Alpacas and a headless broom

 

Inspired by hearing novelist and nature writer Melissa Harrison on Radio 4’s Start the Week I have become a convert to her wonderful podcasts. She started these during Lockdown, as a way of sharing her walks in rural Suffolk with anyone who wants to listen in. Each week’s podcast includes a guest contributor, a poem and extracts from the diaries of the great 18^th century naturalist Gilbert White, relevant to the date of Melissa’s walk. They are a very relaxing way of spending half an hour; charming and almost an exercise in mindfulness. They can be found on her website at https://melissaharrison.co.uk/podcast/ .

Pinching Melissa’s idea of quoting Gilbert White’s diary entries for the day under review, I see that on 6^th September 1775 he noted “Wasps abound not only in neighbourhoods, but in lone fields, and woods…” but in 1790 it was a case of “Hardly here & there a wasp to be seen.” In 1785 he was reporting the storm damage done to his Orleans plum tree and a neighbour’s horse chestnut, as well as the “vast damage to the hop-gardens, which are torn and shattered in a sad manner!” The following year, the day’s entry was that “Hirundines (swallows and house martins) cluster on Hartley-house, & on the thatch of the Grange barn.” Presumably in preparation for migration.

Our Covid-secure arrangements mean that many of us are attending alternate working parties, but since at the moment they are happening each Sunday the usual pattern of every other Sunday morning for individuals is more or less unchanged. Not so for Margaret, who has been having a push on removing the errant Alder saplings that insist on trying to spread into the species-rich grassy areas adjacent to Warren Road that are the subject of the current work. Working with one other person each morning last week, the remaining saplings have been removed ahead of the mower, thus preventing them from being lopped off at ground level, and so going on to become little coppiced trees, stubbornly resistant to their easy removal.

Speaking of the Grizzly mower, we had a bit of a scare as it developed another fuel leak last week. It was whisked away for repair at the NWT workshop, and thankfully has been returned to us without any risk of causing us to fall behind our tight timescale. It was used to cut another substantial part of Area B, ready for today’s working party to clear up after it.

One of the effects of the Covid-secure precautions we are working with is the need for social distancing at the storage container, meaning that now only two people load the tools needed for the session onto our little green trolley well before the rest of the volunteers arrive – and the reverse at the end of the session. This means that team leaders are putting in even more hours than the rest of us; today we each clocked up 2 hours work, but the two leaders doubled that amount. In total, the working party alone accounted for 26 hours work, and the preparatory work done in the days leading up to it accounted for another 5 ½ hours.

Anyway, including team leaders 11 of us had turned up by 9.00 a.m. We had four drag sheets in operation, with people working (and keeping) in pairs loading cut vegetation onto them.

Two of us ‘escorted’ the loaded sheets as they were winched to the dumping site.

We are dedicated in our adherence to social distancing; including these neatly spaced out pitchforks…

We don’t of course benefit from having refreshments provided for the mid-session break, so must provide our own, taken at a safe distance from each other. This has always been the convivial highlight of our working parties, so is sadly reduced now. Nonetheless, when the call comes, there’s still almost a rush.

As well as clearing the cut vegetation, the chance was taken to break out a brush cutter to trim the boardwalk edges. It’s a noisy job, but another necessary one. Here’s Brian about to set the machine going.

All that strimming leads to a lot of cut grass on the boardwalk, and that needs brushing off, and that’s hard work, made harder by the non-slip netting.

Sheila and Julie took the job in turns. They must have put a lot of effort in, as this headless broom attests.

This area involves the longest distance we have to winch sheets; so far in fact that we need to hook a second length of rope on. This could be one of the most exciting pictures this blog has ever featured!

These two are peering into the distance, wondering when the next sheet will come into view.

Shortly before the end of the session, some Alpacas strolled along the boardwalk, as they do. They looked a bit surprised to see us, but were stoical about the noise of the winch. (Thinks: could they be pressed into service pulling sheets? They’re not cart horses it’s true, but…)

Here’s how the area looked with just one more lonely sheet to shift.

Here is the team leaders’ message of thanks:

To all our volunteers

We hope that you all continue to remain safe and well.

We ran another work party today with eleven volunteers and have now almost cleared Area B on the Warren Road end of the site. We were also able today to have a Brushcutter in action to clear the edges so the boardwalk from Warren Road to the bridge over the beck is looking clear and neat.

A huge thank you goes to all of the Volunteers who attended today. It was a lovely atmosphere on the site and great to all 'catch up' with each other.

We will be back in action with a different set of Volunteers next Sunday.

Keep well

Regards, John, Kevin, Julie, Margaret, Denise and Sue