They came, they sawed, they conquered

 

It was another lovely day, showing real promise that Spring is under way. Amongst the growing birdsong, I heard the “chirp, chirp, cheep” of my first reed bunting of the year. Let’s hope it’s a portent of a productive breeding season for our red-bed denizens!

The reed cutting having been completed last time, this session’s task at hand was scrub bashing, and 17 scrub bashers certainly bashed some scrub. This was alongside the boardwalk between the car park and the storage container, following on from earlier bashing further along. It’s necessary because the willow trees love to extend their branches across the boardwalk, to the annoyance and inconvenience of visitors to the Common.

Unusually, the tools were laid out neatly at the start of the session, ready for the eager volunteers to pounce upon.

The Team Leaders were putting new blades in the bow saws (and what a difference it made)…and no cut fingers reported!

Those saws were of course put to good effect in the hands of crack sawyers.

And the loppers were put to even better use in the hands of, er, lopperers.

Cut branches were hauled away by hauliers

And brushers brushed the boardwalk clean

The usual coffee break gave everyone a chance to debate the issues of the day

…..then it was back to work. Four ladies set to building a dead hedge with the brash and branches removed….they were so proud (rightly so) of their work…

… here’s Team Leader Julie, the doyenne of dead-hedge creators, weaving her craft.

The boardwalk edges are now cut right back which will hopefully mean we can keep it clear to walk along.

A nice bracket fungus

The work almost done, there was light at the end of the tunnel

A session before Christmas worked on the section beside the boardwalk spur linking the main bit with Bradfield Road. These glorious Snowdrops give splendid justification for all that effort. 

Here’s Julie’s message of thanks:

Hello all

This is just our customary 'Thank you' to the fantastic team of volunteers who turned out for today's Work Party.  Seventeen of us turned out in the glorious sunshine to wield loppers, saws (with new blades!) and brooms.  It was a very enjoyable morning with everyone in good form. Congratulations to the team of ladies who discovered their talent for dead hedging - so satisfying to see it at the end.

We will be returning to tackle scrub on Area B in two weeks’ time and hope for the same lovely weather! Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Take Care

Julie and the TLs  

(Reed) bed made

 

I was given two wonderful books for Christmas, written 80 years apart, but they could have both been written now. Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanack’ was written in the 1940s, by a man often described as a father of environmentalism. Distressed by the degradation of much North American land he bought an exhausted farm and helped it to regenerate naturally. Way back then he was warning about the perils of over-grazing, invasive non-native species, inappropriate development in wild areas, eradication of apex predators, and especially the reckless disregard for the health of the soil. Isabella Tree’s Wilding addresses the same themes that are even more extreme now. She describes returning to a more natural state the now-famous Knepp Estate in Sussex which her husband had inherited as a traditional farm, but that was no longer capable of paying its way. They realised that what was missing was the input of Mother Nature, and as we were always told, Mother knows best. So areas of the estate have been left to their own devices, with astonishing improvements in biodiversity, and the profitability of the estate. If only more landowners would take heed!

Although it’s still only early February, there are encouraging signs that Spring is on its way. It’s too early for Ted Hughes’s increasingly unreliable measure that “the globe is still working” (the arrival of the swifts), but the birds in School Common are starting to sing, the Hazel catkins are out, the puppy-yapping geese are drifting back to Iceland, and yesterday I heard a skylark, larking about in the sky. You can almost hear the reeds re-growing, ready for our attention next winter!

Your two usual correspondents having more pressing commitments keeping us away from Sunday’s working party, this time we’re relying on hard-pressed Team Leaders Margaret and Kevin for the words and pictures from the last session of the season on the main reedbed:

After a dull Saturday, the sun shone on the righteous and it was another crisp bright morning to make the heavy work a less daunting prospect. The walk to the work site was long; the furthest distance from the Lower Street end of the boardwalk that we have go.

The ground at the area being cut was very wet and unstable underfoot.

Although a number of regulars were unable to attend, a very creditable 17 brave souls turned out, and we were quickly winching away.

A lot of reed had been cut a few days previously, but so good was our progress that Grillo was called for, and the remaining area cut. After a quick move of winching site during the coffee break we were away again.

We all know that trees are essential – including as coat stands.

Only three people failed to stay upright: John and Noel rolled over with the sheet, and Margaret failed to spot a log.

After coffee the newly cut reed was very dry and light, so a joy to move, and the job was quickly completed.

Ever the showman, Noel is here seen showing off his disco moves:

Leo reprised his role as tree stump extractor, regardless of the wet patch he was getting on his knee:

Here’s how the site looked at the end of the session, and the reed cutting part of our work for the season - back to scrub bashing in two weeks.

Here's Team Leader Kevin’s message of thanks:

Hello all

Now that you think it’s over for another season you will be delighted to hear that we have decided to hold another working party in a fortnight’s time to tackle the trees and shrubs between the car park and the container.

The seventeen volunteers who came out today on a lovely sunny morning did a super job in clearing the reed that was already cut, so much so that we had to bring Grillo out to cut the remaining area. This means that we have finished the reed cutting programme for this year.

Our thanks to everyone who turned out today - you did a fantastic job. Should you not be able to come in two weeks’ time, we the team leaders on behalf of NWT, would like to say a big thank you for all your work during the year.

We hope those of you who are unwell make a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks

Kevin and the TLs