Task Reports

Please contact the office if you are interested in volunteering and we will discuss details.

Conservation Work - Past

Tree Planting

Three hundred and thirty five trees planted today, plus their stakes and guards, to form a hedge along a section of path in Wkye recreation area (I don’t actually know the name of the place but it has had a varied history from dam, factories and landfill. Judging from the comments of passers-by it is a well like local greenspace).

We planted mostly hawthorn, but also blackthorn, field maple, hazel and guelder rose. The ground was quite a contrast to our last planting at Silsden – here it was stony and slow going in places, but we summonsed a great effort to get the stretch completed. 

Bolton St James Church

Bolton road, BD2

This week we have continued to work on the path, completing the hard core sub-layer and adding the fine stone to finish off.  A stone area has been created in front of the bench and a stone wall was built at the bottom of the slope at the bank. We did some landscaping, using cut turfs to make path edging, so all in all it is taking shape but some tidying up to do before the opening ceremony in spring. 

Bolton St James Church

Bolton Road, BD2

Join the Shaping Spaces team today and tomorrow to complete the path at the front and side of the Church as well as final finishes to walls and clearing rubble, soiling profiling etc 

Depart Culture Fusion 10am

 

Tree Planting

We joined the Forest of Bradford team to plant about 1000 trees along a 200m section of farmland hedge. The species mix was mainly hawthorn with a smaller selection of holly, blackthorn, hazel, field maple, spindle and dog rose to add diversity. Most of the trees were grown in root trainers by the Woodland Trust, making planting relatively simple; just the claggy soil to deal with. Each tree had a cane added and a spiral guard to protect from the rabbits.

We were pleasantly surprised by the weather, which contributed to being able to make good progress with the job. We disturbed a toad, which was nestled back in the undergrowth, and a vole surprised Andy as he cleared some grass. 

Bowling Park Community Orchard

in the allotments on Bowling Park Drive, BD4

27 Jan 2017A reluctant start today, the coldest Friday morning we have had for a while, even feeling colder than in the snow at Lower Fields. The minibus took quite a bit of coaxing before we could set off. 

The trees were covered in frost when we arrived, not ideal for pruning, so we started the morning on more active jobs; turning the compost heaps, digging out misplaced raspberry canes from next to the Egremont Russet and continuing with laying the hedge near the seating area. 

The hedgelaying team (probably the smallest number you can class as a team) did an excellent job and completed the entire stretch.  We will need to take some remedial action on the pallet fence behind which has nails sticking though, but apart from that the work has made a massive improvement - creating habitat whilst keeping the hedge below the 5ft limit. Well done. 

We couldn’t really leave without doing any pruning – we had a new tool to try out. We have bought a lopper attachment for the pole, so we can reach into the branches and to higher branches. The rope pulley system reduces the effort needed and the ability to change the angle of the cutting head was very satisfying!

In addition we took compost to the orchard and some twigs and timber as kindling for our wassail for on Sunday. And people took some soft apples away for garden blackbirds; ideal to attract them for RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. 

 Have a look at the orchard gallery here 

Parkside Centre

Parkside Road BD5

We had a variety of tasks to do today, but the main one was to work on the hedge and cut some of the longer grass, which included grubbing out blackthorn suckers. We only laid the hedge a couple of years ago so it isn’t at the stage it needs doing again yet. However the hedge needs to be kept at a reasonable height to allow light into the garden and to keep the adjacent footpath open and visible. We tackled this with a mixture of coppicing some stems to the ground to allow the regrowth to add to the density of the hedge, winding some of the thinner stems of hazel and dog rose in and amongst the hedge, and laying some of the branches (even though they were only a few cm in diameter). 

At the top end we started to grub out some dense blackthorn that was making the hedge too wide. This was also done throughout the wildflower meadow. 
 
In order to protect the fruit trees when the grass is mown we made a timber surround for one of the trees. The rest will be done at a later date. We took a moment to admire the shape of the apple tree – it was a good example of how to prune to open up the middle of the tree and create the desired goblet shaped tree. 
 
We dug a late crop of potatoes from one of the beds, and shared out some Ashmead’s Kernal from the orchard. We enjoyed the winter sunshine. 
 

Lower Fields Primary School

Fenby Avenue BD4

We weren’t going to let a little bit of snow put us off on Friday 13th! But we did adjust our plans a little and concentrated on the woodland work in the nature area. We will return to cut the wildflower bank in more appropriate weather. 

The task was to fell a few trees, and remove branches, that were growing over paths, posing a risk or in areas that were going to be used differently (i.e. an area for hanging tarp shelters amongst the trees).  Our timing was pretty good, following the high winds of Tuesday night and Wednesday. A couple of the large willow trees had twisted and cracked, with major branches falling onto the Holm Oak – a specimen tree.  The size of some of the branches was at the upper end of what we could sensibly tackle with the bowsaws. But it kept us warm! We created habitat piles from the smaller branches, the larger ones being put aside either to grow interesting fungi or be used in a more constructive way.  

We were pleased the skies were blue and the sun shone, but also that it remained cold and the snow didn’t melt and become unpleasant slush. 

 
 
Tool Maintenance at Culture Fusion
julia Fri, 6th Jan 2017, 11:00pm
In the workshop at Culture Fusion

Sharpening chiselSharpening chiselAs always we started the year with some tlc for the tools. All the sharp edged tools; scythes, sickles, billhooks, loppers and shears, where taken to the workshop for a clean and a sharpen. This is our opportunity to use the files as well as the sharpening stones to make sure ‘shoulders’ don’t develop on the point which happens if there is continued sharpening at the cutting edge of the blade. 

The bowsaws were checked and the tool box tidied up, ready to go for our tasks in 2017. We even managed to pair up some gloves and find homes for the wellies.