Twice more up the hill

We've been up and down the hill to Sparrow Hawk Farm twice since I last blogged and haven't drowned on either occasion although waterproofs did tend to be on and off like a Tom Cruise marriage.

Last week (4th July) we allowed ourselves a little diversion and made repairs to the culvert that runs alongside the wall.  Richard and Roger couldn't resist jumping into the hole for a rummage around. 

The rest of us had the good sense to stay on comparatively dry land.  Thereafter we made further progress on the wall and made a start on the copes. 

until by the end of July 11th we had finished the wally bit and were more than two thirds of the way round with copes thanks to a sterling effort from Paul and Richard the Younger. 

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Richard does his best to cope!

One more week of coping and tidying should see us home and .... probably still damp.

Acknowledgements to Richard the Elder for the photos

PS for David's records we had seven wallers on each of the two days

Two for the price of one (weeks, that is)

Sorry I forgot to blog last week and apologies to those who showed up on 13th June because I've forgotten who did and who didn't ... apart from Robert, that is, who joined us for the first time in many a long month.  Welcome back and I hope you're able to get more time off before we run out of walls.

The bees, although only recently decanted into their new homes, were very well behaved and only mildly curious about our comings and goings.  Not so the midges which were a complete pain in the butt and anything else they could get their itchy little feet/teeth/fangs into.  Aaarggh!

Good progress on the wall though, as evidenced by Tony's separately loaded photos.

Yesterday (20th June) is clearer to my fading grey matter.  A beautiful, warm, sunny day (yes, we did have a summer one day this year!) and Tony, Emma, Roger, Phillip, Paul, and the Richards for company.  Only one hive still occupied (altho' Kit whizzed off to collect a new swarm in the afternoon) and the bees plagued Richard the Y but left the rest of us alone.

The lower end of the wall is now up to full height and the remainder is coming on well altho' the uphill middle section is still presenting challenges.

Photos below courtesy of Richard the E.

Wed 13th June 2012  -  The bees have arrived

                                                               

Two's company but there will be more.

Lunch break

Close of play

I wandered lonely as a..

Clouds!  We'd almost forgotten what they look like after so many days of glorious sunshine but there they were offering some relief from the blazing sun. 

So making the most of the modest weather we carried on piling on the courses and digging out whatever large stone we could find to help us raise the height of the wall.

We were joined by Kit who did some heavy haulage work and Kev (a proper waller!) who had itchy fingers and added a few stones to the wall - every little helps! Soon we might even be joined by the bees, although we have been assured they can be locked up on Wednesdays so that we can wall without being stung.

The adventurous bunch this week were; Phillip, Paul, Richard (senior), Catriona & Roger

See you next week

Em

NAWG goes global

From time to time we are joined by people who are just passing through or visiting Nidderdale who have heard about us and the work we do and this week was just such an occasion.  We were glad to welcome Mick who has come from Australia just to enjoy some walling with us, oh and he might be seeing other parts of the UK at the same time but really that pales in comparison to walling with us!

It was a glorious day in Nidderdale, the sun beating down and the best views from Sparrowhawk Farm across the dale.  However, not always the best weather for walling as it's hard work, but we slogged on in the sun and managed to throw up several courses around the wall.

We worked on filling in the gap between the low end and high end of the wall and generally raising the height of the rest of the wall.

As we sweltered on through we all had a fantastic day out in the sunshine, the sunburned few were; Chris, Richard Senior, Richard Junior, Paul, Phillip and of course Mick.

See you next week, Em

not sure what happened here, for some reason it won't turn round :-/

The day after...

Well, we headed back up to Sparrowhawk Farm on Wednesday to carry on walling (could be a film in that!)

We had a sunnier day than the Tuesday which is unusual since we seem to be visited by the type of weather only seen in biblical times when we venture up that hill.

A few more courses were added to the wall and fun was had trying to keep walling horizontally round corners, we like a challenge!  I was joined on our pleasant afternoon by Chris, Catriona, Richard and Graham D and we enjoyed lovely scones courtesy of Kit and Megan.

See you next week

Em

A taste of Tuesday walling

Well, firstly, apologies for the late blogs they have been safely tucked away in my head and hadn't made it into digital print!

This week sees a first for the walling and conservation groups in the AONB, we've mashed things up and ventured out on a Tuesday to give the AONB's Nature Conservation Volunteers or NCV a taste of what we get up to on a Wednesday.

First we'll need a bit of history...

A long time ago in an AONB well quite close by really, there was a group of volunteers who worked to improve the AONB, walls and all!  At some point the walls were tackled by a new group on Wednesdays who went on to become the NAWG! ie us.

The NCV still meet on Tuesdays and tackle bracken bashing, woodland/wetland management and other practical conservation jobs that need carrying out around the AONB, on occasion they also wall.

So our Tuesday Taster session is part of an ongoing programme of knowledge sharing between the various parts of the AONB, there have been woodland management talks, identification lessons and training events so far and there is a lot more planned for the rest of the year.

We had dull but not unpleasant weather and we were joined by Graham, Tony, Howie and Ros from the NCV and Chris, Paul and me from the NAWG - we are reaching an acronym meltdown I think!

We had a good session up at Sparrowhawk Farm and managed to get a few courses stacked up, there was plenty of banter and I hope we were able to pass on our enthusiasm for the craft and tempt our Tuesday brethren out on a Wednesday.

We'll be back with Wednesday's activities next, Em

A break in the weather ...

'Muck and bullets' just about sums up April's weather and the same pattern seems set to plague May as well.  So we were particularly lucky on Wednesday 9th May to be complaining about the heat and removing winter layers as the Sparrowhawk wall grew by a course or three.

I was joined by Graham, Catriona, Roger, both Richards and newbie Tony who finally got to bang a few stones together after his taster day experience of grovelling around in mud and, as we have since discovered, the ever-present sheep muck.  Clearly the man is not easily put off and will be a great asset to the team.  Mind you, he did say that he wasn't sure when we would see him again!

Kit joined us briefly ... just long enough to deliver delicious apple pie and Victoria sponge.  Faced with the dilemma of which to choose, your chairman naturally chose both without a trace of shame or embarrassment.

At close of play the day's efforts were clearly visible, though not to blog readers as, once again, I forgot my camera.  Sorreee!  Next Tuesday we have our Taster Day for the other AONB volunteers.  They will have a range of courses to have a go at, so there should be something for everyone.  Any NAWG member who feels like turning up for an extra day's walling would be more than welcome.

See you next week?

Sparrowhawk Farm pictures - 2 May 2012

                                  Roger's stone carrier comes to the rescue.

                                                  

                                          The foundations are joined together

                                                  The second course has started

                                                  One end of the half circle begins to rise

 

                                                  At close of play

The finer things in life

It has to be said that there is really not much to beat being up at Sparrowhawk Farm in good weather, we could see the mist clinging to Greenhow but we were spared and even treated to a burst of sunshine later in the afternoon. 

The good weather has a remarkable effect on a days walling and we surged on until 3pm this week, largely helped on by a tasty dose of scones and jam from lovely Kit and Meg at the Farm.  Really there can be nothing better!

Down to business...

We had a healthy turnout again this week, I was joined by Chris, 2 Grahams, Richard, Catriona, Roger, Phillip and Tony.

Between us we managed to haul some more stones out of the old wall and completed the foundations by lunchtime (ish).  We also made a brave start on two wall ends and despite the swearing they are looking good.  Now we just have to see if we can wall uphill and round in a circle without losing our sanity!  The outcome will be anything but guaranteed, I'm not sure that we are all sane to begin with but heyho.

I'm afraid that I was too busy enjoying myself to take pictures this week but Tony was seen with his camera so with a bit of luck he'll add them later.

See you next week, hopefully with some more lovely weather, Em.

Sparrowhawk Farm pictures - 25 April

Special hats and wet weather

So...

It would seem that we are destined to struggle on through the finest weather that Nidderdale has to offer!

We returned to Sparrowhawk Farm this week and to be fair we had a cracking morning, the weather kept at bay and we finished preparing the foundations and digging out useful stone in time for our coffee break (with cake supplied!).

After our break we set about the foundations in three teams, we slogged on until lunch time when the deluge began in earnest. The site quickly turned from pleasant to mud fest and none of us could muster the will to carry on and called it a day.

Here's hoping that next week we get a good clear day and lots of walling done!

I was joined by Richard, Phillip, Tony, a couple of Graham's, Roger and David Leonard (who once employed us for a job at Thornthwaite!)

I only managed to get one picture done today, so here it is in all it's glory... Graham and the special hat

Sparrowhawks and Amazons Forever!!

This week sees us trekking up above Pateley Bridge to Sparrowhawk Farm to start work on another curvy project - we just can't get enough of them!

We were joined by Catriona, Roger, Paul, Phillip, Em, Graham, David, me and Taster Tony (our taster session volunteer for the day!).

Sparrowhawk Farm is a regular haunt for AONB volunteers and some of us have been here before, the owner Kit is establishing wildflower meadows and planning to keep bees and it's the bees we are here to help with.  As we discovered today the site has beautiful views, when they emerge from the mist but not a lot of shelter from the elements - something that the bees are going to need!  To give the bees a good chance at surviving the wind we've been asked to construct a semi-circular fold (does this sound familiar to anyone else!) which when finished will stand at approx 5' and hopefully provide enough shelter.

The weather was not kind to us and by lunch I was on my third pair of gloves and we were all beginning to resemble drowned rats.  We cracked on though and got most of the foundation trench dug and hefted plenty of stone out of the ground to be getting along with.  Everybody threw themselves into the task with a zeal that even the weather could not dampen!  However, by 2 o'clock we were drenched and really had had enough so called time for this week.

We'll be back again next week, with a bit of luck we'll get some sunshine and get the chance to admire this stunning location.

What photo's we managed to take before the mud set in are below.

Cheers, Em

Buried treasure

If a job's worth doing

Lets's do it properly

This was after the mud was washed away by the rain!