Sunday 26th February 2012 - A moderate walk around Settle

A circular walk with Northern Link from Settle, starting with a climb up past the small caves of Warrendale Knots and Attermire Scar to Victoria Cave with small striped snails patrolling the mossy entrance rocks, likely to be white lipped snails and where records and artefacts going back 130,000 years have been found. The route then continues passing a crow scavenging for its lunch in one of the fields to Catrigg Force which is currently for sale “One Dales beauty spot. No mains services. Plenty of running water.” After viewing this prime site over lunch it was on past a small herd of Highland Cattle all cows judging from the long upturned horns to Stainforth and the Craven Lime Works with horse drawn tramways, an inclined plane and 3 different types of lime kiln represented. The final leg of the route then followed the Ribble Way back to Settle just as the local rooks were returning to their lofty communal tree top roosts for the night.

Sunday 12th February 2012 - Path Maintenance at RSPB Marshside

A day spent preparing the main access path between the car park and the Sandgrounders Hide ready for resurfacing, part of the sites aim of improving visitor facilities and making the hides accessible to all. The preparations involved an initial litter pick followed by removal of encroaching grass “turfs” to the roadside banking. Two of us being present to ensure the safe passage of visitors using the path while the work was being carried out.

During the day we were able to observe some of the marshes visitors and residents including a Kestrel hovering above with pintails, mallards, coots and mute swans in the partially frozen marsh pools below. 

Sunday 5th February 2012 - Planting Christmas trees at Formby Point

The Sefton coast is of special interest for the diversity of coastal land forms that occur here, in particular for the large, mobile dune system. The whole range of dune types can be seen, from mobile dunes along the shoreline to fixed dunes further inland. Between the dunes, there are lower-lying areas known as dune slacks, which support areas of wetland. The zone of dunes around Formby Point is suffering from serious erosion that can be effectively and economically slowed down by planting sand traps in the form of brushwood fencing in the most vulnerable areas. In this case using surplus Christmas trees donated by Homebase.

The method of planting is to dig shallow ditches parallel to the coastline at the front (coastal) edge of the dune system, the trees are then placed in these ditches with their branches overlapping and the base ones level with the surface of the sand. This creates barriers that catch the sand blowing off the beach, which gradually builds up burying them as the dunes develop, once buried they bind the dunes together stabilising them and allowing natural dune vegetation such as marram grass to establish itself, its creeping stems and penetrating roots further stabilising the dunes, reducing the rate of sand movement and hence the rate of erosion of the coastline.

Sunday 29th January 2012 - A moderate walk in the Ribble Valley

A circular walk with Northern Link from Downham, one of the locations used in the film ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ and the fictional village of Ormston in ‘Born and Bred’. The frosty conditions and recent sprinkling of snow made for picturesque landscape views throughout the day. The route started with a trek over to Sawley Abbey its ruins the result of King Henry VIII’s order for its dissolution and a feature in the ‘The Tudors’.

From here it was on through grassy hawthorn avenues with Great Tits being heard but not seen to the grounds of Dockber Farm, home to the Beat Herder music festival and a replica stone circle & Excalibur. – Be warned if walking the Ribble Way National Trail (a long distance walk loosely following the course of the River Ribble) in early July, they have been known to close the section that crosses their site without providing any diversion! So much for legal rights of way!! – With the sword left firmly embedded in its stone (none of our party being fit enough to be a king) it was back to Downham via Rimington

Sunday 15th January 2012 - more Rhodi bashing at Gawthorpe

Another day spent with the rest of the National Trust’s Lancashire Volunteer team tackling Gawthorpe’s ongoing Rhododendron problem.

A native of SE Europe and Western Asia, it was introduced to the UK in the 19th century as an ornamental plant for parks and gardens because of its attractive show of spring flowers. From these innocent beginnings it has spread to native woodland and other valuable  habitats, through its use as winter cover for  pheasants and its ability to regenerate rapidly from seed. Once established in an area it is also able to spread by extending suckers and rootlets wherever a branch touches the ground. Although it prefers peaty or sandy soils it can also grow in swamp, heathland, grassland and sand dune habitats.

Saturday 14th January 2012 - Hedge planting on Wigan Flashes

A day spent on Wigan flashes planting a new hedgerow along one of the main footpaths, the ground having been previously cleared of long grasses and bramble that would out compete the new saplings for the available water, soil nutrients, light and space to grow. The first task of the day was digging out 2 rows of narrow channels, softening up the soil and removing old rubble debris. The young bare root saplings were then positioned in the channels and bedded in ensuring their roots were kept clear of the thin frozen surface soil layer (the roots are not frost tolerant) and fully covered to the soil line to create 2 staggered rows of saplings 50 cm apart with a 40 cm gap between the rows.

The saplings were a mix of Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Alder Buckthorn, Guelder Rose and Hazel, the tree species and spacing will enhance the sites wildlife diversity by providing a thick bushy hedgerow that will fit in with the sites existing hedges providing both food and shelter for birds, mammals, butterflies, other animals and invertebrates.

As well as being an important wildlife habitat hedgerows can also provide:

• A wildlife corridor between other habitats such as small woodlands that would otherwise be isolated and in some cases too small to sustain the wildlife that depends on them.
• Shelter from wind for crops and farm animals.
• Stock boundaries for keeping livestock in or out of fields.
• Privacy for private properties
• A source of berries for jams.

Sunday 8th January 2012 - Moderate walk round Grasmere and Rydal

A circular walk with Northern Link from Grasmere that started with a view of Canada Geese foraging for food in the lakeside fields and a climb over Loughrigg Fell with its open bracken covered moorland and a couple of patrolling crows above; the bracken at this time of year having died back, the fronds (the green leafy bit you see above ground) won’t re sprout from the underground root system until the spring and from mid summer to autumn the main risk to walkers is from tick born lyme disease. The ticks passing from the green bracken leaves onto their hosts (warm blooded mammals) as they walk through them.

From Loughrigg the route continued down past the Rydal Caves that were created by slate quarrying and penetrate about 46 metres (150 feet) into the hillside before returning to Grasmere via Rydal Mount, White Moss Common and Dove Cottage along the Coffin Road, the old track linking Grasmere and Ambleside that got its name from the fact that the dead were carried along it for burial in the churchyards. There are slabs of flat stone at rest points along the road on which the coffin bearers placed the box during their rest periods along the route.

Dove Cottage was Wordsworth’s home (and is now home to the Wordsworth museum) before he moved along the road to Rydal Mount.

Sunday 18th December 2011 - Rhodi bashing at Gawthorpe

A day spent with the rest of the National Trust’s Lancashire Volunteer team cutting down Rhododendron’s that are taking over the woodland areas on the Gawthorpe estate. This invasive species grows in dense thickets up to 5m (16ft) tall shading out all other plants, effectively preventing young tree seedlings, flowers, grasses and other fauna that grow at ground level. It is also host to disease organisms that attack oak and beech trees.

The loss of other plant species means that the insects, animals and birds that rely on them for food and shelter are also lost, a process that continues all the way up the food chain to the top predators. The end result is large areas with nothing but Rhododendron present.

Control methods include:

• Pulling seedlings and smaller plants out by hand
• Cutting with hand tools or chainsaws with cut material being removed or burnt
• Mechanised clearance with tractor mounted flails or other heavy machinery, which although faster and less labour intensive than the above 2 options, requires road access, is more expensive and may cause damage to the soil and surrounding environment.

For all 3 methods the removal must include the stumps and root systems to prevent re-sprouting, for less sensitive areas chemical treatment of the stumps may be an alternative option.

Grazing can’t be used as a control method as the Rhododendron is poisonous to livestock