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

Rotcher Wood community orchard

Duncan, Philip and Cath digging away.

The site we were going to go to was inaccessible this morning, and the little trees would be frozen together solidly anyway. So, instead Duncan took us to the Rotcher Wood community orchard, where we dug out some Oak trees that will be in the way of the fruit tree planting there. Very cold, until you got digging, but then I soon managed to get down to a t-shirt. We took away about 30 small trees and placed them in a trench in Duncan's back garden, so that we can replant them elsewhere on another day.Duncan saves a tree.

Bare rooted trees "healed-in" to the trench in Duncan's garden.

Winter Hill, Hemplow and Wholestone moor

Brian graciously accepting tea from the landowner.

Bit of a three-for-one deal this morning, with people headed off in all directions. Dave and Neil transported materials off to our next big site. Guy, Duncan and Heidi went back to Hemplow/Butterley. Myself, Philip, Geoff, Brian, Peter and Trevor went to Winter Hill and planted 90 trees in a small field there. Owner was very nice and brought us tea on a tray. Our cake was jam buns, as pictured. V.good. An excellent morning, the weather was passable, and later worked itself up into a lovely sunny winter's day. And the Sair has started serving its own beer again! Turned out nice again.

Trevor striding purposefully past his work.

Oh, and Neil pointed out that the blog had had some unsavory content added via the comment section. Don't panic, I have blocked the offending material. It actually was pretty mild pictures of a scantily clad young Chinese woman, and all the text appeared to be in Chinese too. We must have followers in that part of the world.

Heidi, Guy, Neil and Dave at Butterley