Cambridge National Trust Volunteers

Diary page 15 of 21: January – July 2012 [older | newer]

Orford Ness — 20th - 22nd July 2012

In July, we worked on Orford Ness, a shingle spit formerly used by the armed forces for various purposes – one being the testing of atomic weapon components. The “island” is covered with stones, birds, mysterious military structures, unexploded ordnance…and, in places, ragwort. We stuck to eliminating the last of these (since CNTV don‘t specialise in mine clearance), and were assigned a patch amongst some ruined buildings under the supervision of the warden, Dave. On the Sunday, we were lucky enough to have Dave give us a guided tour of the whole site.

Photo - Taking the boat over to Orford Ness Photo - Relaxing in the basecamp Photo - Hunting ragwort

Taking the boat over to Orford Ness; relaxing in the basecamp; hunting ragwort (left and right photos: Jo H.; centre photo: Tom H.)

Photo - Sign warning against unexploded ordnance Photo - “Pagodas” used for bomb testing Photo - The team

Sign warning against unexploded ordnance; “pagodas” used for bomb testing; the team (left photo: Andy T.; centre photo: Jo H.; right photo: Tom H.)

Andy has more details, and more pictures.

Ashridge Estate — 20th - 22nd April 2012

We had quite a variety of tasks this weekend. The first was to remove silt and sticks from a pond close to the Bridgewater Monument. Since we ended up finishing that task by lunchtime, we spent the afternoon taking in the hills around the property, which included the highest point in the Chilterns – Ivinghoe Beacon. Sunday morning saw us installing a fence around a deep pit dug into a site of geological interest.

Photo - Clearing the pond Photo - All of us at the weekend away

Left: Clearing the pond; Right: The group of us (left photo: Lorraine R.; group shot kindly taken by Emily the warden)

Photo - Making a fence Photo - Making a fence

Making a fence (photos: Lorraine R.)

Ickworth — 15th April 2012

(Alison B. writes:) The task was to remove two screens on either side of a small bird hide and replace with two new screens constructed of hazel. The old screens were a few years old, falling down and spouting new growth! Our task was to put up new screens, made by putting in new stake posts and weaving willow into screens.

Photo - Old screen hides in place Photo - Hide with old screens removed

Left: Old screen hides in place; Right: Hide with old screens removed (photos: Alison B. / Paul H.)

The warden gave us a brief idea of what he wanted, and left us to our own devices. The easy bit was taking down the old screens, which easily fell apart. Following several (slightly heated!) discussions we decided on the best way to construct the new screens and set to. On either side of the “hide shelter” we put in a double row of new stakes, at intervals, and in between each double stake, we put in a single stake. Then we used long, slender hazel branches, and weaved these in and out of the stakes. At regular height intervals, we roped the double row of stakes together, to keep the weaved hazel in place. The result – two new screens which looked very smart and were highly praised by the NT warden.

Photo - Weaving and construction of new screens Photo - Completed screens

Left: Weaving and construction of new screens; Right: Completed screens (photos: Alison B. / Paul H.)

Wandlebury Ring — 29th January 2012

This was a bit of an unusual project for us as it wasn't based at a National Trust site, but at the Iron Age ring ditch at Wandlebury, a scheduled ancient monument. We helped conserve the structure by removing scrubby vegetation from the site.

Photo - Working in the Ring Photo - The bonfire Photo - CNTV at work

Working in the Ring; the bonfire; CNTV at work (photos: Paul H.)

Paul H. captured a timelapse video of the works as well as still images. Tom H. also took some pictures of the activity.