A beautiful cold Midwinter and Solstice clearly sharpened appetites to get out and work off the odd mince pie excess! From a large show of interest, only illness dissuaded more volunteers from coming out mob-handed. Fourteen (14!) of us rolled up to Castle Rock lay-by, close to The Wizard on the Macclesfield Road (B5087), on Sunday 25 January.
We were hosted by the National Trust Assistant Ranger, Alysia, with two young NT staff, Mike & Mark. Their objective (in agreement with the local farmer) was to lay 70 metres of ‘newly’ planted hawthorn, blackthorn & dog rose whips. Quite prickly! Originally planted over a decade ago. This means that now two (not just one) hedge can help create a boundary both sides of a popular local footpath adjacent to the field. This enhances diversity and also protects the farmland, avoiding user conflicts. The fencing within the field had been removed for us to work.
The hedge lies SW-NE along the gentler slopes of the sandstone ridge. Laying it for the very first time meant we could set the shape of the hedge for the next 20+ years. As is traditional the main section was lain upslope (left) towards the gateway. And a shorter section was laid slightly downslope (right) to the same gate. This allowed for tidier finishing at the gate posts of the access point.
After an introduction and armed with plentiful and wonderful tools such as billhooks, loppers and hand-saws the gang split into four or five teams who ‘broke into’ the hedge-line at various points and started trimming away the small twigs, and particularly any growth that was on the ‘left’ or lain side of each stem. This helped make space to work and kept our faces safe to identify the stems for the cutting/’pleaching’ and laying. We also completed the removal of old spiral tree guards.
Each group helped each other to link their sections and after lunch the hedge was steadily laid down and the flexible upper branches woven in and trimmed down to create the familiar hedge shape. The NT were very happy and our group was delighted to work as a big friendly team; familiar faces and newcomers alike. It was especially pleasing to see folk share skills and the fact that we completed our mission by 14:15pm and did the entire 70 metres! This included tidying all the arisings into piles at the edges of the field and bagging-up the redundant tree guards, as well as the staking the lain hedge as part of the finished process.
A handful of trees were kept as ‘standards’ within the hedge-line to allow for certain specimens to grow taller and mature naturally. This not only creates structure for the future but also different layers in what is a woodland edge habitat. As the hedge knits together as a denser barrier/habitat the trees are roosts and nesting sites. We kept hawthorns uncut each side of the gate and also pruned part of a well established hazel. These species have wonderful flowers and catkins which are simply beautiful to witness in spring.
A good day and the light rain eased off quite quickly to everyone’s relief.
SMCV 