Winter draws on

 

It feels important to say that the Commons are looking in particularly good order now, at the start of the winter, ready to grow again and thus provide entertainment for us volunteers next year and beyond. It’s not unreasonable to pat ourselves on the back from time to time, and I think that the obvious state of the place’s health is testament to our often extraordinary efforts. This being the last working party of the year, a few statistics are perhaps in order:

Number of working sessions: 17

Number of individuals volunteering during the year: 39

Average attendance at working parties: 14.29

A lot of work also goes on outside the main working parties: in total we have collectively put in a magnificent 698.75 hours during 2021 on behalf of NWT!

To mark the start of meteorological winter, for the final working party of the year 15 hardy volunteers returned to the central part of the Common, to cut back more scrub and to clear recently cut reeds away. The Wednesday before had seen four keen types doing the ‘pre-cut’, meaning that the Sunday party had something to get their metaphorical teeth into on arrival. (I am not suggesting that their teeth aren’t real, but in this case they are indeed metaphorical, as using real teeth on these tasks would be unwise.) It won’t have gone un-noticed that although we have been spared the worst excesses of Storm Arwen, there has been a certain amount of wet weather of late. This manifested itself most recently a couple of hours before the session, and then some more fell a few hours after. Mercifully, we were spared a soaking.

All the previous precipitation had created ground of a particularly squelchy nature: wellies were the advised attire, but aqualungs or full diving gear might have been equally appropriate. Fortunately, the areas we were working in were not as boggy as some other parts of our beloved site, so in the event SCUBA gear might have been a bit excessive, not to say an encumbrance in amongst the bushes.

On arrival, your correspondent was presented with this image of a neat parade of pitchforks and our famous little green cart, all tyres fully pumped. Where the people were was anybody’s guess.

Those pitchforks were waiting to be deployed on the patch cut on Wednesday:

Before starting work, we must all sign in so that the team leaders can know who has sunk into the bog at the end of the day, and to satisfy NWT’s Health & Safety requirements. It’s difficult to identify this character, but it has been suggested that this hardy volunteer spotted signing in found the task quite difficult - one too many last night maybe?

The proximity of this patch to the dumping site meant that using the winch was unnecessary, so it was all moved by hand. The aforementioned rain had made the four-year-old vegetation very wet and heavy. Although it was an arduous job, as you would expect our wonderful volunteers made short work of it.

In addition to clearing that patch of reed, more was to be done on cutting back the scrub lining the boardwalk. Team Leader Kevin set to work with the ‘tree popper’ to uproot some of the more accessible plants…

… whilst others set about the scrub with saws and loppers. They came, they saw, and they conquered.

Along with the branches cut to allow Grizzly to cut the area, many more were added to this pile as more scrub was cut back to reclaim the area for reed bed…

… and the lopped branches were soon stacked well back from the reed bed.

The half time break came at roughly half time, and the merry throng gathered round for hot drinks and Bourbon biscuits. Here is that throng, looking as merry as they could manage.

After our break we had a visit from our friends the Alpacas. Do they come to judge our efforts?

At the end of the session, the cleared reed area looks like this.

This being apparently close to Christmas, it has been suggested that the scrub clearance has created a suitable grotto for Santa, so keep your eyes peeled for an old guy in a red dressing gown hiding out here:

However, all the little elves have cleared off, for an Ibuprofen and a good rub down.

Here is the Team Leaders’ message of thanks:

An enormous thank you to the 15 hardy souls who turned out today. The area was not large but it was a very hard morning's work as the material to move was extremely wet and heavy and the ground a quagmire. Lots of encroaching scrub was attacked which included some very spiky blackthorn.

The next scheduled working party was for the 19th of December but we have decided that that is too close to Christmas so in those immortal words that's all folks! well at least for 2021.

May we wish you and your families a very Happy and safe Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.

Thank you.

The Team Leaders

Freezing fun and fungi

Your usual correspondent having migrated south for the day to avoid the cold (but not the rain), today's blog posting comes to you courtesy of Team Leader Julie:

When I sat eating my breakfast in the morning watching the rain blowing diagonally across the garden I did wonder how pleasant it was going to be working on the common today….however, although chilly to start, the sun emerged and it turned out far better than the forecast predicted and we had a pleasant morning to do our work.

The weather forecast undoubtedly deterred some of our volunteers, but fourteen of us turned out ready to battle the elements…winter jackets and woolly hats donned for the occasion! 

One of the aims today was to clear the Bradfield Road Spur area to enable the snowdrops in that area to flourish once again.  To start, two volunteers turned out an hour early to cut the reed, grass and nettles.

Under John's watchful eye, Noel was receiving his first training session using Grizzly….and he turned out to be a smooth operator of the fearsome machine.

The area was soon cut and we were pitch forking the cuttings onto heaps hidden in the scrub.

Some people were winding the reed and grass around the forks like spaghetti, resulting in some artistic nest like structures on our dumping heaps. 

We were very much on track for clearing this area before the first hour was up. 

Meanwhile a separate party were dispatched to cut back the scrub along the boardwalk from the spur to the car park. We do this every year and we think we have been quite severe, but every spring the new growth is leaning over the boardwalk threatening to poke people in the face as they walk through. So the task today was to take it back further to try and manage next year's spring growth without it encroaching on the boardwalk. This entailed cutting back some fairly hefty branches and deadwood. You can just about make out our volunteer's hi-vis clothing in amongst the scrub!

The shout of “coffee” went up just as we finished clearing the area for the snowdrops, and we all gathered for much needed refreshments (thanks as always to Margaret for the provision of these). 

The second half of the session saw everyone joining in the cutting, lopping and clearing the scrub along the boardwalk. Another broken board was also replaced and finally the boardwalk was swept of leaves and debris from the car park to the Bradfield Road spur. 

The amount achieved today was nothing short of incredible!!

In a week that also saw us pass a reasonably vigorous Health and Safety inspection on behalf of Easton College (to enable us to host student placements) I think the Southrepps Commons Volunteers can all give themselves a huge pat on the back for what we manage to achieve in our little Conservation area. 

I took some photos of some fungi on the older wood in the scrub area to the side of the boardwalk. We don't know what they were... maybe a humble oyster mushroom…or maybe not! Not my area of expertise but they looked worthy of photographing, and if anyone reading this knows, please pass it on!

Let’s twist again

While the Great Talks to Save the Planet embarked on their second week, fuelled no doubt by Glasgow’s famous breakfast delicacy of deep-fried Mars bars (other confectionary may be available, but perhaps not so toothsome), 18 volunteers converged on School Common to have another crack at managing land for the benefit of nature. The focus of activity having moved from the fen, today’s work was all about clearing up School Meadow after it had been cut a few days previously, and cutting back some overhanging branches on the main path. Our forces were therefore divided.

With two others, your correspondent wandered off with bow saws and loppers to deal with the overhanging branches from some gently subsiding trees which were beginning to cause hazards for users of the main footpath through School Common.

A survey of Jubilee Boardwalk then revealed very little more needing surgical attention, but we were at least able to sweep the leaves off it. The first to have the privilege of walking along the newly cleared boardwalk were our old friends the Alpacas. One in particular gave your correspondent a very steady look.

The path leading to School Meadow is quite narrow, and tends to get overgrown quite easily.

Step forward the brush cutters to clear the way:

These chaps are cut from a special cloth. We’re not sure who Noel is addressing here…

… but here he is on the cat walk displaying his recently cut flowing locks under his helmet.

It’s possibly not well known, but the boardwalk itself is in need of increasing attention, as boards which have been there for many years begin to fail. Two more were replaced today, to add to the 16 already done this year; another of those unseen tasks that we volunteers do on NWT’s behalf.

The majority of today’s volunteers were employed on School Meadow itself, clearing away the grass, nettles and bracken which had been cut a few days earlier. Here they are at work removing grass by the picnic tables - the team removing the bracken further down are lost in the haze.

Break time came, and so engrossed were the main path trio that they had to be summoned by a phone call; thank goodness there was just enough signal, as the break is sacrosanct.

Students of body language might like to interpret the folded arms of the two team leaders... 

During the break, in a completely non-competitive way of course, it was established that, probably for the first time ever, volunteers living in Upper Southrepps outnumbered the Lower Street residents by 9 to 6 – with three others from outside the village. The volunteers refreshed, the work continued. The distances involved did not require the use of the winch and its twisty rope, so there was a return to much earlier ways of working, with the slightly lighter old yellow drag sheets hauled by hand. The cleared dump site should keep us going for years!

When all was finished, here’s how the meadow now looks.

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Hello all,

Weren't we lucky with the weather today? Thank you so much for your help. We can now walk safely through school common without ducking under low branches or losing an eye to low hanging brambles.

School meadow looks great. We may consider cutting it again in the spring when the grass is drier and just as the bracken starts to grow to try and control it.  We will be sending an e-mail to the school to remind them of the excellent facilities on their doorstep.

Thank you once again.

Margaret and the team leaders.

At this point an apology seems in order. The title of this posting is ‘Let’s twist again’, which might imply to the casual reader that there is something about twisting to be included here. In fact, the reverse is true: it’s about un-twisting, but that doesn’t have the right ring to it. In light of this I have considered my position; it’s in my favourite armchair, and I’m quite happy about that. Anyway, the last posting described the problems being caused to the winching operation because the newly bought rope insists on contorting itself each time it is used to haul a sheet-full of cut vegetation. Three of the most rope-aware (is that really a thing?) volunteers took it upon themselves to convene after that troublesome time with the intention of sorting it all out, once and for all. Nine more volunteer hours were clocked up doing so, along with testing the winch and doing various other things far too technical for exposition here. The extent of their success can only be gauged when the winch is next used – so look forward to further exciting updates here!

A tale with a twist

It might only be temporary, but the media are at last showing real interest in the conjoined climate and biodiversity crises, such that coverage is everywhere. Encouraged no doubt by the impending COP26 conference, and Prince William’s Earthshot prize awards, no-one in Britain can now be unaware of these issues. I only hope the focus stays on them once the media circus moves on. For my part, I take some comfort from knowing that my volunteering on our commons is making a small contribution. We know that peaty wet places have an even greater effect on removing carbon from the atmosphere than trees, so our efforts to keep our little patch in good order have real value. Having completed our scheduled work on the central fen area, we’re still currently working on the species-rich wet grassy areas alongside Warren Road. A major part of the task is to keep at bay the encroaching willow and alder trees – which if left unchecked would overwhelm the areas, and in drying them out actually release the carbon they’ve been busy storing. We’ve been splashing about in a lot of water there lately, and it occurs to me that the Common also acts as a great big sponge, probably preventing flooding in the area. Alongside all that of course, maintaining them helps to protect the many special plants growing there, and the myriad small (and largely un-surveyed) creatures depending on them, so in turning out at the weekend to do my bit, I’m ticking several boxes at once; that’s presumably what economists like to call productivity.

One of the many causes of biodiversity loss is out-competition by invasive non-native species, which with human help have managed to escape from the predators that had evolved alongside them in their far-away native homes. Over many years we have been pretty successful at controlling the spread of Himalayan Balsam, which can so devastate wet areas. There are many places nearby where this pernicious pest is not controlled, and the way it dominates those places serves as a warning to us to keep up our efforts. Very sadly, we have been powerless to control the spread of New Zealand Pigmyweed Crassula helmsii which first afflicted us on Scouts’ Pond (off the Jubilee Boardwalk), but has now spread to The Pit. Himalayan Balsam will have entered the wild having escaped from gardens; it’s all too easy for it, with its method of ‘exploding’ seeds into flowing water, enabling it to spread quickly along the watercourses it goes on to infest. Crassula was sold as a garden pond plant, and it’s easy to see how that got out. This wretched plant is easily transported from place to place on the fur or feathers of wildlife or pets, or the boots of people. Effective options for its removal are limited and expensive, so this is a problem that NWT may struggle to resolve. In the meantime, it is incumbent on us all to ensure our own pets don’t add to the problem, by keeping them out of the ponds.

Now that the opportunity has arisen to cut back the vegetation around the Pit, the extent of the infestation is horribly clear for all to see. Team Leader Julie reports: “Kevin ran a small work party on the Sunday following our last main work party, clearing the overgrown brambles, reed and shrubs to restore the three viewpoints into the pit. We also cut back the tree and shrub growth encroaching onto Pit Common. The reed in the Pit was also strimmed to reduce the growth in the water.

The Crassula is a real problem in the Pit and we couldn’t impact on that today but you can now see that there is water in the area. We all had to wash our equipment and boots when we came out of the water to prevent cross contamination from the Crassula.”

 here are some photos….

 Before we started.

During the session...

And after the session. 

Boot cleaning at the end…. Kevin clearly knows his place!!

Bailey managed to get a picture of a vole we saw by the Pit.

Here is Team Leader Kevin’s message of thanks:

Thank you very much to the restricted group of volunteers who came to Pit Common this morning. We have achieved an awful lot: cutting and removing weeds, brambles and nettles. Some of the trees were given a gentle trim as well. Opening up the viewpoints from the benches works really well.

We welcomed our new student volunteer. Thank you to Bailey for all his hard work. We look forward to seeing him at future work parties.

Regards, Kevin

 After a considerable drop of rain, the Pit now looks like this:

As with the fens further down the road, the Pit must be providing a free service to the village in holding at least some of the water rushing down Pit Street in times of flood.

 We have demonstrated before why we volunteers put so much effort into looking after our commons. Here is a picture of Area B taken in September 2012…

… and the same view in July 2021

 

And so to Sunday’s main event – completing the clearing of previously cut vegetation from Area A. A fortnight ago, the vote was put to the assembled company on whether now the equinox had passed we should revert to starting our sessions at 10.00 am. The cheers following that momentous act of democracy must have echoed round the village for some time, so two weeks on 22 bright-eyed and well-rested volunteers convened on the area bordering Warren Road. We were blessed with ideal weather for the job this time: not too hot, not too cold, with a bit of sunshine to keep us cheerful, and absolutely no precipitation, not of any kind. The windrows (or ricketts) were unsurprisingly undisturbed, so the task at hand was to transfer them to the four drag sheets as efficiently as possible, wet and heavy as they were.

A couple of windrows were close enough to the edge of the Alder carr for a group of highly motivated pitchfork wielders to transfer the stuff direct.

One of the challenges is the tipping over of the loaded sheet at the dumping point. Before we had the winch to help us, this was by far the most tiring part of the whole process, but even now a bit of manual intervention is sometimes called for.

The result is of course a growing heap, which initially at first assumes huge proportions…

.. but it does rot down and disappear remarkably quickly.

After an hour’s hard labour, the refreshment break was as welcome as ever.

We were struck by the layout of the abandoned pitchforks, most bearing their users’ gloves.

With so many people there we got the work done extremely well, and would probably have finished well within the scheduled two hours, if it had not been for The Twist. Unlike its worn-out predecessor, our new rope is determined to constantly twist itself whilst in use. Now a twisted rope makes winching impossible, as the convoluted loops it puts itself in will jam the drum on the winch – and that might mean we need another rope, or worse still, another winch. So the winch team found they had to painstakingly un-twist the wretched thing between each pull, greatly slowing down the normally very smooth operation, and causing them to work overtime (at double the usual rate of course!)

Here is how the area looked at that point:

The boardwalk edge between the car park and our storage container was also trimmed back.

Also previously cut stuff from along the boardwalk…

...was moved to a dump site further into the woody area...

...leaving the site looking much nicer.

Here is Team Leader Julie’s Message of thanks:

Dear volunteers

A huge thank you goes out to the team of volunteers who turned out this morning to finish the clearance of the cut reed on Area A. Due to the need to cut it before the end of September (to satisfy Natural England) this reed had been sat for several weeks and had become quite heavy to move. Most of it was moved onto the sheets for winching to the dump sites, but mention must be made to the small group who manually moved the reed near the bottom of the area onto a separate heap.

The winching operation was hampered today by issues with our new rope getting twisted. So special thanks also to those who ended up staying almost an extra hour to complete the dumping and painstakingly untwist the length of the rope at the end of the session.

Away from the main group we had people clearing cut scrub from the boardwalk edges to a dump site further back into the scrub and a lonely pair over the other side of the boardwalk clearing the boardwalk edges along to the car park. The entire boardwalk on the SSSI common is now passable with ease, so thank you to those who have worked at this over the weeks.   

There were a lot of people using the boardwalk this morning and enjoying the common, which was lovely to see.

We cannot begin cutting the areas of 'reed bed' until December so our outing in two weeks time will most likely be at School Common, but we will confirm this a few days before the work party.

Thanks for all your hard work and support - it is very much appreciated.

Regards, Julie (for the Team Leaders)