It's Balsam time again!

 

Well, it’s been a while, and the Common has taken the chance to exploit the plentiful rain and intermittent warmth to put on a growing spurt. That’s the trigger for Team Leader Margaret to attempt to recruit volunteers to pull out the ever-invasive Himalayan Balsam before it gets a foothold, let alone a stranglehold. Those without a signed excuse letter, or who Margaret has some dirt on perhaps, turned up for an hour’s fun in the sun this morning. Your usual correspondent being one of the absentees (you decide which category I fall into), we’re grateful to Team Leader Julie for the following account.

My goodness how the reed has grown since we cut it in February/March!!

Lurking in there was (and still is!) lots of Himalayan Balsam. Five volunteers turned out in the glorious sunshine to gently pull it out of the ground. Noel apparently came for a break as he’d been in his garden since 6.30am! Not much of a break! Wellies were a good choice as it was a little damp underfoot…

There were also lots of holes and dips to slide into and there were a few near misses for face planting into the mud!  Luckily we all remained upright.

At first you don’t spot the balsam easily and then you get your eye in…though being poked in the eye with reed was a hazard…but..found you…

Then you realise they are everywhere…everyone was soon stuffing their bags with the pesky invader.

We called it a day after an hour (it is enough!) with eight sacks full of balsam.

Margaret, of course, spotted a couple by the car park and risked a head first dive into the beck to get them at the end!

Tipped out on the heap to be covered in black plastic so it rots down - it was quite a heap…

A good start made - we return next Sunday in a race to grab the balsam while the reed is short…I’m sure it grew a few inches while we were there!

Here is Team Leader Margaret's message of thanks:

Hello all.

There were just the five of us but thanks are due nonetheless. It was certainly easier to find and pull with the new reed. As the reed is growing so fast we are going to have another  working party next week too. Hope to see some of you then.

Thanks again to the five, you know who you are.

Margaret (for the team leaders).

Since our last posting, spring has come and now almost passed, and the annual round of sightings of plants and animals has kicked off in earnest, with almost 100 noted on the whiteboard in under three months. Apart from the usual dinosaurs, visible only to small children, notable sightings include sparrowhawk, siskin, Moschatel (Town Hall Clock), lesser redpoll, snipe, treecreeper, common lizard, lesser whitethroat, cotton grass and bogbean. Particularly pleasing is the manically singing sedge warbler that I haven’t heard here for several years, and a willow warbler was singing, sadly not on the Common, but not too far away. To me, that’s the sound of summer, and I miss it dearly from our little patch.