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| Jess and Philip, saving small trees from being shaded out. |
Still working, even in the "heatwave".
Back to Scammonden for more weeding and scrounging for stakes and guards to re-use.
Weeders were myself, Philip and Jess.
Scroungers were Geoff, Dave, Michael, Stephen, Steve, and Tanya.
Not everyone love's The Clash, but I do.
Important though Summer work is, I have been very slack with recording the sessions for this Summer. Let that all change now. And I am going to cheat and just put a list up.
Saturday 12th July Scammonden. 2 groups, me and philip bashing on far side. Dave, Kayleigh, Geoff and Stephen retreiving stakes from SC12
Saturday 5th July Wessenden weeding. Geoff, Dave, me, Philip, Peter, Michael, Tanya Paul
Saturday 25th June Wessenden weeding Philip, Geoff, Dave, Paul,
Saturday 18th June Wessenden weeding Philip Geoff, Dave, Paul
Saturday 11th June
Spring St. Weeding. Matthew, Paul, Dave, Geoff, Kayleigh, Peter, me, Philip, Steve
Saturday 4th June
Weeding Hey 2. Matthew, Paul, Dave, Geoff, Jess, Philip, me
Saturday 28th May
Weeding Waller Clough and Green Edge. Geoff, Philip, Stephen, Kayleigh, Jess, Dave,
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| "Lean", by Tanya |
We were at Scammonden planting 200 sessile oak, and 25 aspen.
We were: myself, Jess, Geoff, Richard, Stephen, Jon, Tanya, Dave, Kayleigh, Michael, and Peter. Cake was a rather good vegan blackcurrant flapjack.
Nice and sunny, but there was a cold wind, and that took its toll on some.
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| Jess smiling in the sunshine, and Hap! |
We were: myself, Philip, Stephen, Hap, Dave, Peter T., Jess, and Richard.
While sitting down having our break Geoff spotted a stoat/weasel, and most of us got a glimpse. Seems the major difference is a black tip to the tail. I don't think any of us got that good a look at it as they are pretty speedy. It disappeared over a wall. But then popped its head back up to look at us! Cute. And as far as I am aware they don't eat trees, so carry on stoat/weasel.
I think there might be a Toots and the Maytals song for every blog entry from now on.
Very occasionally trees don't thrive on a site. On this particular patch at Scammonden this was due to ash die-back disease, and an unknown problem with a batch of alder trees. So we spent today inter-planting oaks and aspen amongst the dead and dying.
We were: Geoff, Dave, Philip, Richard, Adrian, Matthew, Jess, Kayleigh, Stephen, Steve, and myself.
I think we planted 50 aspen and 175 sessile oak?
Hard times to be positive. But we do what we can. Some, like Adrian, go that bit further (literally).
It was a nice sunny morning and quite warm today as we planted 240 trees (150 sessile oak, 60 hazel, and 15 each of birch and rowan), on the south-west side of Scammonden, to 'beat up' (replace) lots of ash we planted quite some years back that have now all succumbed to die-back. Though steepish, it was quite easy planting with soft soil making screefing and staking a breeze. There was a hold-up at the start as a car got stuck in the muddy verge which we could not budge but Jess's Dad responded to her call to save the day with his van and tow-rope. A bit more to do here next time plus a similar job higher up the hillside to replace lots of red alder (not planted by us) that died quite suddenly and somewhat mysteriously after about 15 years.
We were: Geoff, Dave, Hap, Peter, Tanya, Jess, Richard, Philip, Michael, Steve G, Joanna and small dog. Photos by Tanya and Geoff.
Last day at this particular spot at Scammonden. We were: myself, Jess, Lee, Philip + friend and dog, Geoff, Dave, Richard, Jon and Tessie, Julia, and Steve.
We planted 100 Sessile oak, 50 Aspen and 25 Rowan - next to an existing stand of Birches.
I probably shouldn't have been there, as I was in the beginnings of covid. And now feel quite rough. Still it was outdoors, and I stayed away from everyone. Not a big deal in the current grand scheme?!
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| Geoff, Richard, Dave and Tanya |
After a season of Saturdays have that tested our endurance and forbearance, we finally got a vaguely sunny day.
We were: myself, Geoff, Dave, Hap, Tanya, Kayleigh, Richard, and Stephen.
With this hand picked team we planted 89 sessile oak, 39 rowan, and 47 downy birch. An admirable total of 175 trees,
And it has to be a joyful tune to reflect the day, so...
(clip from the Harder they come, recorded in Leslie Kong's studio, I presume that's him on the desk)
Our sense of fun was a bit undermined by world events, but hey.
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| Philip still forswears hi-vis. |
File this one under, should have known better.
Fag end of storm Eunice brought us snow. Which is always vile for working outdoors. But we soldiered on and I think we are all heroes - apart from me who was more of a donkey leading lions.
We were: Stephen, Sophie, Richard, Matthew, Harry, Peter, Hap, Dave, Philip, Cath, Geoff, Jess, Tanya, Kayleigh, and Kai.
Gave up and ran away, so ended up taking an unknown number of trees away unplanted. Some are in a bag in my backyard. Tools could be anywhere, I have half a dozen. Started with a dozen. Dave took some tools and trees.
Everyone got home alive, which is something.
This song is properly what it felt like.
If there is even a wisp of a cloud in the sky next week I'm staying in bed.
After consulting recovering participants, and counting what I'd got in the bag, it was apparent that we planted 157 trees. 27 Scots Pine, 36 Sessile Oak, 58 Downy Birch, and 36 Rowan.
All tools also now accounted for.
This is how it looked 4 days later.
After this years serious problems with supply of trees and approvals to plant we are staggering towards the end of the season and using the trees we have to improve a previously planted eWGS site at Scammonden.
We were: Cath, Gillie and Ruth, Jess and Lee, Jon and Tessie, Ben, Dave, Geoff, Hap, Richard, Philip, and myself.
We planted 100 sessile oak, 25 aspen, 15 downy birch, 15 hazel 15 hawthorn, and 15 rowan.
Weather was terrible. But we got it done.
There's something relevant in this song, obliquely.
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| Tanya's splendidly kinetic picture of grass and heather blowing |
Link below is not a music vid, but a clip from the 1928 silent film, the wind, starring Lillian Gish. About a woman driven mad by... the wind. Did I mention the wind?
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| Michael and Richard. Looked kind of dark up at Wholestone. |
This week we were back in Marsden finishing off some woodland management. Having removed some large larch shading out other smaller trees we moved on to thinning out the smaller trees behind. End result being a more natural mix of sizes and varieties of tree, and better accessibility to the woodland for locals. As per agreement with Kirklees ,broken down fencing and wire were also removed and taken off site. We were: Matthew, Kayleigh, Dave, Paul, myself, Kai, Jess and Lee.
Meanwhile at Wholestone Moor were Geoff, Richard, Hap, Steve, Michael and Shelley, collecting old tree guards and reusable stakes.
Of course, we'd rather be planting trees, but we are just....
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| Me and Kai. Looks brighter in Marsden |
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| Hazard tape, hi-vis, and hard hats |
In the absence of any planting work, we did some woodland management and tree guard reclamation today.
Half of us were in Marsden. Cutting down some nurse species larch to let more light get to the trees behind them. Hopefully leading to a more diverse and native bit of woodland. We were: Stephen and Philip on chainsaws, plus Dave, Kayleigh, Matthew, myself, Tanya, and Paul. Quite hard work as a couple of the very tall larch got hung up while falling. Great care was taken to signpost the work and prevent members of the public wandering along the footpath through the site. Several small brash piles created, some 2m length logs left in situ, and the footpath left entirely clear of debris.
Meanwhile at Wholestone Moor Geoff, Jess, Lee, Steve and Michael collected 3 bags of waste guards, and one bag of reclaims.
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| Stephen, Kayleigh and Dave |
Last day of planting at Meltham (or of this Season?).
We planted 100 Oak, 45 Hazel, 45 Downy Birch and 25 Aspen.
We were: Cath, Geoff, Dave, Matthew, Tanya, Hap, Peter, Jess, Ben, Philip and myself.
Four intrepid "soles" ventured out on New Years day to remove old tree guards at Wholestone moor. Geoff, Dave, Steve G. and Tanya.
Not sure about Tanya's choice of song, maybe they stopped for ice cream on the way home? Or is it a reference to the bottoms of Geoff's boots?
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| Geoff, in a before-ish picture |
Back to Meltham, and into the briar patch. A fraction of an large area of brambles was cleared, and planted with 60 Hazel, 25 Aspen, 75 Downy birch, and 5 Oak. It was dry, but a bit foggy.
Ann's Mince pies were consumed, but no alcohol.
We were: myself, Geoff, Dave, John, Jon and Tess, Jess, Hap, Peter, Michael, Philip, Tanya, Cath, Stephen, Steve, Matthew, Murray, plus a friend of Tess and her family including Matt.
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| Cath and Matt, in an after-ish photo |
We were: myself, Dave, Philip, Tanya, Jess, Lee, Steve, Stephen, Harry, Peter, Peter 2, Hap, Cath, Ben, and John.
We planted 125 Oak, 90 Downy Birch, 25 Aspen and 30 Hazel.
First day of planting of the season, and the weather could not have been much worse. Wind and cold rain. We all ended up pretty mucky, though the rain did wash some of the mud off toward the end. Silver linings eh?
We were: myself, John H., Jon and Tess, Tanya, Shelley, Julia, Hap, Stephen, Ben, Murray, Matthew, Lee, Harry, Philip, Geoff, Dave, Peter, and Michael.
We planted 30 hazel, 150 sessile oak, 90 downy birch and 25 aspen.
So after a challenging week dealing with suppliers and haulage companies we have had our trees and materials delivered. Not the hedging. But the trees.
5 deliveries on 5 different days from 4 different suppliers, and 4 different haulage companies. I spent quite a lot of time at the nursery making phone calls to various suppliers, transport hubs, and delivery drivers.
Thanks to all the volunteers that gave up their time to help: myself, Alastair, Stephen, Richard, Tanya, Sophie, Dave, Philip, Sarah, Geoff, Adrian, Hap, Bob, plus Simon, Mick, Steve and couple of others I don't know the names of from River Holme Connections.
Somehow, this pop/folk song about the plight of a Victorian mother seems appropriate.
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With the aid of willin' helpers and a willin' delivery driver we received a huge amount of tree planting materials today. Only 5 more deliveries to go?
CVTS folk were myself, Dave, Hap, Tanya, Adrian and Bob.
Plus Simon and 4 other folk from River Holme Connections.
Country rock classic about truck drivin'
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| Hap, Baljit and Dave |
Just four stalwarts this week collecting more stakes and tubes (oh, and Philip who carried on clearing a footpath at the Western end of the site). The four were Geoff, Hap, Baljit, and Dave.
Weather was chilly but sunny and all round a delightful morning.
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| Matthew rocking his wellies and shorts trademark look. |
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| Lots of tubes, and Cath, Geoff, Julia and me. |
Up at Wholestone Moor working hard retrieving old plastic tree guards for re-use and disposal. We were; myself, Julia, Richard, Dave, Ben, Cath, Tanya, Hap, and Geoff.
Bit wet and windy, but it always is up there.
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| Who's that funny little fella? Me, Steve, Geoff and Hap's shoulder |
I think both Steve and I lost knives this morning, nothing valuable. but annoying. So the song title is particularly aposite, as well as being a belter.
And apparently this blog has been lost to google, so am investigating that.
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| Matthew and Murray, and Geoff |
Whats up? We were up. Climbing a near vertical slope to get to the top of Pasture Wood, Marsden. And then removing old plastic tree guards. A couple of bags of re-usable ones, some wooden stakes, and some bags of trash for the tip.
We were: myself, Dave, Baljit, Hap, Richard, Ben, Murray, Matthew, Tanya, Kayleigh, and Geoff.
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| Paul carries that weight, and Tanya and Geoff. |
Up at Scout Top, Marsden for a spot of guard removal.
We were: myself, Geoff, Murray, Dave, Paul, Tanya, Shelley, Kayleigh and Dave.
On the way down there was a moment of mild peril, when a moderately sized stone got knocked and rolled down the hill towards Murray, who fended it off with a bag of guards.
This morning Geoff and crew were at Scammonden SC3 removing more guards. They were; Geoff, Ben, Dave, Steve G., Jess, Lee, and Joanna and small dog.
Geoff has provided nice before and after photos for today's session.
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| Worse |
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| Better |
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| Richard and Philip strategise the destruction. |
This morning a handful of us were at a previous planting site, Parkwood, to cut back willow that were overwhelming some blackthorn and shading out ground that could be used for allotment plots. We were: Philip and Stephen on chainsaws, myself, Dave, Kayleigh, and owner Richard. Risk assessment done and signed, PPE worn.
Meanwhile Geoff and Michael were at Scammonden collecting more old tree guards, and a mystery skull (small deer?)
Last full team go at Netherwood. We were: myself, Sophie, Steve, Geoff, Jess, Lee, Murray, Dave, Paul, Tanya, Peter and Philip.
A large number of bags were filled, and a quick survey of the site was done to see whether there was a need for thinning.
More discussion of the CVTS song, and singing, at breaktime.
Once more up at Netherwood. We were: myself, Geoff, Matthew, Paul, Peter, Tanya, Kayleigh, Dave, Shell, Stephen, and Jess. Hacking our way through the brambles and removing old plastic tree guards.
Really only one song title suitable for this week.
A new knife safety regime began today. We are doing more work with knives, cutting and removing plastic tree guards for re-use. However this has seemed to result in two quite bad accidents with those knives this year, trips to casualty in both cases.
So we trialled two types of new knife today. Safety parcel cutters, with a fixed but entirely enclosed blade, picture below, and a much more expensive and more complex knife with an auto self retract blade.
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| Other brands are available, but these were big and sturdy. |
https://youtu.be/0QDKLglEP5Y
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| Steve points and laughs at a fallen tree. He's a fun gi. |
Today Geoff led the charge at Scammonden SC6 for yet more guard removal. He was joined by Steve, Cath, Kayleigh, Jess, Shelley and Dave.
Philip and I were doing a bit of light woodland management at Tanya's. More trees falling, and more laughing.
Our tree order goes in on Monday morning. 5910 new trees and shrubs for the valley.
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| Jess , Sophie and Michael with slashers. |
This week was the final week or our program for light for the Wessenden trees. Knocking back the shady bracken. We were: myself, Philip, Dave, Hap, Stephen, Kayleigh, Jess, Sophie, Michael, Paul and Julia.
A day bracken bashing at Butterley. This time around the end of the lagoon, where a lot of young trees were getting, or had got pulled down by the bracken. We were: myself, Paul, Stephen and Adrian. Not enough people for the work, and there is still more to do at the lagoon, and further up the track at the lodge.
Also, Dave, Kayleigh, Hap, Ben S., Graham and Geoff were at Scammonden removing tree guards from mature trees.
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| Michael in the mist |
Back to Wessenden to discourage more bracken from shading out the small trees. Plus some tube and stake removal. The morning began with torrential rain, but it did back off to light rain and fog by lunchtime!
We were: Philip, Geoff, Kayleigh, Michael, Matthew, Peter, myself, Paul, and Adrian.
Animal antics. We saw two fawns and a doe, a jackdaw sitting on a cows head, and a sheep that shook the rain off itself like dogs do.
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| A tiny oak is grateful for the light. |
En masse up to Wessenden this week, for bracken bashing. Its nothing personal, but when you have gone to the bother of planting trees, its annoying to have bracken shade them out and kill them in their first couple of years.
We were: Paul, Geoff, Dave, Philip, Peter, Kayleigh, Adrian, Murray, and myself. And it poured with rain most of the morning, and was humid, so there was no escaping getting soaked.
While it might have been a rainy day, our turnout in Summer is always less than Winter. People like to plant trees, but a good few of those people don't wanna do the work that makes sure they grow. Something we need to factor in to how many trees we can plant and care for each year.
The Scammonden contingent were Geoff, Dave, Hap, Michael, Steve G. and Peter. They continued clearning SC5 and SC6, Dave took re-useable materials back the nursery, and waste to the tip.
Over above Slaithwaite myself, Philip, Kayleigh, Matthew, Tanya, and Adrian spent the morning weeding the hedging planted at the sides of the fields at Hey 2. There were a lot of nettles, and we got a lot stung. And once again I managed to cut myself, this time with a sickle. Nothing major, but its getting a habit. On the plus side there were chickens.
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Two groups again. Philip, myself and Tanya were at Waller Clough, giving the grass a haircut - so that the hedge we planted isn't overwhelmed. Dave had lent me his sickle, and I was so impressed I have bought one for my future use.
Dave, Geoff, Ben, Peter, Hap, Michael and Max were at Scammonden removing more guards from established planting.
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| Beautiful pic of Steve communing with nature, by Jess |
Geoff, Ben, Jess, Dave, Steve, Kayleigh and Michael were at Scammonden today, removing more plastic tree guards. It looks like it was lovely.
Steve was apparently listening to a (not the) cricket.
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| Tanya and Steve |
A beautiful morning at Green Hill Clough, with everyone in one place, and all very convivial. Removing plastic tree guards from a site planting around 2003 (mostly).
We were: Geoff, myself, Dave, Paul, Kayleigh, Tanya, Steve G., Michael, and Matthew.
Ann had made us Bakewell tart.
There was some talk of stoats dancing. Having watched some videos I'd say that its more larking about than dancing, but I'd say that of Michael Clark too.
Dave and I spent a sad morning collecting burnt plastic tree guards from above Butterley.
Close up, those trees don't look too good. No buds or leaves, but some green still visible if you scratch bark, so maybe they'll come back.
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| Wide open spaces? Where dem trees? |
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| Dave and Paul at Marsden |
Another divided day.
Myself, Dave, Paul, Matthew, Alastair, Philip, and Kayleigh were in Marsden reclaiming about 300 short stakes and guards for re-use in the Autumn.
Geoff, Jess, Tanya, Steve G and Bob were at Scammonden.
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| Jess and Bob at Scammonden |
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| Jess in the bag |
More double trouble with two crews removing old plastic tree guards at different places.
In Marsden we were myself, Sarah P., Jess, Kayleigh, Tanya, Murray, Max, Matthew, Michael, Dave, and owner Neil.
At Scammonden were Geoff, Sophie, Steve G., Steve G2., Peter and Cath
And at Marsden Neil had us scouring the field for intruder deers and foals. Click here for tune.
There were a lot of failures at the Eastern end of the Marsden site, where we had planted a large number of ash, just before ash die back hit. The rest of the site is doing really really well.
