First day of planting of the season

Some of today's trees stakes and guards. Dianne digging. And in the very far top left, some other volunteers on the far side of the clough.

Today we were at Butterley Reservoir for the first day of planting of the Season. We were..myself, Philip, Dave, Duncan, Dianne, Jess, Cath, Geoff, Remy, Hap, Ben and Peter. After some organizational two-ing and fro-ing we settled down to plant on two spots facing each other across the clough. There were some attempts at shouted communication across the divide, but mobile phones worked a bit better. We planted around 150 trees total, and have a similar number left to do next week, but the heavy carrying and stressful organisation is done. Trees were provided by the Woodland Trust, and the stakes and guards used were funded by the Marsden Cuckoo's nest charity shop. Cake was provided by my mother, as usual, and was cherry sponge.

If only all training days were like this...

This morning we were joined by Ben Scotting of Yorwoods, who graciously tutored us in the art of woodland management. We met at Guy Edge, an area of woodland owned by Kirklees, but planted by the Society in the mid 1960's. The trees have been left largely to their own devices since that time, and for the sake of public access and biodiversity they need some attention. We have a management plan agreed with Kirklees, but we needed some professional input into our pruning and thinning activities. We were, myself, Philip, Ben (Godfrey), Stephen, Peter, Dave, Guy, Duncan, Neil and Dan. Ben (Scotting) was a brilliant trainer, with lots of practical advice, but also tons of entertaining tree facts and lore. Between talks we did some path clearing and formative pruning. We will return to Guy Edge several times this winter, and do more of the same. We had homemade Parkin at breaktime, and Mandy made provided us with sandwiches, crisps and biscuits at the end. And the sun shone, and we finished with beer in the Sair. Not a bad way to spend Saturday morning at all.

I just wonder where sleepy, dopey and bashful have disappeared to...

Odd jobs for odd workers.

A last day of odd jobs before the proper Winter's work begins. Remy and I counted out guards and stakes, making sure we have 4 packs of 100 hare guards, and plenty of stakes to go with them. We also checked that we have 180 deer stakes and guards in stock. Philip and Ben made further efforts to tame the brash pile, Philip with chainsaw. Cake was apple cinnamon sponge. Then we went to the Sair and finalised this year's tree order, more or less.

Co-op community fund and nursery work

Today we were visited by Mr John Drewery from the Co-op Community Fund, who presented us with a cheque for £500, to be used to purchase deer guards and stakes. Very welcome, very generous. I used our new roller banner as a photo background for the presentation. For the rest of the morning we pottered around the nursery. Myself and Ann sowed 240 Rowan seeds in root trainer trays. Dave, Ben, Guy, Mandy, Philip and Geoff worked on further reducing the brash pile using the rented wood chipper. Geoff also did some more filming. Cake was homemade "Coffee kisses" a retro 70's-ish biscuit and butter creme combination.