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