Monday 28 October 2019

19 Volunteers went to mow a meadow


In this period of wildly fluctuating weather, Sunday 27th October was definitely at the top of the lovely end of the spectrum. Dawning gloriously sunny, the overnight jiggery-pokery with the clocks left everyone (or at least your easily confused correspondent) in a spin. Was it dawn? Was it getting on for dusk? Yesterday it never seemed to get light; everything was seen through a sheen of drizzle. Today was the exact opposite, and for another Commons working party we all sprang to with a will, and a cheery whistle on our lips.

The work required was again somewhat out of the normal: this time we were turning our attention to School Meadow, which we have previously had little time to devote to it. This is an open area to the side of School Common, and I suspect one that is often overlooked by visitors. A side-track from the main path through School Common leads into the meadow, and that in itself was in need of attention. David Attenborough once did a series called “The Life of Plants”, featuring a lot of time-lapse photography of flowers opening and the like. I remember being particularly impressed by a sequence showing brambles growing, which as we all know is something they do a lot. That sequence showed the spikey things shooting about all over the place, at such speed that anything in their way was going to get smothered. Having seen the path leading into School meadow, I now think the sequence was filmed in real time. Only a few days before, I had walked down there relatively untroubled by the fearsome stuff, but now it was clogging the place up with almost Amazonian zeal. Something had to be done.

Armed only with loppers and bow saws, a crack squad of volunteers set about hacking the stuff back (that’s Commons speak for “trimming”).


Meanwhile, the meadow itself submitted to the irresistible force of Grizzly.


The resulting mass of cut grass was then rolled up by rakers, and plonked onto a dragsheet by pitchforkers in time-honoured fashion. Those rakes are really useful, and as one lady raker said, she does like a big rake. This was not the time or the place for the winch, so also in time-honoured fashion the drag sheet was, yes, you guessed it, dragged to the edge of the meadow and emptied of its grassy contents.


Loppers to the fore, the crack lopping team set about advising the encroaching bushes to mind their manners and stand respectfully at the edge of the meadow, thus allowing the sun’s rays to have full effect on the sward below.


There was an excellent turnout of 19 of us, so, especially as we were working in a small area, it was possible to split our forces, and our two top brush cutter operatives were sent to, well, cut some brush. At least they were far enough away so that the noise of their machines did not drown out the noise of Grizzly or the grunts and groans of the labouring loppers and rakers. The real explanation was given that the wretched machines again declined to start without considerable effort and, it must be recorded, fortitude on the part of those two top brush cutter operatives. Even so, we delicate souls were spared having to hear the coarse imprecations that doubtless accompanied their efforts: not what one wants on a Sunday morning.

They were summoned back for tea break, which they did with alacrity: see the conquering hero comes.


Here are the obligatory shots recording the break; the biscuit options are definitely improving all the time.



This was an expert demo of our new sport of hurling the brambles:


It might come as a surprise to the uninformed reader, but dragsheet management is a crucial element of the work, and is not to be taken lightly or scornfully. Making sure they are facing in the right direction is necessary; starting them off when winching is best done with a whistle (providing a whistle blower has turned up); and packing them up neatly at the close of play is self-evidently The Right Thing To Do. Your correspondent includes this image with all due modesty; the caption is the photographer’s:

Showing us how to roll the sheets - an expert at work:


Being nature lovers, we are privileged to work amongst some wonderful flora and fauna (as well as brambles). Here is some very attractive lichen (thanks Cornel for pointing it out).


After a very successful two hours, the meadow and its furniture were left looking good.


As the poet W.H. Davies asked, “What is this world if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” We can’t tell from this angle, but it’s possible these tired, but essentially satisfied souls had straws in mouths as they contemplated the sunny scene.


Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Thank you all for a tremendous turnout on such a lovely morning. Shame Wales didn't win but at least you will all be free to watch the final next Saturday.

You all did a brilliant job as hacking through brambles and blackthorn is never a nice task. We will be writing to the School to tell them that the area has been tidied up in the hope they might be inclined to use it a little more.

So that you can forward plan a little, in two weeks time 10th Nov we will be trimming back the willows that grow along the boardwalk near the container with the aim of cutting it back by up to 6ft to reduce the summer growth. Then the last weekend in November we will cut the Bradfield Road spur where the snowdrops are and hopefully the rest of the fen.

As usual we will not work in December returning on the 5th Jan to cut the reed bed opposite the container down towards the beck. We anticipate this taking 4 sessions Jan 5th, 19th, Feb 2th and 16th. We hope to see you all there.

Once again very many thanks for all your hard work

Margaret

Sunday 13 October 2019

Hollywood beckons, and The Pit opens



The exciting news that came out last week was that the video some of us volunteers contributed to way back in June (see https://southreppscommonsvolunteers.blogspot.com/2019/06/lights-camera-action.html) is now out! NWT have produced two videos as part of their Wildlife in Common project,  one of which features Southrepps Common and its volunteers. Those of you who took part gave Oscar winning performances - thank you!

The films are:

Wildlife in Common: History and Wildlife (10.46 mins)
Wildlife in Common: People and Wildlife (7.26 mins). This is the one that stars Southrepps - and the specific bit can be found between 2.17 and 3.12 mins.

However, both films are well worth a watch. 

The video containing the Southrepps performances is available on YouTube, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY-l6Z9Lljc or if you go to the NWT website you can get lots of information on the project and see both of the films (select 'Commons on Film' on the right hand side of the page: (https://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/commons/wildlife-in-common)

Enjoy, and thanks to all those who took part.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the more usual volunteering territory of mud and sharp thorns, the latest working party moved to Pit Common. Keen and attentive readers of this drivel blog will remember that in September big diggers excavated The Pit, which had become clogged with Bulrushes and reeds and silted up with, well, silt. After the diggers left, it looked like this:


Keen and attentive weather watchers may remember that since then there have been some torrential downpours. Such was its attractiveness to wildlife immediately, that a Kingfisher was spotted there one recent morning. Sadly, fish though it might, it seems unlikely that the bird was successful so soon after the pond was dry and lifeless, but perhaps in the near future…

Anyway, the early cutting programme for the SSSI part of The Common having been completed on schedule, the willing workforce turned their attention to Pit Common. Now there is a pond to view, it is necessary to clear some of the scrub that has grown up round it, obscuring its delights from sight.
At the start of the session on a grim, grey and unpromising morning, The Pit looked like this:


Defying the weather forecast, 13 doughty volunteers turned up in the damp early gloom. Pit Common is not our usual venue, so it was a rather different session for most of us. Some were raking up grass that had been cut earlier;


Some wielded loppers and saws, doing battle with the vicious thorns of bramble and dog rose;


Two of our top brush cutter operators deployed their noisy machines around the edge of the pond, and at the side of the path leading up from it. Having damaged a tooth recently, the racket made by those brush cutters sounded too much like the dentist’s instruments of torture for my liking.



And some were clearing the newly cut material – every little helps!


Not everything was different: we loaded the heavy, wet material onto a dragsheet, which was then hauled by hand to a dumping site under the trees. Tipping it over was a challenge, requiring quite a prayer meeting to achieve.


Some of the recidivist reeds raising green shoots above the rising waters were close enough to shore to be plucked out by determined, but increasingly wet people.


The pond had of course been completely swamped by reeds and bulrushes, and the whole purpose of the exercise was to remove as many as possible. Inevitably, they will fight back, and no doubt by the summer there will again be cover for the moorhens which usually breed here.

Two hours on, the day had brightened and the threat of rain lifted for a while, and it was time to pack up and wander off back up the road.



After the session, The Pit now looks like this:


Here is Team Leader Kevin’s message of thanks:

A big thank you to everyone who turned up to tidy the Pit Common on this damp and soggy morning. Fortunately, the weather didn't dampen the spirit of the volunteers who gamely raked, lopped, sawed and brush cut the area in question.

All in all a job well done.

We may call a smaller working party later this month in order to finish cutting back the branches along the path.

However, for the moment thank you once again.

Kevin

Tuesday 1 October 2019

Taking the Mic


One of the unwanted invasive plants on The Common is Michaelmas Daisy, which has either ‘escaped’ from nearby gardens or possibly been deliberately planted. It spreads like crazy, choking out the wild flowers and wide range of grasses for which the section adjacent to Warren Road is otherwise so ideal. In recent years it has become an increasing problem, and now Natural England requires that it is cut before it sets seed, with the intention of weakening it over the next few years. Combined with the revised requirement to cut the central area by the end of September in order to weaken the encroaching reeds, this has placed a new burden on us volunteers, especially at a time when holidays are still being taken and numbers are down.

At least now The Commons are owned and managed by NWT there is more help to be had, in the form of George, the Reserve Officer responsible for Southrepps Commons, and the other NWT volunteers he can draft in from elsewhere. This being the end of September and a critical time, he did just that for two sessions, either side of the Sunday working party on 29th. To set the ball rolling, three doughty old (I use the word advisedly) Southrepps hands carried out some rather arduous preparatory work on Monday 23rd, to give the NWT contingent something to get their teeth into on the following Wednesday.

After welcome overnight rain, the autumnal sun made the place especially attractive, and on the way along the boardwalk this pretty impressive cobweb was in the spotlight.


Team Leader Margaret and your frequently absent correspondent concentrated on hoiking out a fair proportion of the alder saplings from the section due to be clear cut – the one known so poetically as Area A. This is far better than allowing the Grizzly to chop through them, which merely has the effect of coppicing them and creating a bigger problem later on. The tool of choice is the rather heavy Tree Popper, which grips the sapling low down, and using a long lever, pulls it out, preferably roots and all. Those that are too resistant need to have their radiating roots sawn through; a tiring job, especially when the sun breaks through, defying the Met. Office’s confident predictions.

Meanwhile, Grizzly Operator John cut down the Michaelmas Daisies and Golden Rod on the other side of the boardwalk. (Legal disclaimer: I of course mean that John was operating the mower called Grizzly, not that he is in any way Grizzly.)


John is probably our most experienced operator of this mower, having been at the controls ever since it was bought in 2005. He said this particular cut was the hardest he had ever experienced, probably because we have traditionally cut mostly dead material, whilst this was full of sap and vigour, as well as being tangled up by bindweed. It won’t be much fun to move either.

Your regular correspondent having taken sun-soaked refuge on the French Riviera (ooh – get him!), Team Leader Margaret takes up the blogging reins:

What a busy week we have had on the Common! Last Wednesday a small team from Cley came to help us meet the new cutting regime; we knew we could not do it without help. An offer was sent out to all volunteers that if they had nothing better to do then they were welcome to come and help. Unfortunately, the e-mail was sent only to the team leaders who already knew the details so unsurprisingly only myself, another team leader and his wonderful wife turned up!

We all set to with enthusiasm and were able to clear the Michaelmas Daisies that John had cut two days before, and then we moved across to cut the triangle left from the previous Sunday’s working party. The three of us were able to demonstrate the brilliance of the winch and we have made three converts to its usefulness. Gosh, what hard workers Ken, Ian and George are; we SCV bods called it a day long before they did.

Here they are getting to grips with our methods:



Then on Sunday we had our usual working party, the aim being to finish all of area A. The omens were not good as we knew that our numbers would be down as unsurprisingly our volunteers have other things to do, particularly when heavy rain is forecast. They rose to the occasion however, and 12 wonderful people turned out to rake off the cut material, which was very heavy with the ground under foot getting more slippery by the minute. We all got soaked to the skin but still managed to have the customary coffee break sheltering under the trees, happily devouring Julia’s raffle winning shortbread.


After two hours of fun-filled pulling we called it a day.

Forks at the end: all volunteers have dissolved like the wicked witch of the west

This time your current correspondent managed to correctly send out an e-mail asking for help for Monday, and 6 people arrived happy and smiling to help Ken and Ian, as well as George who had been delayed checking that no harm had come to Cley due to the high tide and winds, not to mention the rain.  We are pleased to report that the reserve escaped unscathed. The 8 of us under a beautiful blue sky and warm sun polished off the rest of area A; an amazing achievement.


The NWT team then moved south of the beck to where John D had been cutting more Fen. John H set up the winch, and we all retired for a well-deserved lunch.

George decided that now would be a good time to turn up, and we cut and raked more of the fen.


Although we know that the land and responsibility belongs to NWT, thank you for your time and muscles - it was great to be able to work with them to care for such a super reserve.

Here is Margaret’s message of thanks to the Sunday volunteers:

I really can't say a big enough thank you to the 12 brave souls who got soaked to the skin this morning. We were fortunate that it was warm but still very wet, which made the cut material heavy to handle and the tarpaulins slippery and difficult to turn. So thank you.
Now for an apology I was meant to send an email about the start times for the extra sessions being run by NWT to complete the altered cutting programme well, I sent the email but brilliantly only to myself so no-one but me and Kevin and Linda turned up, they were unfortunate to have asked me directly!
There is one more extra session which is tomorrow, start time is 9.30 but the NWT crew will be on site until about 3 pm, so if you would like to join in at any time between 9.30 and 3 you would be most welcome (No-one is expected to work for the whole time.) The tasks involved will be to complete area A where we were working this morning which is on the Warren Road side of the beck and then moving to the South side to finish clearing the fen, where all the orchid grow.
We will be running another working party in two weeks’ time most probably at the pit, to capitalise on the excellent clearance that George has arranged there. Watch this space for more information.
Thank you all again for your wet and soggy support and to Julia for the shortbread she kindly donated having won it in the Southrepps Society raffle on Thursday: the rest of us would have just eaten it! It was much appreciated.
Margaret.

And the Monday one:

Yes, another thank-you. Today 6 volunteers turned out to help the NWT team from Cley and they were rewarded with a beautiful day. So thank you so much to them. We managed to clear away all the cut material left from Sunday’s working party. The NWT team moved on to south of the beck and cut and raked some more fen. The very central area is to remain uncut at this time, but it may be cut later in the year: until that time enjoy the wonderful display of grass of Parnassus and the Devils bit scabious.
Thank you too, to George, Ken and Ian from NWT.
Margaret