Task Reports

Thank you everybody for your contributions throughout the year.

We were on top of the world today. Tree planting with Forest of Bradford, warm enough to take a coat off, strange unseasonal weather. 

We planted, along with the FoB group, 675 trees at Ayden Farm on top of the hill above Sutton in Craven.  Boosted by mince pies and cake we worked through until after 2pm, then ate our sandwiches on the way back down to Crosshills and our traditional (!) visit to Naylor’s Brewery for a festive drink and a bit more Christmas shopping.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved with BEES in 2015. The volunteer group make a massive contribution to looking after wildlife spaces in Bradford. Hope to see you next year.

We made a start on the winter pruning today. I wish I had acted on my plan to put tape on branches that, earlier in the year, I had identified for removal. However, we returned to basic principals of removing dead, diseased and dying branches, and those crossing and rubbing. Quite a few trees need to be opened up to allow air circulation and easier harvest – we tried to be thorough. 

We planted some allium blubs, to add to those planted by Rob’s group, along with crocuses, in an attempt to create nectar supplies for the bees before and after the apples are in blossom. 

Willow and dogwood was coppiced, preventing anything getting too big and providing material for a wreath making workshop. 

One of our favourite days of the year is our trip to Rodley to help with the willow coppicing. We worked on an area of larger trees and brought some of the wood away with us with the hope of using it for charcoal next year. As ever we had a good day and were impressed by the achievements of the Rodley volunteers.

We enjoyed watching the harvest mice in the visitor centre, and most of us took advantage of the shop to start (?) our Christmas shopping!

Today we continued to help Friends of Northcliffe with the improvements to the area affected by the water mains burst at the top of Lynton Drive. After further weeding of the area 30 trees were planted to create a scrubby area for birds. The species planted were a mix of Hawthorn, Blackthorn with smaller Dogwood and Guelder Rose chosen to plant at the front of the patch.

We also removed a small amount of sycamore, and weeded around the trees planted by Yorkshire Water in the summer. Crocosmia and sycamore were removed from the wet flush  50 meters into the woods.

Meanwhile a team constructed 6 steps on the worst part of the steep muddy path that leads up to the meadow. The two people that past us during the afternoon bit said “thank you, I won’t slip

over anymore”. We will monitor the use of the path and see if more steps would be of benefit.   

Continuing to help local residents with developing the infrastructure of this new allotment project.  We may be putting in the skin on the polytunnel. 

Preparing the garden for winter; clearing beds and planting garlic. The hedge we laid last year is looking great but we need to continue the job of grubbing out blackthorn suckers.  

Our last pond work of the year, and a good job too as the quite a few of the waders seem to be leaking, or just wet (sorry Amy!). Despite the conditions (wet feet, rain, pond) both ponds had a good clearance with the focus being ono the bogbean which forms a dense root mass which can be hard to remove. 

Tesco say they will come and collect the trolley that was in the pond. And we hope the ‘beavers’ don’t return to put all the logs back in the pond.

All the paths, meadow and parts of the railway cutting were cut and raked. 

In the winter we will be thinning some of the trees to let more light into the ponds and woodland floor.

The day started wet, and we expected to retreat early cold and soggy. So we were pleasantly surprised by the lovely autumnal afternoon. Our decision to make a start on the pond work in September proved to be very wise. The water levels today, after all the rain, meant it was not possible to get in the deep end, even with our waders. However, that didn’t mean we weren’t busy. We managed to thoroughly empty the silt traps, and repair the wooden support of the banking adjacent to them. This required felling of a few sycamores to use the timber, but it will also allow a little more light in the pond. 

We dug out mud and shale from the pond, along the channel and an area of mud that has not become vegetated. There still seems to be some leakage through the dam wall, but now it seems ot be coming from the otherside…

The people afraid of the mud (!) undertook some useful work on the paths, digging off areas of leaf mould that leads to slippery sections of path.