Cold wet mud, by George!

Defying the ire of the security services, which seem to think caring for the planet equates to an act of terrorism, a hard-core corps of environmental volunteers emerged from their cosy homes on a chilly-starting but eventually sunny day to frolic in the mud on Southrepps Common. The day before, Radio 4’s ‘Saturday Live’ programme had extolled the delights of working in and/or playing around in mud, which might perhaps have partially explained the excellent turnout of 24 volunteers, including the splendid Ken, another volunteer for NWT, but usually to be found at Cley marshes.

The last working party had left a lot of cut material that there had not been enough time to clear, so those super-keen volunteers had plenty to work on whilst the crack winching and dragsheet team worked out what to do with the long bit of string.

Speaking of the crack team, here they are, hard at it...

Guest starring this time was George, the NWT warden given the task of keeping us in order and up to the mark. He’s already the warden at Cley marshes, which should have stood him in good stead for the challenges posed here. Some 13 of us are looking forward to being given a guided tour of Cley by George in a few weeks’ time. (Incidentally, the visitor for the previous working party was Adam, an academic studying how commons fit into their communities across the world, including some here in Norfolk such as our very own little treasure.) Who might visit us next time?

Anyway, in addition to casting an approving eye over our merry band, George put his chainsaw to good effect, further cutting back the scrub from the edge of the boardwalk. He was assisted in this by some of us: one of the benefits of having so many people is that we can divide our forces.

George’s other splendid contribution was his flapjacks, pounced upon at the break. He looks concerned, as they were his lunch!

Much as we all enjoy pitchforking heavy material onto dragsheets, hauling those dragsheets through cloying mud, and falling over (Julie’s turn this time, sadly no photographic evidence exists), we do enjoy our tea breaks, and come gleefully when the whistle is expertly blown.

By the tea break, the view had opened up considerably, but there was plenty more to do.

After the break, one of the old yellow sheets was broken out, so that a small party led by Julie could drag some of the stuff into the scrub on the other side of the boardwalk.

We noticed several shrews (common shrews we assumed, but now believe to be water shrews) scuttling off to look for somewhere less open to live. They were shrewdly not keen on publicity, but I did manage to get this:

Before we all trudged off home to hot baths, showers and Ibuprofen, we worked on for a few minutes overtime, but decided we could leave the last remnants of cut material for the next session. We felt pretty satisfied with the result, and several people walking the boardwalk agreed. This section is only cut every four years, so enjoy it before it all grows back!

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We used to work for Southrepps Commons Trust of course, when the Parish Council owned these commons, but now happily do it for Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Since NWT took on the ownership and management of the site last February:

32 individual volunteers turned up for working parties

627.41 volunteer hours were logged in from February to the end of December 2019, including 367.25 on the SSSI; 41.25 at The Pit; 43.25 repairing the boardwalk and 81 keeping Himalayan Balsam under control.

Alan Marchbank, NWT Volunteer Coordinator has said,

“627 hours is a significant amount of support to the Trust, representing 90 working days. A huge thank you to you and all the volunteers for all you have done and continue to do at Southrepps Commons, it really is hugely appreciated.”

We also record sightings of plants and wildlife in various ways, the latest method being the whiteboard at the Lower Street information point. Since its installation in May 2019, 278 sightings comprising 119 different species were added to the board by anyone visiting who cared to do so.

So far this year, perhaps the most unusual is the Witch’s Butter jelly fungus I found growing on a fallen twig on School Common.

 Here is Team Leader John’s message of thanks for today’s work:

Well, the blast from the past wasn't too bad, I hope.  Since the move to NWT we continue to break records and set precedents, both of which I am proud to have been part of today.  So thank you very much for your contribution, which helped bring the cutting programme to within a whisker of completion in record time.  Margaret will be calling the shots in two weeks time, 2nd February when, barring unforeseen mishaps or calamities, a relatively light session will wrap up this season's work.  Not bad considering the published schedule runs into March.

Thanks again

Kind Regards, John  

Prize day to start a decade

The first working party of the new year, nay decade, attracted an excellent turnout of 21 volunteers, all keen to work off the excessive consumption of minced pies, turkey and all the trimmings that they had inflicted on themselves over the festive period. Weather-wise it was unremarkable: grey, with the merest hint of light drizzle but crucially no wind to speak of, nor frost. The last time we cut this section was four years ago, and old hands remembered how deeply frozen it was then.

We were working on the section known as Area F, which is the reedbed nearest the car park. The previous day’s pre-cut session had already created a cleared area, so your correspondent was unsure of the need to be there at all. As it turned out, there was plenty left to do.

The day was, as usual, not without incident: not least your correspondent repeatedly stepping into one of the many little streams running across the site en route to The Beck, demonstrating a depressing inability to learn where these hidden traps lay. Firstly, the trolley full of tools fell off the boardwalk… one way to unload it I guess!

Then, then Grizzly sank in the mud and got very stuck...

Luckily the wheelbarrow with the winch got through!!

Once those small tribulations were overcome, the crack team of pitchforkers got forking…

And the crack winch team kept an anxious lookout for sheets to drag…

Luckily, there were soon as many as could be handled…

Tea break came early, when the winch jammed, with the rope getting wound round the drum and proving difficult to free, even with the three finest minds available brought to bear…

So many volunteers had come that there was a glimmer of concern that the supplies might not be sufficient, but all was well and the happy throng was satisfied. See how happy and satisfied they look!

This was the ideal opportunity for certificates of competence to be handed out to recently trained brush cutter operators – just like school prize day, but without the tedious speeches!

Once you are a fully certified brush cutter operator, you can dress up in this very snazzy gear…

That was Brian, hard at work cutting brush. As a result of his efforts, it’s particularly nice for the time being to be able to see Fox’s Beck from the boardwalk.

Volunteers who had joined us in the last four years had not seen this section un-cut and looking like this.

It won’t stay that way for long; the reeds will soon re-grow with their lovely range of shades of green, but for the record, this is how it looks today.

Here is Team Leader Kevin’s message of thanks:

A big thank you goes to all the volunteers (21 in total) who turned out this morning to tackle the reeds in area F which is the area between the Lower Street car park and the container. Despite a slight glitch with the winch the team worked with their usual enthusiasm and vigour and cut and moved way more than we anticipated. Well done everyone.

For those who could not make this morning may we take the opportunity to wish you all best wishes for the New Year and hope to see you at the next working party on 19th January.

Kevin