What we do on our holidays

Just a note to say that this week we had a meeting with Kirklee's Environment Unit, and Philip spent many hours slaving over a grant application form for next season. Hopefully they will support further planting at Scammonden, some training, ongoing woodfuel project ideas, forest garden and first aid expenditure.

Removing guards at Marsden Golf course

Typical Colne Valley spring morning, ie not very. But several hardy souls did turn out to remove guards at Marsden Golf course. Well done Ben, Neil, Julia and Duncan. The rest of us had very good excuses I am sure.

Last day of the season. Wills O' Nats

From the left, Neil, Philip, Peter, Ben, Geoff, Andrew, Heidi, Trevor, Brian (kneeling), Ann, Simon, Ramsay, Dave, Duncan.Photo by Diane.

A nice end to the season, a morning spent planting 300 trees on the side of Meltham Cop hill behind the Wills O' Nats pub. We were joined by 3 ladies from Slaithwaite Women's Institute, one Linthwaite Scout (James) and Ramsay Bloom. Also, our sponsors for this site Northern Green Networks came along to present us with a trophy and take our picture. Thanks to Brian for organising it all, and Margaret for providing us with bacon sandwiches at the start.

Before we left the site we held a minutes silence for The Society's President, Wilf Proctor, who sadly passed away this week. Wilf joined the Society in 1965, and still regularly came to meetings. He was a lovely man and will be missed.

To Netherwood with Slaithwaite Band!

Back to Netherwood farm this week, with special guests, members of Slaithwaite Band. We planted 105 Ash and Cherry in the field at the bottom of the clough, and 30 Birch by the track. Plus another 60 Oak and Rowan up in the fields behind the farmhouse. Tree Society regulars were myself, Ann, Heidi, Duncan, Trevor, Peter, Diane, Andrew, and newbie Peter, and two Scouts. Slaithwaite band members were too numerous to mention, but they all worked jolly hard. And all got a badge. Cake was ginger.

Netherwood beat-up

The happy workers relax.

After several weeks of hectic planting with large-ish groups, today was a pleasant potter around an obscure field. We planted 120 Sitka Spruce, Larch and Rowan in a field high above Marsden, and will be back there next week to plant another 200 trees with Slaithwaite Band. Our team today comprised myself, Ann, Philip, Andrew, Heidi, Geoff and Guy. A select but capable few. The sun shone, we ate fruit cake, and we gazed down on the valley and discussed the progress of the various planting sites we in the distance. All very convivial.

Monday morning finishing off

Too nice a morning to stay indoors, so went up to the Marsden site again and finished the staking and guarding. And put in another half a dozen trees where holes had already been dug. Beautiful up there. Good to see the owners have proudly displayed our Tree Society waymarkers.

Pure pleasure planting

Duncan in the foreground, desolate moorland behind (needs more trees that).

It was agreed that this was the most pleasant morning's work in a while. We planted just over 200 trees in a small field just off the A62 way out west of Marsden. It didn't rain. And our convivial hosts provided us with tea and soup afterwards. Pure pleasure, and something of a relief after several rainy and stressful weeks. We were helped by a pair of Scouts, and Rose from Longwood Scouts - and I will stay in touch and hope to involve them in more work. Tree Society regulars were, myself, Ann, Philip, Neil, Julia, Ben, Andrew, Cath, Duncan and Dave. And we also had help from our hosts Tracy and family and dogs. Cake was carrot.

And I need to nip back there sometime and finish planting another 25 or so trees, as I had miscounted stakes/guards/trees.

Lindley Infants Owls rule!

Tilly looking a bit wet, and lots of Lindley Owls and mums and dads in the background.

We were joined today by Lindley Infants Owls, led by Mrs Shires. They bravely turned out on a not very nice Saturday morning, and helped us plant almost 500 trees. Again we were at Scammonden, planting, Oak, Ash, Hazel and some Rowan. We were also visited by Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney, who lent a hand, made a cash contribution, and gave us some suggestions of local Companies we could approach for more support. Tree Society folk attending were, Guy, Philip, Dave, Ben, Neil, Geoff, Andrew, Ann and Tilly. Tilly helped me hand out badges and leaflets to the children. Ann handed out home made oat biscuits to all. Considering the drizzly damp weather we had a good productive morning. I just hope everyone got home, got dry, and warmed up afterwards. I recovered by having three pints of Linfit Bitter in the Sair, so I wasn't very effective for the rest of the day, quite relaxed though.

Scammonden and Golcar Scouts

Golcar Scouts planting an Ash tree

Back to Scammonden today and we planted over 300 more Ash. We were assisted by a brilliant turnout of 19 Golcar Scouts, who were excellent workers! Weather was mixed, but the sun shone some of the time. Cake was a splendid coconut crunch. Regular tree society folk included myself, Philip, Neil, Geoff, Dave, Brian, Roger, Trevor, Ann, and new recruit Andrew (well we hope he is a new recruit, we tried not to scare him off).

We who also work on Thursdays

Trevor and Brian finishing off an ailing Birch

I was recruited by the Senior section this morning, and went round to various sites with Brian, Trevor and Peter to "beat-up" (which means plant extra trees) and to cut down a couple of dead Birches.

What we did on our half term holiday.

No tree planting today. A bit of snow, and the fact that a number of us were on half term breaks meant that we called it off. Myself, mother, Dan and Geoff did turn up, plus a couple of bright and enthusiastic Scouts. But we decided that the roads to Scammonden would be unpassable. We spent an hour sorting out reclaimed stakes and guards which Brian and crew had retrieved from Bolster Moor. We can use these in a couple of weeks time at Marsden. So that saves us some money and means the morning wasn't a total wash-out. Thanks Brian and crew for their recycling work, and to those intrepid few who did turn out this morning.

Access improvements at Fieldhouse

There is now a new gate, and levelled access, to Fieldhouse.

Scammonden. Herons in the trees!

Philip leans on his mattock and admires the winter sky.

Quite a nice morning, cloudy then sunny. Back at Scammonden attempting to plant Rowan high on the hillside above the reservoir. We managed 118 Rowan, which is not bad given the heavy digging and effort of dragging everything up the hill. Brian and crew managed a similar number down the bottom of the slope. While having coffee and cake we could see a number of herons roosting in the trees on the opposite side of the reservoir. I had not seen herons in such a big group before, and not seen them in trees. After the planting, off to the Sair for the mid season meeting.

Cath, Heidi and Neil hard at work. Previous
planting visible bottom right.

Finishing at the rifle range, not with bang but a whimper.

Rifle range sign cheekily augmented with CVTS waymarker

Second week at Lydgate, finishing off. We planted a further 140 trees, taking our total for this site to around 320 - Larch, Rowan, Hawthorn, Scots Pine, Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock. A classic tree society damp and cloudy morning, but enlivened by lovely bakewell tart at break time. We were, myself, Ann, Ben, Philip, Geoff, Neil, Dave, Duncan, Cath, Guy, and Josh the Explorer Scout. The shooting club is a very large patch of land, and depending on how this season's trees fare then we may well look to come back here and plant more over the coming years.

Lydgate - sunshine and heavy digging

All the crew, Philip waving in the distance.

Lovely morning up on the moors above Marsden. We have 300 trees to plant on the edge of the shooting club's land. We managed to plant 185 of them, as we were digging through very tough grass and heather. We were, Philip, Brian, Duncan, Cath, Heidi, myself, Neil, and Jack and Josh the Explorer Scouts. And the cake was a very very fruity fruit cake. We will be back there again next week, fingers crossed for more sunshine.

Scammonden Reservoir

First week of what will be a long term project for us, planting up some fields on the edge of the Reservoir. It is our contribution to a wider project developing the site for public access, benefit and enjoyment. So we started by planting 300 Ash trees and some Hawthorn and Rowan along the edge. Good turnout, with myself, Cath, Philip, Neil, Dave, Duncan, Diane, my mum, Brian, Trevor, Peter, Guy, and two guests, Jack and Josh the Explorer Scouts. We will be back at this site over the next few weeks, planting considerably more trees. This week's cake was chocolate.

Hats off to Dave!

Just a note to acknowledge all the hard work that Dave has done at the Nursery in the last few weeks. The work area, paths, and drainage all look brilliant. Dave, we salute you.

Butterley Reservoir- more trees and a lot of gorse.

Cath, Ben and Heidi enjoy cake despite rain

2nd Week at Butterley Reservoir this year. Horrible, horrible weather, windy and rainy, our least favourite. Not cold though. We finished planting Emma and John's patch with 20 Holly. Planted 50 more trees in a clough for Blue Ginger. And then planted over 200 Gorse in several clumps. Planting the gorse meant clearing patches of Molinia grass and then putting the Gorse in at 1ft spacing. It did stop raining right at the end, which was nice. Cake was banana and walnut, and was universally acclaimed. And we all had a nice time, considering!

Cath, Philip, Geoff and Neil planting gorse above the reservoir.

Butterley Reservoir

Geoff's photo of the crew in winter sunlight - he's a much better photographer than me, as you can see.

 

A murky kind of morning, but not too bad. Myself, Cath, Neil, Philip and Geoff set off.  We were joined by Emma and John who had made a donation for an area of planting. It is a stiff walk round to the far side of the Reservoir, so some of the less agile volunteers weren't with us today. First we planted 55 trees in a small clough above Butterley Clough. These trees were sponsored by local company Blue Ginger. Then we moved round the hill a bit and planted 75 trees with Emma and John, in a spot that they can see from their house down in Marsden. We need to go back next week to finish that off, and to plant a further 50 trees for Blue Ginger. And also to put in 300 gorse plants. Today's cake was the ever popular lemon drizzle.

 

Philip, Cath and Neil with Butterley behind. No other caption required.

Hard at work on Sunday

Tree Society is not just for Saturdays you know. Two of us were hard at work this fine Sunday morning. I was carrying stakes and guards up to Butterley Reservoir, and Dave was working on the paths and drainage at the nursery. Just one way of burning off those mince pies.

Fieldhouse finished, more or less

I remember this when it was all field...

As a hangover-buster we agreed to meet and plant on New Years day. Very brave, some braver than others.
We finished planting all the trees for Fieldhouse, 2000 in total now planted. We still need to waymark the permissive paths, arrange the access improvements, and possibly add a handful of fruit trees.

At breaktime we had freshly made scones with butter and damson jam. And Heidi had brought a fine fizzy wine.

 

Philip, Heidi, fizzy wine, Lisa, Geoff, my hand.

Winter woodland management

A cold and foggy December morning and myself, Dave, Philip and his chainsaw were doing woodland management at Throstle Green Farm. The landowner had asked that some of the Alder we planted 8 years ago be taken down, to preserve his view of the valley. We agreed, so long as we could take timber away as part of our nascent community wood fuel project. Funny thing to do with your Sunday morning, but it was actually really quite nice up there. Quiet (when the chainsaw wasn't going) and peaceful. Hard work mind.

Season's greetings from the CVTS

The fruit vodka gets passed round.

Our fifth week at Fieldhouse, and another 400 trees planted. Quite snowy and flippin' cold, but a healthy turnout nonetheless. Myself, mother, Philip, Geoff, Aaron, Cath, Neil, Ben, Heidi, Lisa, Lisa's Dad, Dave, and Duncan. And Guy dropped by for a chat. One more day at Fieldhouse and the planting should be finished. New Years's day anyone? Homemade chocolate biscuits at breaktime, and Dave brought fruit vodka. Followed by a pint in the Swan afterwards.

Happy holiday's everyone!

 

The motley crew: Geoff, Aaron, Cath, Heidi, Lisa, Philip, Me, Ben, Neil, Dave and Duncan

 

540 more trees planted at Fieldhouse!!

Tilly experimented with the panorama setting on the cameraphone. In the photo, Dave, Heidi
Dan, Diane, 3 Scouts, me, and then me again. Freaky.

Crikey, at this rate we may even finish this site one day. Really nice morning. Sunny and quite mild. All the snow had gone. Good turnout, with me, my mum, Tilly, Heidi, Geoff, Philip, Dave, Dan, Guy, Diane, Trevor, Brian, Peter, Duncan and Scouts. Cake was a mincemeat fruitcake, a Delia recipe according to my mum.

Anyway, well done everybody!

Tilly, and lots of trees.

450 trees planted!

Philip and Ali and weak winter sunshine.

Well considering the weather this week and the snow still on the ground we had an ok turnout and a good morning. We worked like crazy and got 450 trees in. Photographer from the Huddersfield Examiner was there to record our efforts. Duncan, Sophie and the Scouts focused again on Rhododendron control and brushwood clearance. Ali, Philip, Cath, Dave, Neil, Julia, Geoff, Guy, Isabel, and myself, planted trees. We had been expecting the local MP Jason McCartney to make an appearance, but he was stuck in London. Never mind, we had rum and sloe gin in our breaktime coffees to make up for that. For the record we planted 150 Hazel, 150 Oak, and 150 Ash today.

 

Sloe gin, flapjack and woolly hats.

Fieldhouse week 2

 Picture of me, for a change.

Dicey weather for driving, but actually a nice morning for tree planting. Not too much snow on the ground, and lots of sunshine. In attendance were myself, Cath, Philip, Dave, Brian, Roger, and Duncan brought Scouts again. We planted around 240 trees (60 Guelder Rose, 60 blackthorn, and 120 Ash) and dug a lot more holes ready for next week's big do.

The assembled throng, minus Brian and Roger, enjoy lemon curd bakewell tart.

First planting of the season

Scouts, volunteers, and tree planting materials

Always gratifying to actually plant some trees, after all the admin work and maintenance. We transported all the stakes and guards to the site using Brian's trailer and Peter and Trevor's help. Duncan brought some Scouts and their leaders. And we started planting. We have 2000 trees to plant on this site, so it is quite a big job. Nice site with a nice view, and a nice bit of ginger cake for break time.And a nice pint in the Sair afterwards. I think we planted maybe 90 trees today, Ash and Hazel.

 
Linfit bitter, Tunnocks wafer, and the tree order excel spreadsheet.