Task Reports

We have been supporting both the church and the BEES Shaping Spaces group of young people to continue with the work to create a growing area in the church grounds. Today’s focus was construction of two high raised beds that could be worked by people with mobility restrictions; either from a wheelchair, or to avoid bending. 

First we had to finish digging out the banking and level the area. The timber was collected from the timber yard (sounds easy –but choose a busy time with a trailer and it becomes fun and games) and by the end of the afternoon both beds were assembled ready to be filled.  The next task will be to construct the path around the beds and leading to the front of the church. 

This was our final visit to Baildon Moor for this year. We cleared a great deal of bracken; cutting, raking and piling it up to expose the ground for the bedstraw and grasses which are the first to colonise. Most of the areas we worked in had been cut previously so there was already a covering of vegetation. We were creating conditions for the heather, bilberry and crowberry to grow. 

It would be nice to spend more time there as progress is good but we are aware there are areas that we cut last year that didn’t get attention this year. This is still a task we very much enjoy and aim to be back in 2017. We are still pondering the role of the trees in the areas we have cleared. 

No task – Summer Holidays. 

No Task – Summer Holidays.  

A blustery but dry day on the moor. The Glorious 12th spent as it should be - helping manage the moor to enable a range of plants and animals to thrive. 

We had the auto-scythe in action for the morning (until the bolts holding the cutting bar to the motor sheared off…! Luckily it’s now gone for some tlc with the Countryside Service) and cut a good swathe of the denser bracken. There was a lot of raking and pile forming to be done. We used hand tools for further cutting, and will return in three weeks for our final visit. 

No Task  today – sorry. 

Today was our first visit of 2016 to cut the bracken in order to help a diversity of moorland flora thrive. The weather wasn’t great – we got pretty wet. We focused our attentions on the steeper slopes and some of the less dense patches using scythes and sickles. 

In contrast to yesterday, it was wet today, but we completed several key tasks. The summer pruning of the cordons and espaliers was just about completed to restrict their growth. They are looking tidier. The hedges were cut. We used cardboard and straw to mulch round more trees, having been pleased with the results from the work done in June. 

There is still plenty of long grass – we watch a Large Skipper butterfly laying eggs, so we will leave the meadow until later in the summer. The alliums we planted earlier in the year were looking good and providing nectar for the insects. 

A hot day tackling the weeds and picking the black currants. 

We travelled to Potteric Carr today for our summer outing. This is flagship Yorkshire Wildlife Trust site near Doncaster. We chose it for the water habitats and hoped to see birds and dragonflies. As soon as we entered the reserve we had a good view of two gatekeeper butterflies showing clearly the difference between the male and female. As we walked we saw lots of Common Blue Damselflies, and later in the day saw Brown Hawker dragonflies hunting above the water. 

From the hides we watched lots of coots, mallards and Canada geese. Through the telescope we were able to identify a couple of Black Necked Grebe, and also saw Great Crested Grebes.  

 It was hot day and refreshments in the Kingfisher Café were a welcome interlude before heading back to the minibus.