64 kids, 3 rangers, 50 things????

School visits to our woods are becoming a fairly usual occurrence these days, and so when our friends at Lorton Primary rang to say they’d like to come out for a 50 things day at Holme Wood in Loweswater, of course we said yes, and then we looked at the numbers! This wasn’t going to be easy but was certainly doable with a bit of slick timing and a fairly flexible plan, a quick plan was cobbled together and Rangers Dan ,Paul and Mark talked it through got the kit together and hoped for fair weather amongst the thunder storms of previous days.

 The morning arrived and before even getting to the wood the children, and staff with parent helpers, had already completed one of the tasks, to take a long walk! Our narrow lanes weren’t suitable for the school buses so the day started with a 1.3 km hike along the farm track, where the mobs of lambs took minds of the long walk, and made it a tad slower as well!

Once on site we split into groups with Ranger Dan taking charge of the younger kids who set off pond dipping, we didn’t actually have a pond, the lake had to suffice. They would follow us, using a treasure map and making a stick trail on the way.

Rangers Mark and Paul led the rest of the group in to Holme wood, where after a swift talk about the day and a bit of health and safety we split again, Paul taking 2 groups off den building whilst Mark’s group set about lighting fires without matches, and then cooking marshmallows and trying out the rope swings over the lake.

We’d had to time each session to about 30 minutes, necessary in order for everyone to have a go at most tasks but we needn’t have worried, the quality of den building was impressive with some very sturdy examples and some good innovative designs being created well within time, really good to see how the builders organised themselves and got a system going, and all with the smell of roasting marshmallows drifting through the woods.

A couple of whistles from Mark and the groups changed over, and now the infants and Ranger Dan had caught us up and were busy bug hunting, turning over piles of bark and leaves and finding all sorts of weird and wonderful mini beasts , using magnifying glasses and work sheets to identify their captures.

Lunch time! So far we’re on schedule for the day, Things are being done, den building, rope swings, map reading, going on a  long walk, cooking on a campfire, after lunch we have mud pies, climbing trees out over the lake, slack lining, dam building, pooh sticks and grass trumpets, we need a snack for sure.

The afternoon sessions flew by with everyone having had a go at everything, the long walk back to the buses was accompanied by varying degrees of grass trumpet playing and laughter, it was as once again brilliant to hear our woodlands filed with giggles, both from the kids and the staff and parent helpers, who it must be said were excellent we really couldn’t have managed the day without their help, Thank you.

 

We had lots of kids asking if they could come back?  Of course you can, just let us have a wee rest first!

 

 

 

Beavering Away

From time to time what seems to be a simple task, becomes a bit of a challenge for Ranger Dan and myself, not such a bad thing though as it allows us to be slightly  imaginative  and change how we do things, also makes life more interesting I reckon!

A piece of footpath maintenance at Dunthwaite was a case in point, easy enough job but access to the site is a major problem, so what do we do? well we just use what's already there!
A steep section required some steps to make the ascent easier on the knees, these were constructed by using hazel cut from nearby coppices, easier to get at than carrying in treated timber and to my mind looks much nicer, we'd no sooner finished than we were thanked by a couple on behalf of their aged collie who apparently found it much easier, and we were amazed to then see the dog climb a custom made ramp into the back of a waiting Mercedes!!! ( Ranger Dan is now trying to source similar in order to get me in and out of the landrover more easily)

A little bit further on, a section of post and rail fencing which prevents our visitors plummeting down a slope to the river Derwent had over the years slowly started to lean over towards the river, on inspection the timber seemed sound so  rather than rip it out and replace it we ripped it out and re sited it, standing upright and braced against the slope it should last a good while longer, and to be honest looks much better than a shiny new bit of fence in amongst the old, cheaper too which should please our accountants!

before and after picture, not a lot different but that's the beauty of the repair

Another opportunity to carry out a repair using only what was on site presented itself at Holme Wood in Loweswater where following a very localised storm a stream had burst it's bank deposited a huge amount of debris in the wood and washed out a considerable section of all access path.
On another day we'd simply have got a digger in and rebuilt the bank but not this time, co-incidentally as we were in a wood there were a few trees around, and some of them right where we needed them, Ranger Dan and myself set about felling the trees so they lay across the breached banks forming a structure that we hope will catch silt and debris from future flood events and become a natural dam, and if it doesn't? well we're no worse off, the trees will coppice back up and we haven't spent a fortune, happy accountants again!!

 

Filling the gaps in stream banks, beaver style!

Ranger Dan beavering away

and there we arrive at the title of the blog, North Lakes Rangers beavering away, simples !!

Spring is sprung

Ah spring, when a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, but alas as we are mostly greying, old and grumpy (excepting of course the dashing Ranger Dan) we are content to enjoy the sunshine and the crisp cold mornings.

It’s a grand time of the year for us, we’ve seen the last of our hedge laying season and are looking forward to getting our property in good fettle for the rush of springtime visitors, and also we can now catch up on the some of the little jobs which crop up.

Ranger Dan and myself have been busy clearing fallen trees from our woodland paths and felling trees on the edge of our Dunthwaite estate, opening up drainage ditches and generally tidying up the appearance of the roadside woodlands, we took the opportunity there to try out our carving skills…steep learning curve ahead but at least one family who wandered past enjoyed our efforts.. A nice smile from them all.

Not bad for a first effort

 Of course not many of our blogs go by without mention of our regular Thursday Volunteers and last week's adventures certainly bear mentioning. We were joined by David and Phil on the task of repairing some high fell walls alongside the Coffin Road above Holme Wood in Loweswater, a steady steep walk up in glorious sunshine brought us out onto the open fell and tremendous views over the valley.

 Some days walling can be a frustrating challenge but not this day, excellent quality stone certainly makes the job easier and with the sun on our backs, birdsong in the air and a degree of concentration we had two gaps mostly complete by lunchtime.

Phil concentrating perhaps too much?

 Once the walling was finished off and we had ambled gently back down through the woods we had some time on our hands.

In these harsh economic times we are all conscious of making the most of our resources and saving money where we can. We were aware of the need for a rescue boat for Loweswater and our other lakes and had in our spare moments begun designing such a craft, today it was decided was time for a test launch

We're gonna need a bigger boat!!!!

Work in progress I think you’ll agree?