Winter Work

This week's countryside blog comes from the Upland Ranger team based in the South Lakes area. 

When the team are working in the Fells a question we often get asked is:
"Do you work up here all year round?"
The answer to this is that we don't and this blog is about what we might be doing when we are not tackling erosion in the Fells of the Lake District.

We do spend much of the year in the Mountains and during the months between the clocks going forward an hour and until they go back again we expect to spend nearly all of our working time up in the Fells. This period is sometimes referred to as our "Fell Season".
 

Upland Rangers in their natural habitat during the "Fell Season"
(Taking a break before starting working on Striding Edge)

Outside of this "Fell Season", due to the shorter days and weather conditions, it isn't practical or safe for the team to stay in the Fells and we move onto work in the lower level Countryside. We call this our "Winter Work" programme (although it does include parts of Autumn and Spring too).

In general the team will help with anything that our Ranger colleagues in the South Lakes ask. There is never a shortage of lower level countryside work and we can find ourselves in high demand (it is not unheard of for our Area Rangers to "fight" for our time).

The examples below, from this years "Winter Work" programme, give an idea of some of the types of work.

We often work with rock and some dry stone walling is a common activity. There are always plenty of wall gaps to repair and we sometimes do some slightly more formal work too.  

Building a Dry Stone Retaining wall for a raised bed at Wray Castle

Another recent task, also using stone, has been some Slate-edged pathway.

A section of Slate-edged path at Wray Castle in progress

A common task in recent years for our Woodland Ranger is building tree cages to protect young trees.  This year has been no exception. 

Tree Cage under construction
(A nice winter day & a Wetherlam backdrop)

We might repair or construct countryside furniture such as gates, stiles and benches.  

Installing a new Bench at Wray Castle
(Donated by a family with connections to Wray Castle)

The finished Bench

We might also work in other areas of the National Trust where help is needed. For example the recent floods didn't affect our South Lakes area as much other parts of Cumbria and we have provided some support in other areas.

Helping clear a flood damaged fence with volunteers near Ambleside

Each year we usually help the Steam Yacht Gondola team winch Gondola out of Coniston Water and set up the frame to cover her for Winter repairs.    

Steam Yacht Gondola winched out of the water

The work we get involved in can be very varied and the examples above are a small selection based on recent months. Our team could be called on to help with any work needed in order to look after the countryside.

At this time of year we don't completely neglect our upland work and weather permitting we try to fit in some maintenance days. We also have an upland work party with the Fix the Fells Volunteer "Lengthsmen" at least once a month.

A Work Party on Browney Gill with the Fix the Fells Volunteer Lengthsmen
(A fairly grim day, we've had a few of these recently)

We also need to think about preparations for the forthcoming Fell Season and usually need to consider rock for our projects. There is seldom sufficient rock close enough to the paths we are going to work on and we may need to fill "heli-bags" so rock can be lifted to site by helicopter. This needs to be done in the early months of the year so it is ready for when we return to the fells. Carrying the heli-bags up to rock collection sites is often quite a good warm up for the main event of actually filling them.

On route to fill "heli-bags" with Rocks
(Image from 2013, we haven't started rock collection this year yet)

A bonus at this time of year, due to the shorter days, is that the light can be quite striking especially early morning or late afternoon as the sun rises or sets. A couple of recent examples are:

Sunrise along Windermere as the team started work at Wray Castle

Late afteroon light looking along Coniston Water at the end of a working day

If you would like to know more about the daily work of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team they can be found on Twitter @NTLakesFells or for more about Fix the Fells follow this link: Fix the Fells 

Posted by: Nick, Upland Ranger

The unwelcome guests ....

The sheer diversity of people that stay here demonstrates what a welcoming and inclusive place High Wray is. But sometimes we get a guest that we just wish hadn’t come in the first place and that we can’t wait to get out of the door.

Well, that doesn’t sound very ‘rangery’ does it? But when the guest in question is a bird that files in through our door and gets stuck in the kitchen we hope you’d agree with us. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does we’re normally alerted by the tapping and flapping sound of the panicking bird desperately trying to batter it’s way out of our windows. This is upsetting for both the bird and us so we try to get it out as quickly as possible.  

Bird in hand

Most of the time we can leave the door open and slowly ‘herd’ the bird towards it, but this doesn’t always work so sometimes we need to capture it. It’s tricky, but there’s certain ways to do this that minimize the chance of harming the bird and once you have them (carefully) in your hand it’s surprising how calm they appear. 

A bird in the hand .... the Wren caught in the kitchen

Sometimes though this may be because they’re a bit dazed as with this Wren that we recently caught, which is why it’s just sat on a hand without flying off. We put this one down outside the door and it had gone 10 minutes later so we think it just needed to get it’s breath back.

The duck makes it's casual entry

It’s not just small birds though. On occasion a local duck has turned up and wandered proprietarily in for a quick look around, before exiting in its own good time. More dramatically, this summer one of our volunteer groups came in to the Acland block kitchen to find a Bullfinch hiding under the kitchen shelves, with a Sparrowhawk perched inside on the windowsill looking mighty peeved! They caught this one by throwing a towel over it and released it outside, where it flew off unharmed – certainly not something you want eyeing up your sausages in the kitchen ….

Volunteers flock in

Most of the time though, our guest are invited. Recently we played host to the Fix the Fells lengthsmen for their annual Xmas bash, an event we’ve been proud to hold here for the last five years now. Around 35 of these fantastic regular volunteers spent a couple of days working with us and the South Lakes upland path team, culminating in a Saturday night feast of fun …. and food, of course. This year the lengthsmen have once again broken all their own records on the amount of volunteering days they’ve contributed to Fix the Fells, so there was plenty to celebrate.

Very welcome guests! The lengthsmen's Xmas quiz in 'full flight'

We’re looking forward to next year now and welcoming many more guests through our doors. And while you can never be sure, we’re hopeful there won’t be any need to throw a towel over any of them!

By Rob Clarke, Basecamp Community Ranger

Story of a Shed

Perhaps you have unexpectedly seen a shed somewhere in the Lake District fells?
This blog, from the South Lakes Upland Ranger team, explains why you might see one and outlines the story so far of one such shed.

As an Upland Ranger team we spend much of the year up in the fells working on footpaths to protect them from erosion as part of Fix the Fells. This can mean working on the same path for several months in all weathers and some shelter and storage space comes in very handy.
A shed has become the shelter of choice for this upland footpath team.

This year we have had a shed on the Red Tarn to Crinkle Crags footpath, a joint project with the West Lakes Upland Ranger team. It is fair to say that this shed has been around the block a bit having been previously used in a few locations. It started out life lower down on this path and before returning has been to other locations including Pike o' Blisco and Crinkle Crags.

(Fred the) Shed in an earlier location: on Pike o' Blisco

The sheds we use are (usually) moved between sites by helicopter.  The shed is flat packed and flown to location at the same time as rock for the year's projects is moved.
This year it didn't go smoothly and due to weather conditions and priorities we didn't actually get a shed in place during the main helicopter lifts. However a few months into the project a helicopter was in the area for another job and we jumped at the chance to finally get it moved.

"The Shed has Landed"
(Not a bad backdrop too !)

Once the shed was in place the next job was to re-assemble it. There were some concerns that this shed had seen better days and may be partly rotten having spent three years on Crinkle Crags since its last use. We also had some fun trying to find suitable bolts and screws to fix it together and selecting the correct size nuts for the bolts!

Construction in progress.
Weather holding up nicely.

Finishing touches, tethering the shed down.
Weather has taken a turn for the worse.

We needn't have worried about the condition of the shed and it went together nicely.
The weather was also kind to us and held out for almost all of the construction process.

"Bijou": First lunch inside

The shed was built in time for a three day party on this project with the Fix the Fells volunteer lengthsmen.  It proved worthwhile too as we had some poor weather, consistent with our previous work parties. Some volunteers however seemed reluctant to use it as it would have been difficult to fit everyone in and instead sheltered in front of it.

Some volunteers were too polite to use the shed at lunch time

"Supervisor" Hamish was less reluctant to use the shed

We have almost finished work for this year on the the Red Tarn to Crinkle Crags path and very soon it will be time to take the shed down and flat pack it. We have more work on this project next year and plan to construct it again next spring.
Perhaps this shed will makes its home in a new location in 2016 or will it be time to retire it from active service..... ?

If you would like to know more about the daily work of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team they can be found on Twitter @NTLakesFells.

Posted by: Nick, Upland Ranger

A Valentine to Volunteers

This week it is the turn of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team to write this blog and in light of the date it seemed like a great opportunity to remind volunteers that we love them !

Tackling erosion in the fells of the Lake District is a never-ending task and there is much more to do than the teams can possibly cope with. If it wasn't for volunteers we would struggle to keep on top of the maintenance of existing path work let alone undertake new projects.

There is one group of volunteers that is particularly close to our hearts; the 'Fix the Fells Lengthsmen'.  A  'lengthsman' is a traditional term for someone who looks after a right of way.
This group of  volunteers is involved in upland path work all year round and in all weathers. We frequently work with them and have got to know them fairly well. In fact two of our current team were first involved in upland work as volunteers under this lengthsmen scheme.


A work party with Fix the Fells Lengthsmen last summer on a
path project up Fairfield. A lovely day!

Lunchtime with lengthsmen: sheltering last week with a few volunteers on a
 work party near Blea Tarn.  Not such a nice day !

The volunteer lengthsmen carry out a range of important tasks. One of the main ones is the "drain run". This involves walking existing routes where path work has been carried out, clearing the drains  and clearing any gravel and loose material from the sections of " pitched" stone steps. It is also an opportunity to check the general condition of the paths and report back on areas in need of attention. The lengthsmen do an excellent job of coordinating their own drain runs and most weeks several drain runs take place around the Lake District.

They are also involved in project work which might include repairing or building new drains, pitching sections of path with rock and landscaping to define the main path and remove shortcuts.  Much of this is done in work parties with the upland path teams and some mini projects are carried out independently.

Lengthsmen building a drain on a route up Coniston Old Man.

It is often a case of 'many hands make light work' and the progress from a work party day can be quite striking.

A section of erosion developing on a path by Raise Beck.

Fix the Fells lengthsmen hard at work on the eroding section.

The results of the work party - a much better looking section of path. 

The lengthsmen are a fantastic group & always willing to get involved & help out even at fairly short notice. Last year, when weather conditions had delayed preparations, they helped us fill bags with rock just in time for the helicopter lifts that moved the rock from the screes to the nearby project site.

Today the South Lakes Upland Ranger team are out on a drain run with some of the lengthsmen and some potential new recruits, who will hopefully enjoy this "taster" day.
More information on volunteering for 'Fix the Fells' can be found using the following link:
http://www.fixthefells.co.uk/who-we-are/our-volunteers

The focus of this blog has so far been our main group of upland footpath volunteers that we have got to know (& love) over the last few years. We are also fortunate to work with lots of other volunteers.

We sometimes have individuals who wish to work with the team, it might be just the odd day or other times a few weeks, perhaps using holidays.

Two volunteers from the Netherlands helping us with our
Fairfield path project last summer.

Our volunteer centre at High Wray Basecamp frequently involves us with their volunteer groups. Examples might range from groups of college students doing outdoor courses to rehabilitation groups.

Volunteers from a rehabilitation group working on our Blea Moss path project

'West Runton' helping on the Blea Moss path project.
(A group that have been coming to High Wray Basecamp for many years)

Other volunteers include groups that enjoy the fells in their leisure time.  Aware that they are contributing to the erosion problems they also want to do their bit to help.

Kendal Fellwalkers helping us on a drain run up Browney Gill in January
(Weather looks nice here....but not for long....)

We usually run two upland footpath working holidays each year.  This involves up to 12 individuals joining us for a week's "holiday" working on our upland path projects.

Our working holiday group on the Fairfield path project last September.
(Probably some of the worst weather we had on the fells last year.)

It has only been possible to include a selection of volunteers that we have the pleasure to work with. However our message is the same to all volunteers:
"Thank you !"

If you would like to know more about the daily work of the South Lakes Upland Ranger team they can be found on Twitter @NTLakesFells.

Posted by: Nick, Upland Ranger

The Lengthsmen's lunch

In one of our earlier posts, our footpath rangers gave us an insight into the mysterious subject of 'shed life'...this time they've turned their attention to a subject close to every ranger's heart - food!...with particular reference to those volunteer path minders we call 'lengthsmen'.

The traditional role of the lengthsman would be to “walk the length of the parish” to ensure ditches and drains were clear. The term was adopted to describe workers maintaining lengths of road, canal, railway and path. Below are some mid-19th Century lengthsmen employed on the Caledonian railway in Scotland for 'packing' (the ballast on the track is packed back under the sleepers) and maintaining the railway lines.

It must have been hard work as a 19th century lengthsmen

Lunchboxes started making their appearance during the 19th century. They were, either, baskets, with lunch wrapped in a handkerchief, or tin pails (not a 'bucket!'). A Lengthsmen’s lunchbox during this period may have been similar to this pail below, with a lunch consisting of a chunk of bread with a piece of cheese and/or meat.

Not the easiest thing to get up a mountain!

Today the Fix the Fells lengthsmen, who work closely with the footpath rangers, carry out regular drain runs across the fells, clearing drains of debris ensuring they shed water effectively. They play a crucial role in helping to maintain the footpath network making access to the fells easier and safer. Another part of their role is to help visitors understand the need for repairing and looking after upland paths, so look out for them on your fell walks.

new drain by Ian, Richard and Martin - maintaining both paths and tradition!

As you can see, for the lengthsmen working on the fells today, the lunchbox is likely to be packed with a selection of sandwiches, meat, pasta, savoury dips and fruit (although we can't promise they all look as healthy or indeed tidy as this one!).

Similar box but a richer variety of content than earlier generations

We're all familiar with the term 'Ploughman's Lunch' but this is due to The Milk Marketing Board promoting the ploughman's lunch back in the 1960s, nationally to boost sales of cheese. Perhaps it's time to launch a similar campaign to promote the ‘Lengthsmen’s Lunch’ ...maybe it could be used to boost sales of mutton and support hill farming; wonder if our colleagues at Sticklebarn in the Langdales would like to kick it off?!

post by upland ranger Luke
lengthsmen photo : from Fix the Fells