June Workday

The June workday starts at 09:00 on June 5th 2011.
A message from Ron


"Just to remind you all that this Sunday is a Volunteers workday. We will be in Robert Leech's field fitting a gate on the footpath. We will meet, as usual, on Waterloo Road car park and walk up to the field. Colin will be picking up the gate and post from Hall o'the Heath and the rest of us will use the handcart and take all the necessary tools to the work site. We will need to remove the existing stile and we can make a start on that while Colin is at Hall o'the Heath.

Hope you can all make it."

See you there.

Bird Boxes 2011

Bird box making at the Zan Industrial Park with the Haslington Conservation Volunteers, April 2011.

Stage 1 was treating the timber with either green or brown fence preservative.  The planks were then cut up into appropriate lengths to form a kit of parts for each box.  This all happened prior to the Sunday work day.

Holes of either 30 or 32 mm were drilled in the front panel as the sides, base and front were screwed together onto the back piece.  The lids are held in position with short narrow strips of wood, to hold the lid squarely in position.

The boxes will need a quick second coat of preservative and they will be ready for sale on the village fun day.

Workday for April 10th

A message from Colin.

"A quick reminder that the next workday is this coming Sunday, the second Sunday of the month instead of the usual first.  The task is to make 20 nest boxes (or as many as possible in the time) ready for sale at the Village fun day in May. All materials have been delivered to Richard at the Zan Works and he and Dave are planning to do some prep work there beforehand.

Ron will almost certainly not be fit enough to attend and I am doubtful. It seems sensible on this occasion to assemble at the Zan Works directly on Sunday so unless you hear anything else on the topic, please be there around 09-00 or just after. "

I will try and be there to open up for 09:00.   Richard

February 2011 Workday

Message from Ron

"Hi Everyone,


I hope to see you on our next workday which is 6th February. We will be working on the hazel coppice in Robert Leech's field, off Waterloo Road. We will meet, as usual, at the car park at 9.00am and then walk down to the site. Colin and Sarah will not be with us and we will be working without a ranger. Christine Redstone from Alsager should be with us mid-morning to collect the coppiced hazel. Hope you can make it.

Regards,

Ron."

January 2011 Crewe Green Church hedge

The hedge alongside the churchyard extension at Crewe Green Church has been a project for the HCV for several years.  We have layed the hedge to ensure a strong thick barrier from the adjoining farmers field.  This year it was time for a severe trim, leaving selected hedgerow trees with sufficient space to grow into maturity.

Our Cheshire East ranger used his chainsaw to cut back the larger branches, whilst Chris trimmed the thinner growth.

The major task was clearing the cut branches from approx 100m of hedge.  The waste was moved the area next to the car park and reduced in volume by careful use of the chainsaw.

The view over the Green Gap towards Haslington.

December 2010 Workday

The December workday required the collection and disposal of various lumps of fallen branches as part of a tidy up around the orchard at Hall o'the Heath farm.  Chris and Dave had prepared baked potatoes that required heating up ready for an early lunch whilst the frost and snow were still around.

Baked Potatoes cooking on our traditional December bonfire.

Visit to Redstone Willows in Alsager

Examples of willow work at the Redstone Willows centre in Alsager, in a range of different coloured varieties.  Haslington Conservation Volunteers have planted and maintained a hazel copse in Haslington - we were very pleased to find an outlet for our cut hazels in Redstone Willows.  

The examaple of willow weaving chosen for us was a Christmas bell.  Take a wooden base and insert 6 similar sized lengths of willow in a circle.  Start the weaving process - over one and past the next.  The rate of incline is adjusted by the alignment of the active strand, as the work spirals upwards.

At all times ensure that you do not knock your mug of coffee off the worktable.

Use of the bodkin to finish off the loop on top of the
bell.

By adjusting the size and number of loops on the top a winged Christmas angel can be formed.

Preparing for the top loop to be added to the bell.A very personal example.

Rare photo of the blog author.

November Tree Planting and Bird Box Survey

On a beautifully bright November Sunday the work day for the Haslington Conservation Volunteers involved two tasks.  Firstly replacing a dead tree on Park Road and secondly inspecting various bird boxes in an end of season survey.

A pair of Whitebeam's had been planted about 5 years ago either side of the private road from Park Road to Haslington Hall.  Unfortunately flooding caused by a blocked field drain resulted in the Southerly tree drowning.  The drains have now been cleared and the tree was given a last chance to regrow this past year but unfortunately a replacement was required.



Dead Whitebeam to the South of the road

 



The northerly tree had survived the flooding to produce an excellent crop of berries for the winter.

The dead tree is cut down and the roots removed before the fresh tree from Siddington is replanted.

Colin is normally to be seen leaning on a spade but on this occasion its our colleague Sarah.

The new tree is safely enclosed in its animal proof enclosure.

Another section of the Haslington Conservation Volunteers set off with extending ladders to check what use had been made in the past year of some of the many bird boxes installed by the group.

Sarah is cleaning out box 34 in an oak tree near to Haslington Hall.  As can be seen below the box was stuffed full of grass and root material together with a large quantity of dry dusty soil.

Colin shows the contents of a second box which appears to include chicken feathers in the matrix.  The actual egg laying area was tunneled into the nesting material, complete with maggots.

The morning sunshine brought out many walkers including the webmaster of the Haslington Parish website who reports on our activities here.  http://www.haslington.org/news/local-news/new-tree-planting.html





 





Crocus Planting in Haslington

Haslington Conservation Volunteers helped the Rotary Club of Haslington to plant 400 crocus bulbs on a sunny Sunday morning.  The bulb planting is part of the Rotary Polio Eradication project, the purple crocus flowers in the Spring symbolise the little fingers of children who have just received the polio vaccination [a little finger is dipped in purple dye to prove they have been vaccinated]. The picture shows Jan Lewis from the Rotary Club of Haslington along with Haslington Conservation Volunteers Dave Griffen.
The bulbs were planted next to the trees provided by the Haslington Guides last Autumn behind Shelburne Drive.  All but two of the trees appear to have had a good year.

Workday Sunday 3rd October 2010

A message from Ron

"This Sunday is our workday and we will meet as usual at Waterloo Road car park at 9.00am.  From there we're going up to Hall o'the Heath.  We hope to cut and rake the wildflower meadow but if Dave is unable to cut the meadow for us, we will do some tree planting instead."

Sadly the workday was postponed due to the very heavy rain.

Orchard work Sept 5th

The orchard at Hall o'the Heath farm developed by the Haslington Conservation Volunteers.  ready for its yearly tidy.

The grass and brambles were cut back from the whole area and thrown into the neighbouring fields for the cattle to feast upon.

The volunteer workforce taking a food break of essential biscuits and coffee.

The volunteers with Cheshire East Ranger Alistair.

September Work Day - Sunday 5th

A message from Ron....
"Just a reminder that this Sunday we'll be back up to Hall o'the Heath to do some tidying up work (strimming and hedge cutting) in the orchard. This will be our first workday with the new ranger, Alistair, and I'm sure we will all make him welcome."