The Magnificent Seven, plus your correspondent

 

Phew, what a scorcher! Yesterday (Sunday 10^th) was forecast to be hot, so an early-ish start was necessary for our first working party since March. We basically need to avoid disturbing the Commons during Spring and Summer, but there are some jobs that simply have to be done. One of these is to trim back the vegetation along the edges of the boardwalk across the main site. The stuff sits there deceitfully growing only modestly for weeks on end, and then suddenly, when it is least convenient, shoots up massively, overhanging the boardwalk and making enjoying the place more difficult than it should be. So once or twice in the Summer it needs cutting back, and the fun element is hard to find.

The other essential job at this time of year is to return to our never-ending struggle to keep the pesky invasive Himalayan Balsam under control. We thought that we had almost eliminated it a year or two ago, but it’s certainly fighting back this year. Now here’s a thing: this plant has evolved to thrive in the Himalayas, which let’s face it are rather more elevated than Southrepps, so why is it also so happy at such a low altitude? It just isn’t fair.

The call to arms having been issued, eight hardy volunteers convened, braced for a couple of hours of very warm work. Your correspondent had had the foresight to prepare a flask of cold drink, and was quite put out on arrival to discover that it had not come with him. 15 minutes of raking cut reeds provided all the proof necessary of the foolishness of this mistake, so a hasty trip back home was required to rectify the situation. This should not in any way be construed as skiving, dear reader, but it was nice to get some air moving across the fevered brow.

Eight volunteers is quite a small group, and well short of our average turnout, so it was not going to be possible to complete either task. Linda, Den and Team Leader Margaret plunged into the undergrowth to tackle the Balsam. They did in time return, bearing tales of gigantic plants of exceptional vigour, so much more Balsam Bashing is needed. Regrettably, no photos were taken on this occasion.

The other five volunteers concentrated on the boardwalk edge. I say ‘edge’ advisedly, as the sensible course was to cut back only one side of the boardwalk, in order to improve the situation for the greatest distance in the time available. Brush cutter operators Kevin and Noel operated their brush cutters to good effect, while the two equally doughty rake and broom operators Ken and I raked and brushed for all we were worth.

The fifth member, Team Leader Julie, wielded loppers on overhanging branches to great effect: the results are there for all regular visitors to the place to appreciate.

As modelled here by Noel, we needed to be protectively dressed in long-sleeved shirts, trousers and boots, so it really was hot work – thanks goodness I went back for my drink!

Here's how it looked before we started…

… and after

 After an hour of such heat torture, a welcome break was called: being British, of course we had a nice hot cup of tea or coffee – what splendid pluck!

Having already lost all touch with reality, at the break your correspondent caused a certain amount of hilarity by wondering aloud where he had left his bits. The missing cold drink incident had shattered his confidence. We were also full of admiration for Noel’s needleworking skills, as evidenced by the natty patching of his jeans; he held his audience enthralled.

At last a halt was called and as we walked back to the boardwalk entrance, we could admire our handiwork.

Everyone can admire the point of all this effort when they visit. This year the Cotton Grass has been much more impressive than recently. This is on the central area where we hand weeded the reed out - it was worth it!! 

The orchids are magnificent too.

Here is Team Leader Julie’s message of thanks, along with the schedule of forthcoming working parties.

Hello all

We hope that you are enjoying the sunshine.

Firstly, a huge thank you goes to the 8 hardy (or mad?) volunteers who turned out in the heat this morning to pull some Himalayan Balsam and to cut back the reed and grass at the edge of the boardwalk. At the start of the day the boardwalk was very overgrown and difficult to walk along...the volunteers managed to clear a large section of boardwalk edging to enable people to be able to walk along it easily.

There is still a lot to do with the boardwalk edging and we will be returning in two weeks time (24th July) to tackle more clearance work. 

Following this we will be starting on the reed cutting to fit in with the required schedule for cutting the fen areas. Below is the schedule of work party dates for the rest of 2022 and into 2023:

Sunday 24th July (9am)

Sunday 7th August (9am)

Sunday 21st August (9am)

Sunday 4th September (9am)

Sunday 18th September (9am)

Sunday 2nd October (9am)

Sunday 16th October (9am)

Sunday 30th October (10am)

Sunday 13th November (10am)

Sunday 27th November (10am)

Sunday 11th December (10am)

Sunday 8th January 2023 (10am)

Sunday 22nd January (10am)

Sunday 5th February (10am)

Sunday 19th February (10am)

Sunday 5th March (10am)

Sunday 19th March (10am)