Task Reports

19th Sept 2014Nine volunteers worked at the orchard today. The fence and gate were repaired and replaced. Fruit and vegetables, mainly potatoes, were harvested. The pathways were cleared and areas of vegetation cut. 

Captain Brass took able charge of the boat again today. Together with the enthusiastic assistance of David they managed to retrieve the accumulated litter from the water whilst others worked around the edge and in the grassy areas. Thanks to the Clean Team for collecting the rubbish.

We also cut and raked the grass, to benefit the wildflowers and cut back branches around the pathway.

8 volunteers

This was our final cut of the year and we managed to cover a good area with both the auto scythe and the hand tools. We cut the larger bracken at the top of the hill, and worked down the slope to connect the patches of heather and bilberry to the open area at the bottom.

There were plenty of small heath butterflies about, as well as bumblebees, grouse and swifts.

10 volunteers

Today we continued our summer management of Boar’s Well with the usual routine of clearing and mowing the paths and meadow areas. We also took on the challenge of tacking the Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam. So we split into 2 groups and began to remove the knotweed, which had taken steps to grow in the most difficult of places.

As we cut the knotweed back, making sure to leave in one location the group move town the gate, cutting back more and more of the invasive plant. Along the way we also pull balsam from the ground, and collected the litter. Soon we managed to cut back the knotweed we could see and remove the balsam in the area we found it in, and headed back to Culture Fusion.

Today we had a group of 6

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Today with Cumulonimbus clouds filling the skies, we continued the summer maintenance on Baildon Moor. Using scythes, sickles and the mighty auto-scythe we began to cut back the Bracken. Similar to our last encounter we split into groups and began to work on different area on the moorland. Thankfully the group remained dry throughout the day and we managed to cut a large area of bracken. The group also saw 7 grouse and two voles during the task.

We will be returning for our final visit on the 5th September to complete this year management.

Today we had a group of 8

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Today we continued with our summer maintenance of Boar’s Well, This involved mowing the path and cutting back the brambles (and eating the blackberries on the way) and nettles making it accessible to the public. We also did the routine litter pick across the site.

After Lunch the group then set out on 2 different tasks, one group cleared and assessed the wooden stairs to see if they needed repairing (thankfully they didn’t) and clearly more of the path. The other group began the enjoyable task of removing Himalayan Balsam, however this first involve making a path through a sea of nettles and brambles. But with sickles and scythes in hand we set of to do battle with this formidable foe.

After a path was clear it became easier to remove the shallow rooted balsam from the hillside.

Today we had a group of 8

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Click Here to view the BEES Flickr Page

This was our first visit of the year to Baildon Moor to begin the fun task of cutting bracken to encourage more moorland plant species. When we set off it was a glorious day with the sun blazing, and we arrive ready and able to do battle with the bracken.

Once we hiked to the site we set off to work, making sure that each person was well away from another for safety reasons. 3 members took to scything the bracken whilst the rest used the sickles to clear the smaller patches.

After lunch a massive operation was taken to rake up the cut bracken and pile together. This also allowed us to make bracken parasols which gave some much needed shade as we carried the bracken to each pile.We will be returning later in the summer to continue the work.

Today we had a group of 8

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Click here to veiw the BEES Flickr page

Today we unloaded the kilns. However, as expected, they had not burnt well. We had had to close the kilns down whilst the indications were that the process had not completed but it had got too late. We did manage to bag a reasonable amount. 

We also prepared other timber, ready to season and use in the future, and repaired the saw horses.

Today we were a group of 9 volunteers