Rickles or Windrows; you decide.

The last two weeks have again seen a great deal of voluntary work carried out on our commons; 44 ¼ hours have been clocked up between working parties! This includes a lot of ‘extra-curricular’ activity, mainly in order to be able to meet Natural England’s changed timescales which require a lot of the work to be completed within a short window between the end of summer and not very far into autumn.

First up was work at Pit Common on the 18^th to cut back the vegetation around the pond – including the stuff that had grown up alongside the road. This had made it difficult to see the Pit itself, and it came as a surprise to your correspondent to realise just how much it has been invaded by the dreaded Crassula; a highly invasive and pernicious pond weed that belongs in New Zealand, where presumably there are things that keep it in check by eating it. Unfortunately, it seems to have no natural predators here, and once it infests an area it is extremely hard to eradicate.

Here's the view before the job:

And after:

Six volunteers got themselves very hot brush cutting and clearing away the resulting debris.

The next event was on Tuesday 21^st, when the top portion of Area B was cut. The two areas adjacent to Warren Road, divided by the boardwalk, are meant to be cut on alternate years, but this part has become so invaded by reeds, bracken, Golden Rod and Michaelmas Daisies that it has been decided that an annual cut is required. This also had to be completed by the end of the month, but it was too much for us to clear away alongside the regular work, so on Friday 24^th George, our NWT warden, came to do that, accompanied by a couple of volunteers who work with him at Cley. Team Leader Margaret and two other SCV stalwarts also helped out, logging another 5 ½ hours between them.

This Shield Bug also decided to put in an appearance

Here’s how the place looked after this Herculean effort

Two days later Team Leaders Margaret and Julie were out again, putting in another 5 ½ hours between them doing more back-breaking hand cutting of reeds on the wildflower-rich central area G, which Grizzly has finished with this year.

This arduous task is all about removing reeds from an area important for a range of flowering plants, as well as the mosses and liverworts that so excite the scientists. Perhaps none are lovelier than the Grass of Parnassus, beautifully captured by Julie:

The day before the main Sunday working party saw three people cutting more of Area A, followed by Team Leader Kevin going on to put in another 4 ¼ hours at The Pit. This ‘pre-cut’ was to provide a lot of material for the main group of volunteers to work on from the start of the session. The pressure is on to complete cutting the entire area by the end of the month, so even though we cannot clear it all by then, it should at least all be cut.

16 splendid volunteers arrived for Sunday’s main event on 26^th. I’m not sure about the mellow fruitfulness, but Keats’s autumnal mists were in evidence when I woke with a scream not long enough after the post-equinoxial dawn. Not until late afternoon did the sun break through, but at least it refrained from cooking us at our labours on the famed Area A. Mind you, it was very humid, so rest assured, we still suffered.

Team Leader Margaret explained to us that the plan this time was not to solely concentrate on forking the cut vegetation onto the drag sheets, as there was no way it could all be shifted in the two-hour session. Instead, we were to also create ‘rickles’. These are defined as “loosely piled or disorganized heaps”, which sums us up pretty well I think. There was long and learned debate as to whether they can also be called windrows, which according to my dictionary are “long lines of raked hay drying in the wind”. They’re not exactly hay for equine consumption, but they are comprised mostly of a rich profusion of different grass species and other super plants, so ‘windrow’ seems equally acceptable. Here’s what they look like:

A recent appeal for more people to be trained in operating Grizzly yielded a willing volunteer, in the shape of recently recruited Dave. Under John’s expert and very experienced guidance he took to the skill very well; something that looks far too difficult for your correspondent to attempt.

I think we all take pleasure and pride in what we do on NWT’s behalf on our Common, and the winch team enjoys making ever more refinements to the process of moving a laden sheet across wet ground to be tipped out at the edge of the area being worked on. Your correspondent went so far as to boastfully say our work was slick, and winchman Noel has now adopted that has his middle name, so carry on Slick!

Not to be outdone by Friday’s Shield Bug, this six-legged spider showed up. It didn’t seem to walk with a limp, but having four legs on one side and being deficient on the other to the tune of two can’t be easy, so well done the plucky little arachnid!

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Hello all.

Once again I find that ‘thank you’ is really very inadequate for all the work you do. We have made excellent progress on clearing area A. The hope is that the rickles will dry and be lighter to lift in two weeks and that the other material can then be made into further rickles for later removal. We have several weeks of work still to do.

Thank you too to Dave who had his first session with grizzly and an excellent student he was too.

The pit often gets overlooked but there is always someone beavering away to maintain the area and cut the grass so thanks to the pit team.

We have also received some lovely comments from users of the commons who so appreciate the work you all do.

I saw my first skein of geese this morning so Autumn is upon us.

Thanks

Margaret for the team leaders

Area A gets its trim

 

This being the relevant time of year, much of the countryside looks like it has had a haircut. Included in this must be our Common, which according to the decrees of Natural England has to be trimmed in line with a strict schedule. The central area having had its cut (except for a small remaining patch waiting until the end of the month), the section next up for the chop is the enigmatically named Area A. This is the bit beside Warren Road between Lower Street and the boardwalk, and is cut every other year, alternating with the section the other side of the boardwalk, which is unsurprisingly called Area B.

With two summers to grow in, the heady mix of grasses and many other plant species take full advantage, and a fine old tangle is the result. This makes for hard work for the Grizzly mower, and even harder work for the un-grizzly mower operators. Three pioneers spent two hours each on Wednesday, performing the ‘pre-cut’ to ensure there was something for the volunteers to work on from the start of the Sunday work session. Those three heroes are to be applauded, for the weather was hot and humid; something for which this summer has not hitherto been noted.

Here’s how it was when they left it:

On Saturday, Julie and Margaret continued the back-aching task of cutting reeds on the central part of the Common (Area G for your future reference). This allows for the required control of the spread of reeds into that area, whilst giving the special flowering plants growing there more time in which to flower and set seed before the final sweep of the mower. They might feel mad as hatters standing crouched over for an hour and half taking individual reeds out….but these beautiful Devil’s Bit Scabious and Grass of Parnassus flowers illustrate why they do it…

Sunday dawned bright, and all too early for my taste. The weather was initially pleasantly fresh, although as the morning wore on and the work became heavy, it did get a bit too warm for total comfort. Nonetheless, we applied ourselves to the task very much in the manner of teenage tennis prodigies, and in no time at all (well, two hours actually), a vast swathe of grass was mown and moved to the growing pile at the edge of the site.

It’s not all pitchforks and similar bucolic implements of course; machinery also figures large in our work. First and foremost, there’s the Grizzly mower – or in this case, where’s the Grizzly? As can be seen, the vegetation is tall and thick, unlike the driver, who is tall and thin.

Then there’s the vital winch. The crack winch team have discovered that it works best if the proper respect is shown, so bowing to it before asking it to pull anything is always a good idea.

Turning your back on it and pretending it’s not there rarely has the same effect…

Readers concerned about the fate of the little green trolley will be relieved to learn that it has been returned to service, having had the tender attention of the SCV Maintenance Department. John might not have just done what I would have done, and hit it with the biggest hammer he could find, but whatever engineering technique he employed, the result was that the vehicle can once again be steered along the boardwalk without falling off it, and that’s a considerable benefit. We also found that having tyres capable of retaining air makes it much easier to move; the trick was to slow it down on the slopes, so brakes might be the next request.

The vegetation will keep growing at this time of year, doing its best to make the boardwalk impassable, so Brush Cutter Brian was very usefully employed clearing the way. That’s a tough job, as is the sweeping of the trimmings off the boardwalk, ably performed by Dave; a more accomplished sweeper than can currently be found in the ranks of his beloved Norwich City it seems!

Half time came along not a moment too soon, as it was half way through the session. We took advantage of a hard surface for once to stand about on, enjoying tea, coffee and chocolate Bourbon biscuits.

Team Leader Julie spent a lot of time on her mud face pack, through being bent double clearing blockages from the ditch running down to the Beck alongside the western edge of the area. We think she enjoyed it, but her reply to our question was a bit ambiguous.

The nature of the vegetation in that area is that there is a lot of it; heavy and tangled, and still full of sap. Even more than the reed bed, this makes for especially hard work, and creates a lot of stuff to be moved. By the end of the session, an awful lot had been moved, but some was still there. It’s not something we like to do, but this time we left some piles, waiting for our attention next time.

Here is the Team Leaders’ message of thanks:

Once again I wish to thank all our volunteers for all the work you do on the Commons. Today you cheerfully gave up your time to help maintain the SSSI, it was hard hot work but you all got stuck in and achieved a huge amount.

Every two weeks our other unsung heroes of the pit mow the grass area, often in very hot conditions for the benefit of the whole village. Thank you.

It is only through your generosity of time and effort that we can all enjoy the Commons, not just the humans but getting that delicate balance for all the flora and fauna.

Margaret and all the team leaders