More bashing of the bracken. We were: myself, Dave, Philip, Hap, John, and Geoff. Sorry, I was a bit late posting this, and can't think of a witty tune for this one. S

Go west!

Philip telling Hap where he can go.

Another Saturday morning Wessenden, bashing bracken and straightening guards. We were: myself, Philip, Dave, Hap, Tanya, Remy and Ben. There was a large amount of jam sponge cake.

https://youtu.be/LNBjMRvOB5M

An unguarded moment

 A couple of weeks ago I was at the golf club talking to groundskeeper Roy about some more planting. He asked if I could pop up there sometime and straighten some guards that had fallen over since we did our planting last season.

So today I popped up, thinking it would take me half an hour to straighten "some".

It was carnage up there, like a forest of drunken men. Some of them were where stakes had broken off at the base in high winds. But lots had manifestly not been hammered in enough. See photos.

There should be no more than a couple of inches of stake above the top tie on a tree guard, in a lot  of cases there were a couple of inches of stake in the ground, and 8 or 9 inches of wasted stake above the top tie.

Here's one I found lying on the ground.

Around 30 trees had already failed because the guards were basically lying on the ground next to the tree rather than being on it. And sheep had got at them.

Hammering in stakes is hard work, and perhaps we should invest in some weightier lump hammers, but people who do find this task a bit challenging could focus on other tasks such as planting or distributing materials.

https://youtu.be/qQvr2eF5zMM

Mansion on the hill

Before, see white house up on hill behind.

After, see same house.

I was away in Scotland, but the indomitable few were; Geoff, Dave, Remy, Ben, John, Hap and newcomer Rob.

They were at Parkwood, finishing off the back field?

Actually have a proper before and after pic of the planting, thanks to Geoff and the Facebook page.

https://youtu.be/WYj7P9I15lU

(Don't) Walk away Renee (Remy)

Back to Parkwood for yet more plastics retrieval. We were: Jess, Lee, Hap, Dave, Geoff, Steve, Remy and myself.

https://youtu.be/hWUJGPBmiLE

Pale shelter

A Thursday morning at Parkwood, removing more tree stakes and guards. Myself, Dave, Hap and Stephen.

Not my favourite tree, the birch, but these ones had beautiful, young, pale (steady...) bark when you took the tree shelters off. We spent the morning crawling around in damp shrubbery (steady again...) and it was still better than working for a living.

https://youtu.be/l_kN_DJQJ3U

Carry go bring come

Ben and Sue, with bags of swag.

Back to Pasture Wood above Marsden for yet more plastic retrieval.

We were: Sue, Ben, Tanya, Geoff, Hap, Steve, Dave and myself- with Philip making an appearance for a strategy meeting and piece of lemon drizzle cake.

https://youtu.be/ZL_XdVL5ivQ

Willow

Just myself, Dave and Hap up at Butterley on a Thursday. Gathering more plastic tubes and stakes for re-use. Hap provided a very nice pear and toffee cake. We were serenaded by Willow Warblers in the little oaks around us.

Pretty sure I have used this tune before, but it is lovely.

https://youtu.be/hV0rhsMAiKM

Cherry blossom girl

Up at Pasture wood clearing more stakes and old plastic tubes from the hillside. We were: myself, Dave, Geoff, Jess, Dianne, Ben, Adrian, Steve and Hap. Augmented by some nice Cherry rock buns and ginger biscuits.

https://youtu.be/VmHTp_OVu84

Stop the dams

Hap and Dave creating a very leaky dam.

Today Dave, Hap and I were up at Butterley, consolidating the second stash of 300+ stakes and 700+ tubes for re-use. Glorious morning, with birds, bees, butterflies, and Eccles cakes.

https://youtu.be/-rDU70YBpOA

Take that to the bank

In the background, Dave's massive stash of stakes and guards.

A very last little bit of tree planting with help from the good folk of Yorkshire Building Society lending a hand. 120 Oaks got planted.

CVTS people were; Hap, Dave, Stephen, Cath, Jess, and myself. Plus YBS people.

Jess provided a tin of varied delicious homemade cakes.

I know YBS is technically not a bank (?) but this is such a good tune.

https://youtu.be/fRF8yWSelWw

Born to lose

This morning we were high above Marsden again, removing old plastic tree guards.

We were; Geoff, myself, Hap, Steve, Stephen, Dave and Cath.

The conversation was wide-ranging, and the weather was pleasant.

It was a morning when things kept getting lost, knives, gloves.

https://youtu.be/wQoDCEKZyQw

I don't believe in the sun

Inexplicably sunny this week, after two weeks that suggested it had ceased to exist.

We had a nice time planting the final 325 trees up Crimble.

We were: myself, Jess, Dianne, Philip, Hap, Adrian, Ben, Geoff, Peter, Stephen, Dave and Cath. Also joined by owner Paul (aka Neil).


https://youtu.be/L85cillM6ME

Pretty in pink

There isn't enough room on the internet for photos of all the days of work that the weekday crew have done this Winter, but just a single mention of the heroic work they have done with the logs at the Nursery. Hats off to Stephen, Hap, Dave, and Cath.

https://youtu.be/aCrrsm0U4t0

I bought the original 12" of this, and got a free t-shirt (which was unflatteringly small).

Cloudbusting

Geoff, Peter and Jon vainly try to shelter from the horizontal rain.

Rain of biblical (hellish) quantity today, worse than last Saturday even. Clothes will be drying for days. Fools to be on a hill like Wholestone in this but needs must.

We were: Jon, Simon, Philip, Dave, Geoff, Adrian, Stephen, Tanya, Jake, myself, Peter and Cath. We were joined by Chayley, Nell and the Green Building Store crew - who sponsored today's planting.

225 Oak planted.

https://youtu.be/pllRW9wETzw

Breakdown

Up Crimble Clough this week. Weather was mixed, with a hefty dose of hefty rain and sleet thrown in.

We were: Tanya, myself, Geoff, Philip, Jon, Simon, Stephen, Steve, Ben, Cath, Dianne, and Dave. Plus four Scouts and their chaperone.

230 planted today, with 295 left to plant (plus 105 gorse).

The morning was capped off by an unfortunate car fail, that left all the other cars blocked in. We ended up pulling it out of the the way with a mass of people and two tow ropes. Range Rovers, huh.

https://youtu.be/pOwlYZ_P7Sg

Woody Woodpecker

This morning we were West of Marsden, doing some woodland management. The site was planted in several phases over 15 years ago, and we were thinning out some of the nurse species, such as Birch and Larch, leaving more light for the Oaks and Scots Pine.

We were careful to leave as little trace of our activities as possible. Piling brash away from the track, and removing all the felled timber.

We were: Stephen, Susan, Ben, Hap, Adrian, Simon, Robert, Cristina, Dave, Geoff, John, Lee and Jess.

Cake was apple flapjack, plus fruit from Hap.

Philip was representing us at a "Making the most of our moorland" public event at Marsden Mechanics.

Earlier in the week I had been on site with Guy and Susan to select the trees that could be felled. While we were there we heard lots of woodpeckers in the big Beech trees at the top of the site. I think they were probably scared off by the chainsaws on Saturday.

https://youtu.be/qXBDCEcHU6U