May onwards – dirty work

Hanging out with the Mudpack had been too difficult prior to my break as they always met on a Tuesday. But now I had my weekdays as free as my weekends. It was easy to get to as well, a lift from Preston train station to wherever the planned conservation work was. There were about four weekly regulars, three retired men and a younger woman. Then there were the semi-regulars, on my four occasions I might see them twice. Then there were the one-offs, although they might well have gone back another time when I wasn’t there. We travelled to Longworth Clough, near Bolton, for Himalayan Balsam ‘bashing’ and dry stone walling. Two conservation activities I’d heard about but never tried before. Himalayan Balsam was an incredibly common and invasive plant which, unfortunately, was taking over the ground so preventing other plants from growing there. This reduction in diversity was detrimental for fauna as well as flora too as it meant less variety of plantlife for animals to eat. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to pull the balsam from its roots but we had to remember to keep it off the ground so it couldn’t spread. Dry stone walling was interesting although it could also be frustrating, as we found when it was realised a former attempt had left a section rather wonky, and likely to collapse. So we had to try to gather more stones and put them in the right places. I found, like with many things, there is a certain technique to dry stone walling. And teamwork is pretty key too. From planting a hawthorn hedge in a meadow to lopping back overgrown branches, my knowledge of nature has increased as has my muscles!