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 29^th. To set the ball rolling, three doughty old (I use the word advisedly) Southrepps hands carried out some rather arduous preparatory work on Monday 23^rd, 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