Journal of a volunteer
May 2009
| Wed 6th |
Chris took the volunteers and the tractor into Marbury Car Park to do some drain clearance. As I felt rather inadequate and superfluous, I armed myself with litter-pickers and bin sack and scoured the car parks, entrance, children's play area, Lime Avenues and more for treasure. There wasn't much, but enough to make the walk worthwhile. At lunchtime, when she heard what I'd been doing, Steph said she'd quite like it doing around The Flashes. Alan G and I parked in Marbury Lane and headed for the bird hide, where we found bottles and cans that had been tossed over the fence. Alan returned to the car with that load and collected more bags, whilst I walked on to the next hide. We didn't find much more throughout our walk, but the bonus was sighting a female Wheatear on Ashton's bund. Even though we had already walked the central bund once, on our second visit we still found litter that we'd missed. We stopped off on our drive back up the lane to take a look from the hides at Haydn's Pool, where two Oystercatcher chicks were on the island.
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| Thur 7th |
We shuddered at the size of the gatepost Pete had loaded up ready for installation on Carey Park. However, he said that he had another job for Liz, Elna and me. Picking stones off the field did sound a little more attractive, except that some of the stones were enormous lumps of concrete and had to be dug out of the ground. Turning a waste tip into grazing for cattle means that farm machinery could be seriously damaged by such objects. After lunch Steph took Maria and me to do some cutting back around Neumann's Flash. For the last hour Steph led me on a survey of Dingy skipper butterflies. We squeezed through wire fences on the central bund and threaded between the silver birches to the glades, now covered with bird's foot trefoil, the sole food source of the dingy skipper caterpillar. I was fortunate to see one of the butterflies resting in the sunshine and found that with its delicate markings, it wasn't quite so dingy. We moved across to the other side of the bund, climbing over the gate onto Ashton's Flash. We were more exposed to the cool breeze and saw fewer butterflies on the open bund.
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| Wed 13th |
The sunshine had gone and we were expecting showers. The volunteer numbers were swelled by the addition of James and Tommy, Year 10 students on work experience. Jim, Frances and I drove up to Anderton Car Park to meet Jim M, John, Dave and the lads. The lads worked alongside Frances and me, weeding around the willow sculptures. Being more flexible James and Tommy were able to crawl through the snake and pass nettles, dock, buttercups and bindweed etc out to us. We then tidied up after Jim M who was cutting back the hedge by machine. We did more cutting back with loppers. We were called away from our work for lunch just as it began to rain. Jim, Frances, Elna and I did some litter-picking, tidying and more weeding around the sculptures, lime trees and picnic tables before setting out down the hill, cutting back as we went. Our objective was to clear the steps by the rifle range. It seemed no time at all since we had last done this job. The task seemed easier; perhaps it was earlier in the year. We had arranged to meet Dave at the Stannah Steps and whilst on our way we were stopped by a lady cyclist reporting that she had seen a shopping trolley on Carey Park's zigzag path and branches strewn across the path between Carden Ferry Bridge and the Ladybird Gates. She was concerned that some people might not be able to pass. I confidently pulled out my mobile and, knowing that he was working on Carey Park, called Pete. To my amazement he answered and said that he would drive around from the barn. Sorted!
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| Thur 14th |
I could hardly refuse the offer of setting up the charcoal burner for firing. Liz was also prepared to don the essential fashion accessories. First we had to clear the kiln of any remaining ash from the recent disastrous conflagration. I say 'we', but Liz volunteered to climb the ladder and descend into the giant can. On Dave's instructions I leant my weight on the foot of the ladder to prevent slippage. I also found the tools for the job and the fire starting material. The tractor was started up to provide the power for the log-splitter. Dave got to work with his chain saw on the pile of logs, which Chris added to throughout the day. The helmets and ear defenders were welcome protection against the noise and flying logs. Operating the log-splitter required much less effort than the axe, but we still took turns to load it. When the pile of logs looked big enough to fill the kiln, Liz negotiated the ladders again to build the initial fire and to load the logs
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| Wed 20th |
Frances and I volunteered to tackle the load of litter dumped in Hopyards Wood along the edge of the lane. We armed ourselves with litter-pickers, sacks and wheelbarrow. We headed directly to the out-of-hours car park to collect the rubbish tossed aside there. Our main target, though, was near the entrance. Sacks of cans and plastic bottles had been dumped alongside cardboard folded to enclose a toilet seat and a stiletto shoe. Presumably someone didn't know that Marbury Lane no longer provided vehicle access to the tip and hadn't done for at least ten years. We made two trips with the wheelbarrow and still had to carry a sackful.
Back in the yard Chris pushed the charcoal burner over with the tractor forks. Frances and I, wearing the essential fashion accessories, got to work sorting, riddling, grading and bagging charcoal. We had a break for lunch, but by about three o'clock we had 16 bags of saleable charcoal.
Ray had been creating a bench under his recently built shed-cum-stage-cum-stable. We tested it and decided that it would safely accommodate three small children, or two fat pensioners such as us.
We then made strenuous efforts to make ourselves look presentable to the public and, there being no shower facilities at Marbury, except from the skies, it was a tough job. Frances kindly told me that I had the panda look. We covered our top halves with official volunteer fleeces and hoped that no-one would look below waist level. However, our hands regained their sooty appearance as soon as we touched our trousers. In spite of our desperate need of a good wash, we were well received at The Moorings Restaurant, Anderton Boat Lift and the Stanley Arms as we delivered the new Northwich Woodlands Explorer Guide.
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| Thur 21st |
Steph had organised a team task day removing tree guards at Ashton's Flash. We piled into the vans, fully kitted out in waterproof gear as we set out in pouring rain. By the time we got there the rain had ceased, but the long grass was very wet. We sliced down the tree guards with our knives and found a variety of wild life sheltering inside. Twenty or more snails at a time, mice and ants' nests, all had to find new homes. After a couple of hours there were piles of tree guards and stakes to be collected up and tossed into the trailer.
In the afternoon Alan G needed a replacement helper for his bird ringing, so I offered. As we got out of the car at Anderton car park there was the ominous sound of thunder. It was on with the waterproofs again. While Alan carried the ladders I took the rest of the equipment. The first nest box that Alan opened housed nine Blue tit chicks that were ready to be ringed. My job was to record the details and hold the bags containing the little birds with developing feathers. We went on to visit boxes, Great tit and Blue tit, with smaller broods and some casualties. Blackbirds had taken over the Kestrel box. We saw the first of the Marsh orchids on the edge of Marshall's Wood. Alan donned waders to venture into the reeds to look for Reed warbler nests, but without success. A final stop at Haydn's Pool, sheltering from the rain, gave us views of Oystercatchers, Lapwings and Mute swans all with their young.
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| Wed 27th |
Jim and I offered to clear the litter from the out-of-hours car park before we tackled the epicormic growth in the lime avenue. Jim's chosen weapon was a bill hook, mine loppers. It rained increasingly hard, but there was some shelter from the lime trees. The growth was young and sappy, which made it easier to remove than it had been in the autumn.
In better weather after lunch we hoped to see tawny owl chicks being ringed near the scrape, but they had gone. In the nearby kestrel nest box a female kestrel was sitting on four eggs, so again we weren't going to see any ringing, but it was a pleasant walk. Back to work, I collected more litter from the car park and the children's play area then joined Jim and Elna back in the lime avenue. Diana and Ian helped us to finish the job.
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| Thurs 28th |
All four of us, Elna, Diana, Ian and I drove up to Anderton Car Park. Dave gave Elna and me the task of painting the sculptures. I could only just reach the top of the tallest ones. We warmed up in the sunshine as we worked, making the protective goggles steam up. We thought our timing was going to be perfect, job done by lunchtime, but then we spotted one more sculpture inside the willow serpent. There was no way Elna or I was going to manage it. Dave came to the rescue and crawled in. He left warning 'Wet Paint' notices pinned up. An hour later we were back to tackle more of Dave's list of jobs. He supplied Diana and me with sandpaper, paint and brushes. There were notice boards and finger posts in need of their annual 'tarting up'. The painting was easy compared to the sanding. I was reminded that there was a similar job with some garden furniture waiting at home. We reached as high as we could, although Diana reached higher. We waited in the sunshine for Dave to return, so that we could improvise a way of gaining extra height. There was a giant plant pot with handles in the trailer. Diana did a neat balancing act, whilst I stood by with the equipment. Needless to say, we didn't do all the jobs on Dave's list, but there's always next week.
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Mary - Volunteer
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Who said it was a bum job?
Now fill it
'Tis Ray in there
Out of Haydn's
That looks better
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