Cheshire East Rangers

Posts Tagged ‘Cheshire East Rangers’

Hedgelaying on the Middlewood Way

Posted in Hedgelaying, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Middlewood Way on January 22, 2023|

Today was our first activity of 2023 and it was great to be back with Ed, Cheshire East Ranger, on the Middlewood Way. We had a great turn-out with a total of 14 volunteers.

Hedgelaying is an ancient craft that has been practised for centuries, with many regional variations in style and technique. It is the process of partially cutting through and then bending the stems of a line of shrubs or small trees, near ground level, without breaking them, so as to encourage them to produce new growth from the base and create a living fence. In our case today we were doing this using hawthorn – being wary of the thorns! Thank you to Ed for the training and advice, and to all volunteers, both old and new, for doing a stirling job.

We’ll be back on Sunday 19 February 2023 for more of the same – get in touch if you’d like to join in!

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2022 – short but sweet

Posted in Heathland, Invasive species, Woodland management, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Friends of Spud Wood, Tegg's Nose Country Park, Woodland Trust on January 6, 2023|

Well, 2022 passed without much of an update from us. A hedgelaying activity early in the year had to be cancelled due to the weather conditions and then for one reason and another (mainly a shortage of everyone’s availability) we were not out again until November! However, we finished the year with two great Sundays: 13 November at Tegg’s Nose Country Park and 4 December at Spud Wood.

At Tegg’s Nose, we were working in a heathland habitat that is at risk of being overtaken by willow scrub. The rangers are trying to connect up heathland areas at the top of the park and the willow scrub shades out the heather and bilberry causing it to die back. We were blessed with a lovely bright day – perfect for enjoying the great views from this lovely site.

Invasive rhododendron was the problem we were tackling at Spud Wood. As last December, we worked on helping remove this well-established intruder and were able to make a good impact on a decent area. This should go some way to allowing the woodland to become a more diverse woodland habitat in the years ahead.

Naturally, the year ended that evening with a get-together around an outdoor fire (big thanks to Elaine and Dave for arranging), with food and drink aplenty!

We already have our dates arranged for January to March, so we’ll have more going on in 2023!

Volunteers working at Tegg's Nose country park

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Hedgelaying in the snow

Posted in Hedgelaying, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Middlewood Way on December 5, 2021|

Nothing like getting into the spirit of the season by feeling the snow start to fall, but keeping warm by hedgelaying! That’s what some of us did last Sunday on the Middlewood Way, continuing the stretch of hedge we had worked on four weeks before.

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Back…on the Middlewood Way!

Posted in Hedgelaying, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Middlewood Way on November 7, 2021|

Last Sunday (31st October) was the group’s first day back in action since the start of COVID, and it was great to be out on the Middlewood Way, taking on some hedgelaying with ranger Ed. Unexpectedly, despite torrential rain before and after the event, there was no rain during our work and even a little sunshine! Big thanks to both the familiar faces and the new volunteers who came along. The section of laid hedge has now opened up views from the Way, and we’ll be back on 28th November to continue the same stretch.

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Back in action on 31 October…hedgelaying!

Posted in Hedgelaying, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Middlewood Way on October 27, 2021|

The first activity of our new programme is coming up this Sunday, 31st October! We will be hedgelaying on the Middlewood Way so whether you’re completely new or an old hand, this is the chance to brush off your boots and brush up on your bill-hook skills. Hedgelaying is an ancient craft which helps the environment and is easy to get stuck into; here are examples of our past hedgelaying activities. Please contact us for more information or if you would like to come along on Sunday!

We are in the process of finalising our other dates for the months ahead and will update the Events page as soon as they are confirmed.

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Gorse removal at Tegg’s Nose

Posted in Heathland, Woodland management, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Tegg's Nose Country Park on January 12, 2020|

For our first outing of 2020 we were at Tegg’s Nose, working to clear some areas of gorse. Gorse has a long flowering period, so is an important nectar source in early spring and early winter; plus its density makes it ideal for a range of nesting birds. However, it can also take over and dominate a habitat, and the ongoing work to remove some here will better connect the Tegg’s Nose woodland and the higher heathland.

The weather stayed pretty dry (and even occasionally sunny), which was a welcome change from the heavy rain of the last day or two. Ranger Martin introduced us to the iNaturalist and Seek apps, so we look forward to using those more. And finally, it was great to have a good turn-out of volunteers – the best we’ve had in a while – so let’s hope that continues into the rest of the year!

Gorse removal – getting started

Gorse removal – work in progress

Pausing for lunch

Witches’ butter

Packing up

Gorse removal – a cleared area

Cleared and stacked gorse

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Heathland at Tegg’s Nose

Posted in Heathland, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Tegg's Nose Country Park on September 26, 2018|

This past Sunday we once again joined Martin of the Cheshire East Rangers to carry out some heathland work at lovely Tegg’s Nose. We were removing gorse bushes that would otherwise swamp the heather and blueberry on the slopes here.

We also found some sort of translucent yellow fungus that we couldn’t identify (anyone?!).

View

Volunteers at work

Fungus

View

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Hedgelaying on the Middlewood Way

Posted in Hedgelaying, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Middlewood Way on March 5, 2018|

The last Sunday of February saw our first hedgelaying of 2018 (after our abandoned plan for hedgelaying at Spud Wood earlier in the month). We had a very cold but bright day on the Middlewood Way and worked on a good section of hedge with Ed from the Cheshire East Rangers.

We’re back at Spud Wood on Sunday 18th March so might yet get some more hedgelaying this season!

Volunteers at work

Laid stem

Laid hedge

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Meadows at Tegg’s Nose

Posted in Grassland, Meadows, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Tegg's Nose Country Park on July 2, 2017|

After a cool-ish and cloudy start, today we were again blessed with a beautiful day at Tegg’s Nose Country Park. As in previous summers, we were helping the Cheshire East Rangers with the obligatory management of ragwort and thistles in meadows which are important for a range of species including orchids, mountain pansies, waxcap fungi, moonwort and adder’s-tongue fern. The meadows’ management is also supported by controlled grazing by a herd of longhorn cattle (who show extraordinary interest in Ranger Martin’s van!). All this, and a good sighting of a pair of local buzzards circling overhead!

Common spotted orchid

Volunteers at work

Longhorn cattle inspect the vehicle

Longhorn cattle grazing

Mountain pansy

Volunteers at work

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Steps at Tegg’s Nose Country Park

Posted in Steps, tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Tegg's Nose Country Park on April 9, 2017|

Today a gang of us were out with Ranger Martin at Tegg’s Nose Country Park, where we helped with adding edging boards to a set of steps which have been suffering from erosion and the loss of surfacing. A perfect spring day to enjoy the views – plus a chance for a belated celebration of a landmark birthday!