Housemaids wanted

 

Doris, our faithful old housemaid, has had to be let go, on account of her great age and infirmity. (She could possibly still perform light duties of an upright nature, and we’re happy to provide references for the dear old lady.) There being a distressing shortage of housemaids, your own correspondent has been down on his knees blacking the stove, licking the floor clean, and so on. This has led to a painful condition of one knee, specifically the right one (the wrong one is fine), and the medical people have decided it is something known colloquially as ‘Housemaid’s Knee’. This nomenclature doesn’t seem acceptable in these modern times, but who is your usual correspondent to argue with the representatives of the NHS? However, it does provide a doctor’s note to explain my absence from the latest working party on the Common, so, as so often before, we are grateful for Team Leader Julie’s report of that event.

“We had 14 volunteers working today on what turned out to be quite a pleasant morning - we were actually getting a little warm when the sun emerged.

We were two team leaders down today and had been advised that a few regulars would also be missing. So we set up just two sheets initially…

but we were soon unfolding the other two as more arrived and set to work.

Noel was instructing Andrew on the winch and they made a good team for the session. So thanks go to Andrew for offering to join our winch team …. not an easy job at all. (But what's his singing like? Ed)

It was very boggy approaching the winch site so volunteers stood aghast as a load that they had painstakingly raked onto a sheet was tipped back off again to be spread across the ground near the winch site.

I only wish I had a picture of Margaret and Sheila rolling the tipped reed and grass to help spread it! It was impressive! It did make life much easier for those guiding the sheets though.

We don't often get good footage of what life is like at the winch end of the rope. Here we see the team steering the sheet to one side, and then tipping it out, which is quite a physical task.

The frogs were out in force today - here are two caught on camera - one trying to hide and the other escaping over the boardwalk.

Inevitably, people seemed to be glad when coffee time approached. Margaret was working away when dulcet tones shouted “it is 2 minutes to 11 you know”!!

Here she is still looking astounded!!

We were visited again by John - a very welcome sight - we promised not to load him on a sheet when we restarted after the break!

Everyone has their own technique for getting the cut material onto the sheets, raking it in rolls or pitch forking it on. Here Margaret is being assessed by the undisputed expert.

This picture reminded me of a very similar one we had of John at work many years ago (possibly even before colour photography was a thing) … the techniques remain the same decades on!!

Anyway, however people did it we cleared most of the area….

Just leaving a couple of sheets loaded and ready to be winched in two weeks’ time…

Along with a corner of the area still to be loaded on to sheets…

We will return in two weeks with the ambitious plan to complete this area and to clear the Bradfield Road spur ready for the snowdrops to bloom ….”

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

It's that time on a Sunday when you receive the heartfelt thank you. Particularly to the thirteen volunteers who turned out this morning. An excellent morning for working. Not too hot or too cold and you all functioned like a well-oiled machine. So good that Noel was able to don his tutor’s mantle and teach Andrew the wonders of the winch. Thankfully after last time’s troubles with the Grillo (NWT took away the broken one and we have another on loan), John and Kevin were able to finish cutting before the end of September. Thank you chaps.  We still have material in the central area to clear in two weeks’ time, when we will also be cutting the Bradfield Road spur ready for the snowdrop display.

Please watch out for a separate email from us regarding the Pit. George has a potential plan, but it will very much rest on how much time any of you will feel able to commit to eradicating the dreaded crassula. So watch this space.

Thank you again and we wish you all a restful afternoon - you have earned it.

Margaret (for the team leaders)

Grillo busted

 

Pit Common 20th September

Unavoidable circumstances regrettably (ahem) prevented your usual correspondent’s attendance at a recent special work party on Pit Common. Team Leader and frequent stand-in blogger Julie has provided the following account.

“We had nine hardy volunteers turn out today to clear away the grass, nettles and brambles around the Pit, which had been cut a few days previously. Also necessary was the clearing and digging out of the drainage channels leading from the road into the Pit.

Initially just two of us were setting up, and commenting that the area around the Pit is a lot bigger than you think once it is cut!!

The prime concern today was clearing the wildflower triangle that we are encouraging on Pit Common.

The volunteers were soon setting up to rake and pitchfork the cut material onto drag sheets which were then hand dragged to our dump area to the rear of the site.

The initial cut had been done with Grillo which cut the longer vegetation but it generally just flattened the softer grasses. So we also had to get the Pit mower out today to go over the wildflower area several times to get the grass shorter. It will probably need a few more cuts before it is short enough for us to scatter our additional Yellow Rattle seeds. The area is a work in progress. We have mainly got rid of the dock etc but we still need to fight the amount of grass in the area.

The sheets were dragged to the rear of the site which now serves as our dump area. We decided it was easier for a team to drag it to the area and tip it out and then for one person (me!) to pitch fork it up into a big heap.

 It was a very warm morning and we were all relieved when refreshment time was called!

As well as removing the grass we had Andrew doing a work-out clearing and digging out the drainage channels from the road …. It saved him a trip to the gym anyway!

When we had finished, I was quite proud of my enormous heap of cut material - it is much taller than me - ok that’s not saying much, but it was well over 6 foot!! It also appears that I was trying to replicate Mt Rushmore… oh come on this is definitely a face…!!

This is how the area looks now…”

Sunday 29th September

The latest work party of the Southrepps Commons Volunteers was graced by 16 of those good people. After a pretty chilly night, the weather was kind – unlike a couple of days previously, when it rained and rained and rained. Not as badly as many other parts of the country thankfully, but enough to make our little patch even soggier than it had been two weeks ago. We had left one fully loaded sheet last time, and as usual there had been a ‘pre-cut’ earlier in the week. All that had been cut had therefore absorbed a great deal of water, and thus became very heavy. Thank goodness for our winch!

The pre-cut had fortunately been extensive, so there was plenty lying around for us to work on.

It was fortunate, as during that pre-cut session Grillo had developed a serious oil leak, and is now awaiting the ministrations of a mechanic.

At every session, the first task is to sign in.

Then the drag sheets need to be laid out in suitable spots. See what I mean about the soggy conditions?

After that, it’s time to look cool with a pitchfork.

And then away we go!

Once a sheet is well loaded, it has to be accompanied on its winched journey to the dump site. Here we see two team leaders demonstrating the correct technique. The rest of us watched and learned.

Once tipped out, the loads combine to make heaps, and heaps can become a source of great pride. I tried to claim this as all my own work, but was predictably accused of inaccuracy. Such is life.

We’re all valuable of course, but we’re especially grateful to those who make the all-important winch keep on winching. These two were equally pleased to see your correspondent. Good to see Noel back in his Top Gun outfit.

Down at the winch end of the rope we do always have a good laugh, but the hysterical shriek let out by Noel when I claimed that we could move a particularly awkward load because “we’re a bunch of rootin’ tootin’ roughty toughty guys” was extreme. Down there under the trees the stray remark “don’t let it get stuck on the thing” also raised a chuckle.

Singing at the winch site has been well documented before. Offerings this time included The Undertones hit ‘My cousin Kevin’ (in tribute to Team Leader Kevin, obviously); and ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’. You can’t say we’re not eclectic in our repertoire. You can say a lot of other things, and people do, but not that.

There were many frogs of varying sizes hopping about the soggy spot, looking aggrieved at the change in their living conditions. One particularly aggrieved one had clearly had an argument with Grillo and sad to say one of its legs was hanging off. A tasteless remark from your correspondent was that it appeared to be footloose and fancy free. It also put me in mind of my favourite sketch (no longer completely politically correct) by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: the Tarzan audition, with Dud as a one-legged – indeed a uni-dexter – applicant for the role. It’s on YouTube in all its grainy glory at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbnkY1tBvMU#:~:text=Peter%20Cook%20&%20Dudley%20Moore%20-%20One%20Leg

The usual break arrived on time at 11.00 and the weary workers gathered at the bench. Perhaps we had neglected to tell Top Gun, but he had a long lonely walk to the party.

Catering having omitted to purchase any biscuits, and fearing insurrection, Team Leader Margaret kindly baked some cookies. She claimed they were a first attempt, so if that’s the case that was a very creditable effort. She did mention the ingredients, but I instantly forgot what they were. They tasted lovely, even if they were perhaps a little fragile.

We were joined at the bench by a young lizard; welcome evidence that they are continuing to breed here. Indeed, they are frequently recorded on the sightings whiteboard – 16 times so far this year.

Last time this area proved treacherous for your correspondent, and to general hilarity my welly and the socks therein absorbed a significant portion of the water lurking in a deep place. Just in case lightning would strike twice in the same spot, it seemed wise to film a sheet being winched through the mire. Happily (ahem) it passed off incident free.

We’ll have to hope Grillo is quickly repaired, so that the fun can continue in a fortnight’s time…

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Thank you to the 16 volunteers who came today. As usual you all exceeded expectations and cleared everything we needed to. Only Duncan was disappointed as no one fortunately fell in the wet conditions. There were far more frogs than I have seen in one session so we must be doing something right. Thank you too to John, Kevin and Michelle for the pre-cut so the material was light to move.

We will keep you posted on the wellbeing of Grillo. It has sprung a significant oil leak.  Hopefully George will be able to find us a replacement before the next session.

Thank you as well, for the kind comments about my first and probably last attempt to make cookies.

Thanks again and we look forward to working with you all in two weeks time.

Margaret for the team leaders

Area G revisited

 Today’s work party saw us moving on from Area B (beside Warren Road) to the central part of the Common, known prosaically as Area G. The problem with this patch is that the reedbed wants to infiltrate it, but that would be at the expense of the botanical community there that forms a major part of its SSSI designation. In order to thwart those reeds in their expansionist ambitions, the word from Natural England is that it needs to be cut now – so cut it now we must.

After a remarkably dry August, we’ve recently had a few major downpours, so the ground is very wet already – particularly as it slopes towards the Beck.

We were blessed with another fine morning; warm but not uncomfortably so. We were delighted to greet Jo, another very welcome new volunteer. Here’s the scene greeting the arriving volunteers.

There’s also encouraging interest in learning to operate Grillo. Last time we highlighted Team Leader Michelle doing this; today it was Andrew. Here he is receiving instruction…

and then flying solo…

… before the old master regained the controls.

It’s not the job for everyone; this short video shows how much effort it can take.

The vegetation on this area tends not to grow high (although the reeds try their best), so when it’s cut it tends to be quite light to move onto the drag sheets.

The half-time break arrived right on time; the biscuits this time were dark chocolate digestives, so could not have been better. All took satisfaction from viewing the results of their labours so far. The sharp-eyed amongst regular readers will spot at the far right of the picture honorary Team Leader and Commons legend John, who had dropped in to join us for a catch-up.

On returning to work after the break, the company was cheered by the sequence of muddy mishaps affecting a couple of us. Firstly, Team Leader Margaret discovered the depth of what she described as “ *** great sinkhole”

Then your own correspondent found another. This one was far deeper and hungrier, first filling my right welly with unpleasant smelling water, and then removing it altogether. My, how they all laughed! Here follows a selection from the many images taken of the unfortunate event, and even explicit video footage.

Much earlier in the session, we two unfortunates had been unceremoniously deposited backwards onto a dump site while we were helping tip out a sheet. Fortunately, no camera was present that time. A bit later, your correspondent was once again in trouble, this time for forgetting to hook the winch rope onto the sheet about to be dragged away. Only after the rope and its hook had travelled effortlessly for a few feet was the error discovered. It’s not all bad though, for I do like my whistle, and this was the perfect opportunity for a loud blast to tell the winchers to cease winching. Today was not my finest hour (or two)!

Fans (if any exist) of the banter pervading our activities will be glad to hear that when the question was put to the winch team if they were ready, the answer was “born ready”. Ready for what was not specified, and further enquiries were deemed unwise. The much-loved singing so often reported here was sadly not in much evidence this time, despite Noel’s ‘Clash’ tee shirt.

Lots of frogs were seen, including this one:

The session finished before there was time to drag off the final load, so that’s left there on its own for the next fortnight.

With the trolleys and wheelbarrows all fully loaded…

… we left Area G looking like this.

And a cheerful party of long-tailed tits waved us off from the car park.

 

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Again I have the pleasant task of thanking you all for your hard work this morning. Weren't we lucky with the weather after the brief cold snap. You were all fantastic as usual. A warm welcome to Jo and hope you weren't too tired. Well done Andrew you seem to be a natural with grillo. If anyone else would like to learn more about working grillo or the winch do let us know.

We will be returning to the central area in two weeks’ time and we hope you will be able to join us then.

Thanks again.

Margaret for the team leaders.

 

It’s good to see that there are now surprisingly large numbers of Red Admiral

and Large White butterflies. Appropriately named for the location Common Darter dragonflies are still darting about a few inches above the boardwalk. After their quiet period of moulting, some birds have started singing again; robin and wren particularly, but also some possibly newly arrived chiffchaffs. Meanwhile swallows are gathering in numbers preparatory to their long migration to Africa. Lots of them are hawking low over the fields, which must indicate that there are at least some insects for them fuel up on.

Area G plays host to a lot of specialist flowers. Although the area is now being cut, this does not appear to be affecting  their numbers. Although some are inevitably cut while still in flower, because we only cut a portion of the area at each visit, separated by two weeks, plenty remain to set seed. This picture includes Grass of Parnassus (the white ones), Devil’s Bit Scabious (blue) and Marsh Lousewort (red). There are still plenty to be seen!