There will be blood, Fitzcaraldo!

Duncan, covered in blood

A diverse morning. Philip, Geoff, Diane and I spent an hour tidying up at the Nursery, and then we went up off to Merrydale. We had some coffee and cake, and then made a feeble attempt at clearing some Japanese knotweed. Duncan, who had been up there already with some Scout friends, cut his hand rather badly on a bramble. So that is the first bit of today's blog title. The second part refers to Geoff then dragging us up to the furthest corner of Merrydale to do some more filming and interviewing for his documentary. And that furry thing on top of Geoff's camera is, apparently, called a "dead kitten".

Not much tree planting, but there is serious work going on behind the scenes, getting quotes for fencing and signage, filling out monitoring forms, and making grant applications for next season.

Bracken bashing at Butterley Reservoir

Once again, bashing the bracken (which is not a euphemism). This time up the east side of Butterley Reservoir. Difficult steep terrain, but it was worthwhile as there were quite a few small trees that were struggling to keep going under bracken which was shoulder height. Yes it all looks pretty verdant up there, but mostly that is an endless sea of bracken. Cake was a homely and retro jam tart. Very nice. First picture is of Neil sitting on a bit of Yorkshire water architecture, some sort of access hole for reservoir stuff. Other picture is of Philip sharpening his implement (again, not a euphemism). I stepped on a covey of grouse while I was up there. Six of them, and they didn't take off until I was literally almost stepping on them. I think they need to shape up a bit before the glorious twelfth, or their prospects aren't good. And we might have seen a Ring Ouzel, but we aren't sure.

Nettle bashing at High Wood

A fine morning bracken and nettle bashing at High Wood, rescuing small trees from being swamped and deprived of light. Very worthwhile, there were lots of little trees in there that benefited. And it was a lovely morning too. I was experimenting with the panorama setting on my phone, and we had chocolate brownies at break time.

Marsden Cuckoo's nest AGM

Tonight I attended the Marsden cuckoo's nest AGM, and got the chance to thank them for the generous grant they recently gave us. A lovely bunch of people.