Pumped up and ready for action

 

Faithful followers of this Blog, if indeed there are any, may remember that last time your usual correspondent was almost as deflated as the tyre on our little green cart that had unreasonably burst following the injection of some (perhaps excessive?) much-needed air. Careful examination of the other tyres on that vital vehicle by the Southrepps Commons Volunteers Maintenance Department (John and John) revealed that the three remaining tyres were not far away from going pop too. You won’t be surprised to learn that replacements of such specialist items are hard to track down, but after much research a set of four was procured with the clock ticking; we desperately needed the trolley to be back in use at the next session. After monumental struggles the new tyres were fitted, and at the start of this latest working party the tools were loaded onto the waiting trolley and off it trundled. It trundled very well, the air in the tyres making light work of movement. Sadly, it had forgotten how to steer; it was again useless. The Maintenance Department investigated, and discovered that something important in the sophisticated mechanism had become bent, or broken; not requiring more air or blu-tack it had gone beyond my competence. So let’s hope the ability to control the direction it goes in can be restored in time for our next working party.

The task this time was to clear the grass and reeds from the smaller part of the central area (known as Area G) on the southern side of the boardwalk. Grizzly Driver John had cut the stuff a few days before, and reports that it had been so verdant that in carving out his first strip he lost his bearings. Classically, explorers wore pith helmets, but perhaps someone had taken his. Here’s how the site looked after his efforts.

This time 23 volunteers came along; seven more than the previous record for this season. As has been well documented, when visitors descend on your usual correspondent, he uses this as an excuse to skive off, often for a month, the better to recuperate. Team Leader Margaret is cut from different cloth however, and a visiting family of five accompanied her to the working party. Happily, they seemed to enjoy it, as did the rest of us. Here’s the busy and bucolic scene.

Such was the richness of our human resources, we had enough people to not only heap the drag sheets high and winch them to the dumping site, but also to clear up after the brush cutting crew, who cut brush with gusto. At this time of year the vegetation bordering the boardwalk does its best to grow across it and meet in the middle, which is not fun for anyone trying to use it, especially after heavy rain, so efforts to trim it back are essential.

Here they are again, with in the background two adventurers on the larger side of the boardwalk, hunting down and eliminating reeds one by one, in order to delay the need for mowing so that the flowering plants can get on with flowering.

The well-renowned winch crew were at their astonishing best, hauling in sheet after sheet of heavily loaded material, and creating a mountain of vegetation ready to quietly decay over the next 12 months (I mean the vegetation of course).

Here they are examining the winch, trying to work out which way is up.

We were fortunate that the weather was almost ideal for this work: not too warm, no rain, and a breeze that was no more than pleasantly cooling. Nonetheless, when half time came and the refreshments were available, the field was abandoned.

Here is the obligatory group photo of refreshed volunteers.

A considerable spider was discovered on Team Leader Margaret’s back. It looks like a particularly well-fed Orb Web Garden Spider to me, but I am no arachnologist, so am ready to stand corrected. Rest assured, the spider was safely returned to the ground, and there was no unseemly shrieking (spiders don't shriek).

The area concerned is not large, but even so, the amount of vegetation to be removed is considerable; it would be fascinating to know the weight of the amount we shifted. It usually takes a couple of sessions to complete the task, but with the turnout being so good, and a willingness to carry on working for a while past the official end time, the whole lot was cleared in one hit – something the old hands don’t remember being achieved previously. The old hands in this picture are smiling broadly because it’s the load they have been looking for all morning – the final one.

And these two ladies are either engaged in rolling up a drag sheet at the end of the session, or praying for that end to come.

Here’s how the area looked like at the end of the session, ready to start growing all over again.

Here is Team Leader Julie’s message of thanks:

Dear Volunteers

We hope that you are all keeping well.

We wanted to say a massive thankyou to today's volunteers for a great job done on the Central area to the rear of Chadwick Bench.

The area had been pre-cut along with a stretch on the other side of the boardwalk and this was all cleared. Everyone was so efficient at loading the reed onto the sheets we had a queue of them to be dragged and emptied - but it gave everyone a chance to stop and chat for a while! We ran slightly over the two-hour time allowed, so an extra thanks to everyone for staying to complete the task.  

As we had a good turn out today it allowed us to take a few people off to clear the boardwalk edges from the bench along to the Bradfield Road spur. So thanks also go to the operators of brushcutters, brooms, loppers and saws! We still have more to do on the edges but a good start was made today.

Finally, thanks go to the crazy ones that were hand weeding reed from the central area in front of the bench to allow the wildflowers to flourish.

A very productive work party today.

Regards, Julie (for the team leaders)

 

Wildflower heaven, and the working party ends with a bang!

The supply of visitors to your usual correspondent having temporarily dried up, he has made a surprise return to the fold. So numerous are the newly recruited volunteers, half the assembled workers have no idea who he is. I have to tell you dear reader, he is the one responsible for this drivel.

Since the last posting of this blog, there has been a sharp uptick in the level of activity; our volunteers are back, looking after the best interests of the local birds and bees, beetles and butterflies, and of course the botanicals. The start date of Natural England’s cutting programme for the SSSI has now passed, and the first working parties are under our collective belt. On Friday 6^th Team Leaders Julie and Margaret toiled away for a couple of hours in the central area, cutting four bagfuls of reeds by hand, in order to avoid the need for the mower to be used there, and thus protect the most prolific of the wild flowers which have not yet set seed.

It was warm work in high humidity, but then a heavy shower came along. Fortunately they were able to take shelter in the tool store, but then decided to remove some Himalayan Balsam plants that were encroaching into the reedbed – the now very wet reeds transferring much of their recently acquired rain onto the two plucky adventurers.

On Saturday 7^th a significant milestone was reached, with the scattering of seeds on our embryo wildflower meadow at Pit Common. A lot of hard work had already been put into preparing the ground, by way of removing pernicious weeds like Dock and Hogweed, as well as removing a good proportion of the turf in the selected and roped-off section of the Common. More of that went on before the arrival of the seeds, which had been collected that morning by Aaron, NWT’s expert in these matters. He arrived in a car laden with newly mown plants, as well as a couple of buckets containing seeds mixed with sand. Here’s how the site looked during its preparation:

The loose seeds were scattered across the patch, and then the ‘green hay’ as it is known was strewn on top; the idea being that there will be many more seeds contained in it. Seeds in the mix included oxeye daisy, sulphur clover, field scabious, yellow rattle, cowslip, common bird’s-foot-trefoil and meadow vetchling. The yellow rattle is particularly useful, as it parasitises several grass species, weakening them enough to give other plants a chance to thrive. Passers-by will have been struck by the sight of seven people apparently doing some kind of primitive dance, as the hay was trodden down.

They will rightly have surmised that it was a rain dance, because a few hours later the heavens opened and considerable precipitation was the result. Here the dancers are, sheltering from the rain during a less extreme shower; don’t they look surprisingly cheerful?

In addition to the main section, a small patch at the far end of the site patronised by moles was also treated in the same way. Aaron has recommended a spring cut of the flower area in March with the ‘arisings’ removed, and then a cut in August/September after the seeds have set. These can then be used to gradually increase the wildflower area, using the same technique.

Here’s how the site looked after the ritual strewing was complete.

The next session was on Friday 13^th when six brave souls fought their way through the reed to remove the Himalayan Balsam infesting both sides of the Beck on Area F, near the car park. As Team Leader Julie reports, “The reed and Balsam towered above all of us and after last night’s rain it was a very wet job! Luckily no one fell in the Beck though!

We were pleased to see that there was considerably less balsam than last year in this area so our effortsare not in vain.”

Nonetheless, a reasonable haul was evident by the end. Here are those snazzy braces again, with Team Leader Kevin modelling his new plastic skirt for good measure; the voluminous look is in this year! 

15 volunteers (including four recently recruited ones) arrived in the late summer but early morning sunshine on Sunday 15^th, eager to squelch around in the mud whilst clearing the recently cut reed and grass from the central area of the Common, so evocatively named Area G.

As usual, the work required nifty use of the pitchfork, heaving the heavy wet stuff onto drag sheets for winching to the dump site at the edge of the area.

Team Leader Julie wielded her camera to artistic effect, spotting the moment when it seemed a spotlight had picked out Andrew in mid-dance.

Now we are back with refreshments allowed, at half-time we gathered together for the customary group photo; not in the reeds I hasten to add, but on the cunningly well-hidden boardwalk.

We often focus on fashion in this blog; with Team Leader Kevin and his snazzy braces absent, the day was saved by this fetching matching ensemble, created by Norfolk Wildlife Trust and modelled by Pauline and Richard.

Neither of the two photographers on duty remembered to take a shot of the area once our work was done, but this one gives a reasonable impression of what it looks like now, although you must try to imagine it without the quartet of volunteers.

A lot of the equipment we use is transported from its store to close to where it’s needed on a little green trolley. This has a wheel at each corner, theoretically making it easier to pull to where it is wanted. As it seemed harder going than usual on its way back to the tool store, we noticed that the pneumatic tyres lacked an adequate amount of the requisite component; air. Your correspondent sought to rectify the situation by using the foot pump he so wisely carries in his car, and started pumping the tyres from 0 to the correct pressure as embossed on the tyre wall. All went well for the first tyre, and indeed it seemed it had for the second, until with an almighty bang, it burst! The evidence is presented for all to see:

A couple of minutes later the regular troop of Alpacas processed along the boardwalk, and took a keen interest in the aftermath of the event. Luckily, they did not seem to have been traumatised by the recent explosion, unlike your correspondent, who took some persuading that he had not in fact been shot.

New volunteer Michelle had placed her backpack on the ground at the start of the session. On retrieving it at the end, she was surprised to find a couple of squatters had moved in.

Here’s the message of thanks from Team Leaders Julie and John:

Hello all

We ran another work party today clearing reed from the fen in the central area. Several of our regular volunteers were off doing other exciting things today, but the lovely weather attracted 15 volunteers anyway. We had old faces returning and new faces joining us and it was a lovely session and we cleared the reed, which had been cut in the week, with ease! Thank you to all involved.

Thanks also to Sheila for organising the refreshments for us today - they were very welcome as it was a warm day.

We will be back on the common in two weeks and will send the usual information on where we will be working nearer the day!

Enjoy the lovely weather.

Regards, Julie and John H

 

Start of the (rainy) season

 The beginning of August marks the start of the cutting season on the Common, so it’s no surprise that it rained heavily on the night before the first working party. Our wonderful winch had misbehaved earlier in the year and chewed up some of the very expensive rope used to haul the heavily-laden sheets. A repair of the winch had been carried out, and a pricey new rope had been obtained, but before using them in earnest the winch crew decided that a test was called for, to provide reassurance that the fault would not recur. Safety is paramount, and the last thing wanted is for a rope to part under strain, with possibly disastrous results. Five doughty winch specialists therefore convened to carry out the test in significant heat, requiring, inevitably, a beer break.

You’ll be happy to know that the winch passed with flying colours.

In order for there to be work for volunteers to do from the start of the Sunday sessions, we usually do a pre-cut on Sunday, and this was no exception. Regular readers won’t be surprised to learn that your regular correspondent was once again ahem, unavailable, for the entire weekend. What follows is therefore courtesy of stand-in blogger, Team Leader Julie:

Before we cut, the Central Area (area G) looked like this 

The visiting alpacas were largely hidden by the tall Reed at that stage: can you spot one? 

The lovely, and aptly named, Fragrant Orchid…luckily not where we were cutting this week.

On Sunday the day started very wet but the forecast was promising so we decided to go ahead with the work party and hope some of our volunteers had checked the forecast too! Before we could do anything else a couple of us had to clear the boardwalk between the car park and the container, which was virtually impassable (certainly not without getting soaked) due to overhanging branches and reed. That done, we set up on the central area for the first cut of the season. As promised the rain cleared and left us with a decent temperature to work in…although it was very damp underfoot…

We had a hugely impressive 16 turn out today, including another new volunteer, Ruth. We have now had seven new volunteers join us since December 2020, which is fantastic. Our NWT volunteer coordinator Alan has also been very impressed each time I have sent him another Consent Form from a new volunteer.

I was waffling away, as I do, to Ruth about what we were doing and casually pointing at Grizzly as I explained the process…only to be reminded that I had not clarified that Grizzly was the machine and not the man using it! Sorry John, you can come out from the trees…we would never label you Grizzly obviously! 

Anyway, back to the task in hand, we got to work slurping through the mud (it’s the only way to describe the sound it made sucking at our wellies) and at times it resembled work in a paddy field. However, this is good news as it is a wetland area and we have seen a decline in some of our plants with the area drying out over recent years. 

Our refreshments at half time had also declined due to COVID, but today the wonderful shout of “coffee time” was heard and everyone downed tools and started to head for the bench for teas, coffees and homemade cakes…a very welcome return….thank you Margaret.

 Then, feeling refreshed we all got back to work again. 

Due to the recent rainfall, the work today was heavier than it normally is in this area…as Dave will tell you, pulling the sheets was like an Olympic event…though I’m not sure which one…tai chi maybe! 

Such a look of concentration on his face!

 Anyway, it was a good work party and we achieved a huge amount, leaving the area looking like this… 

Our volunteers, being so very fashion conscious, know that it’s important to hang clothes up tidily...

On the subject of clothing, Team Leaders are a special breed, as demonstrated by Kevin and his snazzy braces 

Here’s Julie’s message of thanks:

Hello all

A huge thank you to the 16 volunteers, old and new, who braved the weather to work on the Common today. Luckily, the heavy rain had all but stopped by 9am so we didn't get too wet from above (though it was rather wet underfoot) and the temperature was quite pleasant for working in. 

It was our first working party back on the main SSSI area - this is normally much easier work when the younger reed is dry, but today proved to be quite heavy work! We also had a few minor teething problems with dump sites on our first session of the season - so an extra thank you to those who had to double handle some of the reed to get it to the required dump site. We were soon back to our normal well-oiled operation and the remainder of the session ran very smoothly.

We aim to be back in the central area on the 14th August. As a lot of people are going to be away we will send an email out at the beginning of that week to gauge numbers so we know how much reed to pre-cut if numbers are going to be low.

Thanks again to all of you for your continued support.

Regards, Julie (for the Team Leaders)