve oscillators dancing with each other

Hap, Dave, Philip

Back to Eastergate to save more small trees from tall bracken. We were; myself, Philip, Dave, Geoff, Hap, Paul, Dan, and Tanya.

Hap brought a luxurious chocolate cake.

Lots of talk about the election, and our workload.

https://youtu.be/7vMQx3sKlv8?si=b3RIcCxXVucryld5

Candidate

 An evening at Linthwaite, weeding a previously planted hedge.

Myself, Philip, Dave, Peter, Geoff.

More cows were encountered.

Election day, so a reminder that everyone is human!

https://youtu.be/jasdnyBpyY4?si=c1RihAW4fAUV-M82

Dragonflys

Before

After all our hard work

This week we were up beyond Eastergate Marsden, knocking back bracken around National Trust planted trees.

We were: myself, Philip, Geoff, Jim and Catherine, Peter, Michael T., and Paul

Geoff and Philip saw a dragonfly!

https://youtu.be/7a-QcYE7lp8?si=TIdAH_qpu-oUA_W5

Kodachrome

Paul, Philip, Julio, Marilene.

This week we were up Wessenden doing a bit of bracken bashing and tidying. 

We were: myself, Geoff, Philip, Steve, Jim, Jess, Lauren, Dave, and Tanya.

Also joined by Marilene and Julio, taking photographs.

Cake was lemon drizzle.

https://youtu.be/8rlDTK6QI-w?si=8LuP8J3U21Bd6sYy

Diamond dogs

This morning I went and sprayed all the hedge lines we planted on Old Mount Road. I had to negotiate three of the biggest alsation dogs ever. They were all super friendly, but flippin huge.

https://youtu.be/OTIsnYPG4lU?si=MDXZhXokdzKofy9V

Cow cow boogie

Back to Meal Hill Lane for more hedge weeding.

We were; myself, Geoff, Dave, Jess, Dianne, Jim, and Peter.

A herd of brown bullocks found our work fascinating.

https://youtu.be/ic2EFW9ouyU?si=wuapYycUOOitCagK

More (hedge) than I can stand

Steve battling valiantly

 At Meal Hill Lane in Slaithwaite. Weeding a long, long, hedge.

We were; myself, Geoff, Dave, Peter, Philip B., Steve, and Philip H.

https://youtu.be/NlosJaraveU?si=On7InD2cbvz7SBba

What is this?

More Wholestone Moor guard removal on Saturday, done by: Geoff, Dave, Philip H., Dianne, Ben, Hap and Jim turned up later on. Six or more bags filled removed, one left up there.

Yet more Bobby Womack....

https://youtu.be/vUWiDOmaF90?si=IXC1gIkn3GolaY4p

Whip it

 

More guard removal at Wholestone. Geoff leading, myself, Philip H., Dave and Tanya attending.

https://youtu.be/IIEVqFB4WUo?si=WubKcymrcrPtz3VZ

Fly me to the moon

 

Up to Wholestone were Geoff, Philip H., Peter, Dave, and Jess (until the pollen got her).

https://youtu.be/H5xdGiFbiR8?si=QxL3tZLbGVkNzH3w

It's gonna rain

 

Wholestone tree guard removal. Geoff brought Jess, Ben, Peter, Dave and Philip H.

https://youtu.be/irEqgem800M?si=7vNYReG8XrmPyAVj

Title tune is inappropriate, as it was a lovely day!

Hard times

Hap working efficiently.

Today we were up Hard Hill above Marsden, fixing a fence and removing tree guards. Weather was brisk and ever changing.

We were: myself, Geoff, Dave, Hap, Peter, Michael H., Philip H., Dianne, Jim, Paul, ans Jon.

Hap provided a splendid coconut slice.

An old favourite

Dark entries

Philip with his arm down a hole. Or it could be a new yoga pose.

This morning we were up above Marsden repairing a dilapidated footpath gate and adjacent fence. We were; myself, Philip, Stephen, Peter and Dave. It was a hard mornings work, and we didn't finish til gone 1pm. But we got it done.

The (almost) finished work.

Philip's going to see a goth covers band tonight so... Ah, takes me back, lots of black eyeliner and back combed hair.

https://youtu.be/N8n6k8QcU3k?si=Cf_lsxa0Xi7ewXS7

We were up Marsden Golf club, in two groups, this week.

Philip B., Dave, Stephen and Jon were felling some trees behind Netherley drive - at the request of at least one householder, and with with the agreement of the Golf Club.

Myself, Geoff, Ben, Jim, Sophie, and Philip H. were further up the course tidying some planting that suffers from a lot of wind and sheep damage.

French disko

Me and Philip looking for a spade.

Last go round at Pule Hill, helping the National Trust

We were; myself, Philip B., Dave, Geoff, Sophie, Cath, Tanya, Hap, Ben, Peter, Jim, Paul, Dianne, and Philip H.

There was also Jess and Cat from National Trust, with about 20 of their volunteers.

450 trees got planted, in dreek, foggy weather, with snow on the ground.

Some Stereolab, just because.

Paul in foreground

Frozen warnings

Me waving, Dianne working.

Third week assisting the National Trust at Pule Hill. Cold but bright.

We were: myself, Philip B., Philip H., Elliot, Geoff, Hap, Ben, Michael H., Tanya, Cath, Jon, Tess, Jess, Dianne, Paul, Peter, and special guest, Guy.

Plus, Jess and Cat from NT, and about 15 Scouts.

Approx 350 trees planted in total.

A song for Dave (who was poorly this week)

Back to Pule Hill for our second week helping the National Trust.

We were: myself, Elliot, Hannah-May, Jess, Cath, Tanya, Geoff, Dave, Richard, Michael T., Paul, Jon, Sophie,  Matthew, Peter, and Jim.

We were helping NT folk Jess and Cat, with their own crew of a similar number of volunteers.

Together we planted 305 trees.

Ei niin kovin suuri city (Not so big city)

Geoff, embodying the Finnish quality of sisu.
(stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness)

Today we were on Pule Hill, the first of our sessions contributing to National Trusts major project of clough woodland planting.

We were: myself, Philip B., John, Tanya, Philip H., Cath, Geoff, Dave, Jim, Michael H., Richard, Dianne, and Matthew. Plus, of course Ian, Cat and Jess from National Trust, and 12 or so of their volunteers.

We planted approx 300 trees.

Great photo by Tanya.

More marvellous Finnish introspection.

Philip, Matthew and I went to the National Trust press event for the current tree planting. Philip missed being in the group photo by seconds. Nice to see Guy there, he did a speech. It was all very convivial. We even got to plant three trees.

Philip, myself, and Matthew listening to the speeches.

Puppy and a truck

This week we were in Cowlersley/Linthwaite borders. On behalf of Kirklees Council we planted 400 trees and shrubs on ground that used to be a quarry/tip. We had been supplied with biodegradable tubes, mulch mats, and wooden pegs, not stuff we had used before.

We were; myself, Hannah-May, Elliot, Stephen, Ben, Cath, Tanya, Philip B., Philip H., Dianne, Dave, Geoff, Sophie, Jim, and Peter.

You may have noticed, I have stopped trying to get tree related tunes for each week, and am now just linking to stuff I am currently listening to.

Hence, Jenny Lewis.

Stephen and Cath grapple with mulch mats

Born to sorrow and clothed in disappointment

More hedge, more understorey

Finally finished at the farm and petting zoo, the last 500 plants creating a bit more hedge and some understorey in the copse section.

We were; myself, Matthew, Geoff, Tanya, Ben, Sophie, Dave, Philip B., Stephen, Philip H., Jess, Jon, Tess, Hannah, and Elliot.

A grand day out. Despite the song/blog title

Saying goodbye to the cows.

https://youtu.be/m9QH2NnrpgQ?si=DUrx7ctX16fg51_4

Teenage wildlife

Philip takes pic of all our hard work.

 Back to High House Edge, and another 500 plants in the ground (350 hawthorn, 50 blackthorn, 25 field maple, 25 hazel, 25 crab apple and 25 dog rose).

We were: myself, Philip B., Geoff, Dave, Jim, Matthew, Ben, Jess, Dianne, Sophie, Elliot and Hannah, Jon and Tess, Stephen, and special guest Maron.

Lovely old bit of Bowie, for the kids. Play it loud.

Ruckzuck

Jim fettling the spirals.

High House Edge again. Weather was cold but fine, and a good turnout; myself, Stephen, Philip B., Philip H., Dianne, Sophie, Paul, Richard, Peter, Elliot, Jim, Michael T., Dave, Geoff, Hap, and special guest Marilene. Another 500 plants in the ground. And a very fine cake selection presented by Philip B..

https://youtu.be/tWKfo3LDI1Q?si=HiJYtEGxw5MU_lWY

High House Edge. Myself, Dave, Cath and Hap did a couple of hours sterling work laying out all the materials and doing some pre-digging.

To a new field today, up near the local scrapyard. 

We were: myself, Tanya, Philip B., Philip H., Dianne, Jess, Matthew, Geoff, Paul, Jim, Steve, Stephen, Cath, Dave, and Maron, 

We planted 350 hawthorn, 50 blackthorn, 25 dog rose, 50 field maple, 25 hazel.

Weather was bright but cool. Very satisfactory.

Everything is one big Christmas tree

Cath contemplates her Christmas tree

Myself, Cath, Geoff, Dave and Stephen spent the morning planting 75 hawthorn and 50 blackthorn. 

We also planted 7 Christmas tree that the landowner had acquired. Not our usual thing, but fun.