Today we were at New Moss Wood, a Woodland Trust site. This is a native woodland, planted about twenty years ago. Alongside our woodland management tasks, we were pleased to find and learn a bit about the scarlet elf cup fungus (Sarcoscypha cocinea) – the red of which stood out beautifully against the green of the moss.
Posted in Coppicing, Woodland management | Tagged New Moss Wood, Woodland Trust |
For our first weekend away of 2019 we were treated to a a beautiful sunny and snowy landscape on the edge of Tittesworth Reservoir! Working with the Peak Park Conservation Volunteers, on Saturday we were coppicing willow in an area being managed as an important habitat for willow tit. Then, on Sunday, we returned to the willow hedge that we began in October 2018, and extended it further along the shore. This barrier, created by a combination of dead hedging and the laying of living willow, is to discourage disturbance by walkers and dogs of an area of the shore important for ground-nesting birds.
Posted in Coppicing, Hedgelaying, Ponds and lakes, Residential weekends, Willow structures | Tagged Peak Park Conservation Volunteers | 1 Comment »
We have started 2019 with a day with the Friends of Spud Wood. At this Woodland Trust site, we today helped the Friends with the preparation of a hedge for a forthcoming hedgelaying course, and then some coppicing within the wood. We were sustained, as always here, by plenty of tea and parkin – a great start to the year!
Posted in Coppicing, Hedgelaying, Woodland management | Tagged Friends of Spud Wood, Woodland Trust |
Well, our activities for 2018 are now over. Our last two outings have been with the Friends of Longford Park on 25th November and with the Friends of Chorlton Meadows on 9th December.
In Longford Park, we helped the Friends with a number of activities for the maintenance of the wildlife garden including seeding wood anemone, foxglove and yellow rattle; coppicing hazel; removing blackthorn which was invading the grassland area; and managing areas of dogwood, rose and flag iris near the pond.
At Chorlton Meadows, the Friends are currently in the process of trying to restore the only remaining area of old grassland. The aim is to re-introduce cattle grazing once the new fence has been completed. Sadly, many years of neglect has resulted in several species invading the field, not least bramble. The cattle will keep the invasive plant species down and allow the rarer plant species to thrive once again. SACV members spent the day working with the Friends in removing the bramble.
Hard work, but well worth it and our efforts were rewarded with an early Christmas soirée after the task, kindly hosted (as in previous years) by Elaine. Thanks to Elaine for the perfect end to the day!
And of course big thanks to everyone who has come out to volunteer with us in 2018!
Posted in Coppicing, Grassland, Meadows, Ponds and lakes | Tagged Friends of Chorlton Meadows, Friends of Longford Park |
Our last two activities have been in Chorlton Meadows (Sunday 28th October) and Birch Moss Covert (Sunday 11th November). The first of these was to help the Friends of Chorlton Meadows with their work on the reed beds, maintaining an area of open water which is important for wildlife.
Next, at Birch Moss Covert, we worked with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust volunteers to prevent woodland encroaching on an important area of low heathland heather.
For our next activity, we look forward to joining the Friends of Longford Park on Sunday 25th November!
Posted in Heathland, Ponds and lakes, Reed beds | Tagged Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Friends of Chorlton Meadows |
This past weekend was our final residential weekend of the year, working for the Peak Park Conservation Volunteers. On Saturday we were on the shores of Tittesworth Reservoir, creating a willow hedge to prevent walkers and dogs from disturbing an area using by ground-nesting birds. On a very wet Sunday we were at a different nearby site, this time enhancing the habitat for willow tits by creating standing deadwood. An excellent trip – in spite of the rain and a recalcitrant fire alarm in our accommodation!
Update, February 2019: we returned to our willow hedge during our first weekend away of 2019, and extended it further along the shore.
Posted in Ponds and lakes, Willow structures, Woodland management | Tagged Peak Park Conservation Volunteers | 1 Comment »
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?!).
Posted in Heathland | Tagged Cheshire East Rangers, Tegg's Nose Country Park |
