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Posts Tagged ‘Cheshire East Rangers’

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!

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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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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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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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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!

 

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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?!).

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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!

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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!

 

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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!

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Well it’s been a while since we put out an update, but that doesn’t mean SACV hasn’t been busy!  In the last month or two we have worked in the quarry area at Tegg’s Nose Country Park (Sunday 12th June), when a damp day didn’t stop us from getting lots of heathland management work done; done some path maintenance work at Sale Water Park (Sunday 26th June) for City of Trees, taking care not to destroy some of the banks of wildflowers; and worked with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust at Birch Farm Ponds (Sunday 10th July) tackling the invasive Himalayan balsam.  Here’s hoping the rest of the summer continues in the same productive vein!

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