Journal of a volunteer
August 2009
| Wed 5th |
Peter took five volunteers to the Mere Hide to do some tidying up. Frances and I reduced the nettles at the top of the slope, leaving Peter to slide further down. Jim M. was straightening the bird table. Frances tried to give him a hand, but, not feeling very secure on the steep bank, she and I took up broom and spade and cleared the steps instead. We timed our job to finish just right for lunch.
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| Thur 6th |
Ian and I helped Peter do a bit of tree thinning on Witton Mill Car Park, to reduce the number of secluded spots for congregating youths. We did some cutting back on Dairy House Meadows including a tree that was hanging precariously over the path. It was becoming much warmer and I had to leave at lunchtime, so avoiding some sweaty ragwort pulling.
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| Wed 12th |
Whilst I collected litter between the two car parks at Marbury, Chris got Alan G. and Ian organised on barrier repairs between the car park and the play area. He then took Maria, Jim and me to the out-of-hours car park for fence repairs on the lane. Maria and I banged a few nails in, fetched and carried timber across the lane and dismantled old fencing to put in the trailer. The job was almost finished by noon, so a few more minutes saw everything tidied away for a slightly late lunch.
The ragwort pulling continued with all of us on Peter's patch. We were faced with a yellow field on Dairy House Meadows. The weather slowly brightened and it began to get quite warm as we gradually removed the yellow weed. We took care to rescue Cinnabar moth caterpillars and release them on ragwort away from the field of cattle. They appeared not to be interested in us for more than an hour, but then they moved nearer for a closer look. Their curiosity led them to the tractor bucket and they began tossing the ragwort around, until persuaded to leave it and us alone. By four o'clock the field had completely changed colour.
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| Thur 20th |
Logs had been stacked in the kiln yesterday and was ready to light. Perhaps Dave was too enthusiastic because a few hairs got singed. It rained heavily just as he and Chris were about to deploy the volunteers at Marbury. Others began donning waterproofs, but Chris asked Elna and me to have a tidying session in the shed to make room for thirty boxes of booklets that would be arriving in the next few days. We had strict instructions not to throw anything away. We sorted through boxes of leaflets, reducing the number of boxes needed. The surplus cartons were put in the barn, not thrown away, in case they were needed. We managed to leave four shelves clear and even gave access over a reasonable space of the floor, which Elna swept. We had been sheltered from the heavy showers, but at the end of the morning drips from above confirmed a leaking roof, not ideal for storing leaflets.
I collected carrier bags from the car on the way around to the orchard with Maria. We began filling them with apples before Dave joined us with ladders and we moved on to pick Victoria plums and greengages. By the time Chris, Jim and Ian arrived we had started on the blackberries, which involved trying to avoid nettles as well as bramble thorns. Jim and I spent the last hour litter-picking around the car parks and play area. After a cup of tea we took some of the fruit home to prepare goodies for Food For Free. Our arms were tingling as we hadn't been very good at avoiding the nettles.
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| Wed 26th |
The forecast was for wet and windy weather, but there was only a bit of dampness in the wind. It looked as if we might be able to empty the charcoal burner. Ian offered to help me and we quickly got to work, fearing that might have to pack up and cover everything in a hurry, if it came on to rain. As a precaution I took each bag to the shed as it was filled. Dave had thought that we might not get much useable charcoal because it had burned rather too fiercely before the lid was but on the burner and the smoke hadn't fully cleared before he had to shut it down at the end of the day. In the event we had 21 bags of saleable fuel. We got everything tidied away in the dry by lunchtime. Elna always says it never rains for the Health Walks.
Steph directed Diana, Ian and me to Marbury Lane to begin cutting back along the verges beyond Butterfinch Bridge. Diana and Ian took turns with the hedge trimmer, whilst I stuck with the loppers to trim back brambles mainly. The weather slowly deteriorated with heavier rain, but we persevered without waterproofs and finally reached the entrance to Ashton' and Neumann's Flashes before a cup of tea beckoned.
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| Thur 27th |
Volunteering was at Little Budworth. Dave, Steph and seven volunteers met up with the Ranger Simon in the car park. He showed us an area across the road where the turf had been stripped and the heather was beginning to grow. Further over, where the heather was in full bloom, we learnt to identify the three varieties: ling, bell heather and cross-leaved heath. Simon tested us later in the day. Bees, wasps, hoverflies and butterflies, attracted by the scent, flew up as we walked through. We drove nearer to our work station, collecting the tools to remove Silver birch, a task started about six weeks ago. The dividing line between the area already cleared and that to be tackled today was plain to see. We were lucky with the weather, which was mostly sunny and warm, so we were able to have a picnic lunch. There is still more Silver birch to remove, which means that Simon will probably invite us back again.
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Mary - Volunteer
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That's far enough
Ragwort's no good to eat
Ragwort bonfire
It's all under control
The lazy dogs are the tools
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