School Meadow mown, cutting season done

 “In like a lion, out like a lamb” is the old saying about how the weather in March is supposed to progress, but this year it seems to be running back-to-front. In an almost Trumpian switch, the last few days’ weather have seen us forget it’s Spring and return to Winter. This being the morning after the night the clocks sprung forward, 15 bleary-eyed volunteers turned out to tidy up School Meadow (the bit where the picnic tables are in School Common).

Those tables have been there (it was intended as an outdoor classroom for the school, but it’s now an occasional picnic spot) since 2007, and are in what we could call a state of managed decline (not unlike some of us!) The cutting had been done earlier in the week, but Team Leader Kevin wielded the brush cutter again to trim round the tables’ remaining legs. Despite appearance, that wasn’t responsible for the bit you see adrift and upside down – but it shows the extent of the decline.

This picture also shows the exciting new game Kevin and fellow Team Leader Julie were playing: a conservation volunteers’ version of hide and seek.

The Meadow is gradually being dominated by thuggish bracken, so the latest plan is to cut that right down, and then keep on top it as it re-grows, by trampling and generally giving it a taste of its own medicine. The hope is that after a few years it will be just a distant memory. Meanwhile, that which was cut had to be hoiked onto the drag sheet and dumped out of sight.

Around the edge of the Meadow are many bushes, some of which needed their more eye-threatening branches trimming back – but we were at pains to not do anything drastic enough to upset birds beginning to nest. One of the most attractive features of this patch is the gorgeous lichen adorning many of those branches:

Unlike much of what we do on the main reedbed, the material we were dealing with today was delightfully light. The joy this produced is plain for all to see:

This time the refreshment break signalled not so much half time as full time, for this session and indeed the current cutting season. It was therefore convivial and extended, with much cheerful banter. No apple cake today, but Custard Cream biscuits are never wrong either.

Here’s how the Meadow looked when we had finished.

Here is the Team Leaders’ message of thanks:

Hello all

We have come to the end of our season cutting and clearing reed on the common.  We will leave the nesting birds in peace now.

We finished it today on School Common clearing bracken. Thank you to the 15 volunteers today who worked so efficiently; we were done by our coffee break.

The next job to be done on the Common will be removing the Himalayan Balsam as it starts to appear in late May-June.  We will put out an email when we are ready to start removing it for those of you happy to do this task. We will probably also combine this with a quick 10-15 minutes on School Common stamping down the bracken as it emerges to 'bruise it' as new information to us seems to suggest that this is more effective in reducing its spread than cutting it annually. We thought it would be worth a try! 

Anyway, thank you to all the volunteers who have helped us on the Common over the last year. We have said goodbye to some volunteers but have been pleased to welcome new volunteers (which is always good for the group).  The Common is looking fabulous and this is in part thanks to your efforts.

We look forward to seeing some of you in May June and others of you for the new season in August.

Regards, Julie, Margaret, Kevin and Michelle

 When it was still Spring, there were plenty of pointers to prove it, including the fields that are just showing that first green blush as the newly-sown cereal crops begin to sprout. Walking along Craft Lane a week ago I was struck by a clump of red dead-nettles, which had attracted a positive bevy of bumblebees (or humblebees as Gilbert White knew them). Another dialect name for them is dumbledore, not to be confused with any fictional wizards of your acquaintance. Early flowering plants like these dead-nettles and dandelions are vital sources of nectar for the insect pioneers, and thankfully, there seem to be a lot in flower at the moment – and therefore plenty of bees too. Whilst I was admiring the scene there were skylarks singing above me, and in the distance I spotted two male fallowdeer; not the commonest round here by any stretch of the imagination. And this morning, whilst we were working on School Meadow, I heard my first blackcap of the season, singing its sweet song.

Crossing the Common the other day I was surprised and pleased to see another stretch of boardwalk has been renewed by NWT: this time being the famous “Bradfield Road spur” and a stretch leading from it.

Never mind a host of golden daffodils, Area B on the other side of Fox’s Beck had a fine display of lesser celandines, as well as a few of the Wordsworth flower.

BBC4 recently broadcast a fabulous film set on the North Norfolk coast, at The Wash, so I am guessing Snettisham. Wildlife film-maker Martin Dohrn has had a highly successful career, working amongst others with David Attenborough, and now he’s made a film called The Birds, showcasing the huge murmurations of over-wintering waders, driven by hunting peregrines. It’s beautiful and captivating stuff and happily it’s going to be available for at least a year on the iPlayer, at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002sw7z/the-birds

Area E done

 Mother’s Day or not, on a gloriously bright and mild morning 16 of us convened at the part of the Common so prosaically known as Area E to complete the removal of previously cut reeds. It really did feel to be an honour to be there in such perfect conditions, and the mood was very light-hearted (as it usually is anyway).

In no time at all (or so it seemed to your usual correspondent, who arrived fashionably on time, and thus some 15 minutes later than the extra-keen ones) sheets had been laid out and pitchforks were put to use tossing the fallen reeds onto them.

It’s all very well piling stuff onto sheets, but someone has to winch those sheets to the chosen dump site. This is something that entails thought, planning and indeed consideration. Or, to put it another way, holding what looks much like a mother’s meeting – which is appropriate considering what day it was.

Having chosen the spot, the winch crew set to work with pitchforks of their own to create a nice level playing field by flattening out the previous session’s pile.

Here we see two crack winchers poised to guide the sheet over the boardwalk. Note multi-talented Noel practising his ballet pose at the same time!

Pulling a drag sheet, hauling on it to steer it when necessary and turning it over at the dump site is excellent exercise for almost all, but this attendee was perhaps too small to pull.

Although the reeds had been lying around for a couple of weeks, they were reasonably dry and mercifully light. Therefore, fairly large heaps could be loaded onto the drag sheets without too many howls of protest from the other end of the rope.

Happily, the Common is relatively free from litter, but not everyone takes their empties home.

After a clear night it was cold first thing, meaning warm jackets were the order of the day, but following Team Leader Margaret’s early lead, plenty of others soon felt the need to strip off – availing themselves of the natural coat-hooks so helpfully arranged. 

Being always the optimist, I had thought that we might even be finished after an hour’s work, but in the event I was wrong – yes, that can happen! And so it was that my whistle was called for to summon our forces to the half-time break. Today’s nourishment came from scrumptious chocolate chip cookies.

At this point it is traditional to show Noel taking his ease: here he is in his seat of choice. To be fair, a wheelbarrow is the only seat available at that location.

Last time the winch team apparently complained that in the absence of your correspondent it was unusually quiet there. Coincidence or not, today the aforementioned Noel was back on song, giving us renditions of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, Nina Simone’s Feeling good, The Temptations Ball of Confusion (brought on by the amount of end-of-season confusion some were experiencing in handling the drag sheets), and Edwin Starr’s War – as a nod to the ongoing geopolitical shambles.

By the end of the session it was satisfying to survey the scene and realise that, as they say round here, “The job’s a good ‘un.”

We’ve mentioned before the specialised task that is sheet folding at the end of each session, and here we see the two prime exponents of the art. It’s why they’re Team Leaders.

Here’s how the area looked when we finished.

The winch is our friend, but sometimes it’s hard to think the same way about the rope. As we’ve illustrated often before, it likes nothing better than to twist itself into knots, encouraged no doubt by the fact that it is tightly wound round the capstan wheel on the beloved winch. Today, fortunately at the end of the session, it contrived to seize the machine up, requiring the collected brawn, brains and Allen keys of the winch team to un-seize it. For all I know, they’re still there, but lunch was calling…

At this point I spotted Andrew away off on his own at the edge of Bradfield Road, using a spade to vigorous effect in clearing a ditch, gully or channel – call it what you will.

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s back from work we go, surprisingly neatly spaced out.

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

A huge thank you to you all particularly the 16 wonderful folk who came today. Despite it being Mother’s Day.  It amazes us how even when the usual suspects are playing hooky we still manage to get 16 volunteers. Thank you all.

We have now completed the cutting and raking on the SSSI and very good it looks too. Keep a watch for the orchids, cotton grass and fritillaria to mention just a few which will be flowering in the months ahead thanks to your dedication. Duncan would have me list the birds as well...Do check his blog, it has new features. Thank you Duncan for your hard work on this, keeping us entertained.

In two weeks’ time we are going to cut and rake the grass in School Meadow. We are going to try something new this year. The Bracken is becoming rather dominant and from somewhere we have learnt that if you bruise bracken it self-destructs, so this year we will cut it down and then over the growing months we will ask for volunteers to help trample the area. This will have to be repeated over many years. Thanks in advance if you can help. We will not be cutting scrub as the birds are beginning to nest.

Thank you for your time and good humour that you have shared over the winter and hopefully see you soon.

Margaret for the team leaders

 

The snowdrops are now finished, but the lessercelandines are out everywhere you go. I see from the book I mentioned in the previous post that our old friend Gilbert White mentioned them in his journal for 1781, using their old country name of ‘pile-wort’. It seems that back then “bathed with the juice (from the roots of the plant) mixed with wine, or the sick man’s urine…” bingo! the offending piles were sorted out. (I think I would probably take the wine option.)

As well as fully wild celandines, cultivated daffodils are flowering everywhere too, including here beside the Bradfield Road spur of the boardwalk, where they are filling in after the snowdrops have called it a day.

In bird news, it’s great to report that a Cetti’s warbler has turned up close to School Common, and its explosive song can sometimes be heard near the junction of Bramble Lane and Chapel Road. The sightings whiteboard also reveals that it has been heard along Fox’s Beck, so let’s hope it stays to breed. The far more common chiffchaff has now arrived back here in good numbers, and its tell-tale song is very evident, along with great tits, robins and wrens. A raptor graced our efforts today with its presence in a nearby tree, and after some debate about the perhaps more exciting options it was decided that it was probably a female kestrel.

Some say that envy is a deadly sin, but surely it is understandable when you learn that your friends have been honoured by having long-tailed tits nest-building in their “garden adjacent common”? As the photo (carefully taken when the birds weren’t there) shows, their nest is a thing of beauty and wonder, constructed with moss, lichen and cobwebs.

A few days ago NWT staff replaced the roof on the Information Point on Lower Street. This very welcome repair will mean that visitors and our notices can be protected from the rain again. Along with some recent chain-saw work, it’s great to see that our little reserve gets frequent attention from the Trust.

At least the mud was a bit drier

 Enticing though the prospect of another wet morning on the Common was, for your usual correspondent this was trumped by a pre-arranged Sunday lunch with visiting friends at the splendid 'Greyhound' at Hickling. (As it turned out, the rain stayed away, but the roast dinner was great anyway!) We are therefore indebted to Team Leader Julie for her account of the morning’s activity:

“The scene as we arrived to setup:

Showcasing the new (dry and organised box)…

…. And the new water-resistant box for the sign in sheet!

This follows the disaster of a broken water-filled box last time out, wrecking the sign in sheet!

The pitchforkers were soon at work filling sheets…

... however, the winch team were having a Mothers’ meeting and were not ready for action for quite a while!

So it was time for a chat and catch up for most of us!!

We had a few complaints from the winch team that it was too quiet…without our usual correspondent as the musical director no one knew what songs to sing!!

His steering skills were also missed as we managed to hook the yellow sheet and mesh on the boardwalk as we pulled over it, necessitating a hasty repair with the staple gun … Margaret was carrying an injury to her wrist but refused to hand over the staple gun to anyone else! 

That wasn’t all - note to winch team to remember to attach the hook before trying to turn the sheet - no wonder the load felt light! 

All sheets had to be carefully steered to avoid the precious snowdrops by the dump site 

With everything being a bit drier, turning a sheet was a bit easier than last week.

Coffee time was taken beside the helpfully placed ‘people working' sign – oh the irony!!

Sadly, Nina was unwell today having fallen victim to one of the horrible bugs doing the rounds… so no apple cake…. Both Nina and the cake were missed.

We had the rakes out today…

Andrew was very impressive with his skilful use of the implement.  Thankfully no one photographed the pathetic amounts I was able to rake with mine!

Soon we were at that time where we had to call a halt to filling sheets to allow the winch team to finish at a reasonable time too.  Margaret told them we had just three left to pull - leading to comments about being three sheets to the wind  🤷‍♀️

Tim and Dave skilfully navigated the last sheet of the day - note that Margaret and John kindly brought some sunshine back with them from their hol!! Turned into a lovely morning for us!

The area is looking good…

However, we will be returning in two weeks to clear the last bit.

Including a large worm cast possibly!

Back at the container work was done on the trolley to restore the gap in the metal edging to the handle end as it should be …” 

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Hello all.

I am so glad I missed the last working party, from Duncan's blog it was clearly awful. Luckily we were blessed with better weather today as 16 of us again attacked area E. The winch team did an excellent job of trying to hide the heap in a nearby hollow. The forkers and rakers had a difficult task with heavy material and as always the atmosphere was of fun and friendship.

Thank you all for coming and doing your bit. It gives a view across the common that only materialises every four years which perhaps makes it extra special. Hope to see some of you in two weeks’ time to complete the job.

Margaret for the team leaders

And here’s that view:

We’re well aware of the value of communications between individuals. Without any hint of scandal, the letters between Gilbert White and his two principal correspondents form the content of the always in print Natural History of Selborne, but in writing those letters he drew on the journals that he had kept for many years, and that are occasionally referenced in this blog. I have recently borrowed from the library A Year with Gilbert White: The First Great Nature Writer by Jenny Uglow. This lovely new book takes a single year (1781) of his journals, explaining each day’s entry and fleshing them out with a wealth of fascinating information. And it’s beautifully illustrated. Disappointingly perhaps, the 1781 entry for 1^st March reads only “Rain, dark and mild”: as well as noting species, good old Gilbert was very keen on recording each day’s weather. (By the next day, it was “Fog, mild, grey.”) As the days roll on however we can re-live the start of Spring long ago, and make inevitable comparisons with our own time. It is undeniable that as the climate changes the seasons are also changing, with many events occurring earlier than used to be the case, and Gilbert’s reports illustrate that well. What they also chillingly illustrate is how desperately depleted our natural world has become in the intervening years, and that too is surely cause for alarm as well as sadness.

On a brighter note, last week’s warm sunshine woke some butterflies, and I was delighted to see my first male Brimstone of the year on Wednesday: not on the Common, but within the parish boundary anyway.

How to look like a drowned rat

 Sounds like a round on ‘Just a Minute’ doesn’t it, but today was a perfect example of one of the many ways possible of looking like a rodent that was at least in the throes of going down for the final time. We’re usually quite lucky with the weather for our working parties on the Common, but today was the second time this season when we were let down big-time by the elements. There had been some doubt about whether the session would go ahead due to the risk of overnight freezing locking up the cut material, but that didn’t happen. What did happen however was rain, beginning shortly before our start time, and getting heavy from time to time. One bit of luck was that it didn’t turn to sleet and then heavy snow until we were packing up.

We were a couple of regulars light this time, with Team Leader Margaret and her stalwart husband John having absconded to Sicily: no doubt they were given an offer they couldn’t refuse. That oft-repeated thing about there being “no such thing as bad weather; only inappropriate clothing” was never less true (although granted, some hats were interesting). Nothing daunted, 14 of us turned up, anxious to show off our weather-appropriate clothing. In the confusion of getting dressed in layers of waterproof gear your usual correspondent forgot to bring his phone - so photography today was exclusively courtesy of Team Leader Julie. (You can always spot her photos – they are invariably better than mine anyway.)

No – it’s not how it looks! Because we were once again having to lay a protective yellow sheet over the boardwalk for the drag sheets to slide over, we had to put out our ‘People at Work’ warning signs.

And before you knew it, sheets were laid out and pitchforkers were getting them loaded.

And here’s the winch team heading off to work, whistling a merry tune no doubt.

We had a tight area to work in for the dump site, so plenty of muscle power was required to be able to steer the sheets to the best position for tipping them out.

The vegetation to be handled had been lying on the ground for the last fortnight, and the abnormally wet weather had had its effect – it was mighty heavy. Once again, thank goodness for the winch! Even so, tipping the stuff off the sheets at the dumping site was hard going, with as many mighty men as could be spared turning the sheets over with a lot of grunts, groan and indeed imprecations.

We could have done with the mighty Scotland rugby team to help here, but they were no doubt nursing hangovers. The dump site is of course where the music happens, led this time by Noel invoking Dylan’s A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall. We also had from Andrew the Ramones’ Hey ho, let’s go as a motivation to get the job done.

Stick with this short video to the end, for a glimpse of Noel’s impressive dance moves!

There was a certain amount of surreptitious checking of watches, but eventually it was time for a well-earned tea (and Nina’s famous apple cake) break.

Suitably refreshed, despite the now heavy rain people were off to work again!

There were even enough ‘yes’ answers from the winch team and the pitch fork crew at 11.45 to taking another sheet to finish off the clearance.

We had tried to get it all on the previous sheet - probably overloading it …. Leaving the last sheet quite light!!!

Under that stylish hat your correspondent’s expression clearly asks “Really?”

Then all that remained was to load up the tools onto the trolley and wheelbarrows for the trip back to the storage container. See the happy faces!

Here’s how the site (Area E for the connoisseur) looked after our sodden efforts.

Team Leader and photographer Julie walked up the Bradfield Road spur of the boardwalk at the end – it was cold and wet but the little white smiling snowdrops still made her smile.

Here is Team Leader Michelle’s message of thanks:

Hello all

Thank you so much to the 14 volunteers that braved the elements today to clear the cut reeds from  Area E - with the continual wind and rain, it was certainly hard going for both the rakers and the winching team but the end result was an impressively cleared site, amazing work and all done with a smile (or were they grimaces?!).

Thanks also to Linda and Kevin for the much-needed hot drinks and also to Nina who, despite being away at the moment, still provided her delicious apple cake (it was really appreciated today Nina!)..

Hopefully you all got home safely before the snow started and you have all now thawed and dried out.

Thanks again and hopefully see you in 2 weeks in better weather.

Kind regards, Michelle for the TLs

 

On the subject of snowdrops, this seems a particularly good year for them. I was pleased to spot this group recently on School Common. There are also plenty on the Warren Road side of the boardwalk.

It’s been so wet lately that even The Pit is looking fairly full – I wonder how long for?

Despite the erratic weather, there are plenty of signs that Spring is coming. A few days ago I used the excellent Merlin app to record this song thrush, accompanied by a robin and a great tit.

Jubilee Boardwalk 12 Feb 26