Moving from A to B

 On a stunningly beautiful morning, 21 volunteers assembled on Warren Road, in order to clear material cut on Area B a couple of months previously. This small step across the boardwalk, but a giant leap according to the normal schedule, was needed because reeds encroaching onto the top end of that section were cut at the same time as the year’s main target for this part of the Common was also mown – and clearing that has taken up the last three working parties.

At first glance the task seemed daunting: there was clearly a lot of stuff to move, and it had absorbed a lot of moisture during the time it had been lying there. Would one session be enough?

The only thing was to knuckle down and scoop some of it onto the drag sheets. Just look at that blue sky!

And drag sheets was the appropriate term, for we had nowhere suitable to attach the winch, so all the sheets were going to need to be dragged by hand, in the old-fashioned way. Therefore, it was important not to overload them. An innocent question about whether the piles were small enough generated a certain amount of unnecessary ribaldry, in much the same way as it does almost every time.

Perhaps it was because we were working in a relatively small area, or perhaps it was because there were a lot more of us than for any other session of this season, but the sheets seemed to be constantly on the move, and traffic jams sometimes happened.

Of course, once you have dragged them to the dumping point, you have to turn them over in order to empty them. It can be an amusing time.

On this occasion erstwhile winchman Noel was at his accustomed post, sans winch, but with pitchfork. He tried to declare he was there for forking, but it’s not easy to enunciate clearly in the midst of physical exertion. In addition to that activity, he it was who greeted each sheet and directed it to the most suitable spot. He was therefore the forking greeter, and inevitably he did it well. All this amused those of us with juvenile mentalities.

Tipping out can be where unsteadiness catches out the unwary, and it again never fails to cause amusement.

Team Leader Margaret was the sufferer this time. We hope she doesn’t find it embarrassing; it could have been so much worse Margaret!

As we’ve seen before, our techniques are constantly evolving, so I am proud today to announce of the ‘Westlake Variant’ for hauling a loaded sheet. In this exciting development, in addition to the two pullers hauling on the ropes attached to the sheet’s front corners, with this variant a third puller is between the other two, pulling the ropes attached to the rear of the sheet. Simple, but effective (the method, as well as its inventor.)

Some of the vegetation had evaded the mower, so Team Leader Kevin set to work with a “slasher”.

Here he stands, posing proudly with the trusty tool. He was proud to declare he had caused absolutely no injuries.

Seeing Brian chasing after a sheet with a loaded pitchfork put me in mind of the famous cover of the Led Zeppelin IV album. Here we tried to re-create it.

Were we successful? You decide.

Do you have trouble remembering the names of people you have only recently met? When I started volunteering on the Common way back in the Jurassic period it seemed that every other man was called John – so guessing one had that name was always worth a punt. But times change and fashions move on, so that now it’s Andrew, and today we had a full set, with three Andrews in attendance. (A fourth of that name lives somewhere near Windsor, and we unsurprisingly we didn’t see him.)

Despite our early misgivings, by 11.00 the job was done – in time for us to join together to observe the two-minute silence. I think that short period of calm reflection was appreciated by us all, and it was made all the better by the accompaniment of a sweetly singing robin.

Then it was time for a cuppa, and of course some of Nina’s now famous apple cake.

After this the party broke up, and we left the Warren Road end of Area B looking like this. 

Here is Team Leader Julie’s message of thanks:

Hello all

I hope you are all enjoying the autumn sunshine and warmth.  21 volunteers enjoyed it this morning on the common. We were clearing the last of the cut reed on the Fen area by Warren Road.  As there was no tree to fix the winch to, the sheets were pulled by hand and it was a conveyor belt of sheets skating over the ground to be emptied. Everyone was in great spirits and the work was completed in record time today. So thank you all for your hard work.

Thanks also to you all for the two minutes of silence at 11am. It was beautiful in the sunshine with the birdsong - a perfect space to remember and reflect.

We shall return in two weeks, cutting the area on Bradfield Road in preparation for the snowdrops and clearing back scrub along the boardwalk to ensure it remains accessible over the winter months and into the spring.

Take care

Julie for the TLs.

 

Caused no doubt by the unusually mild weather and a southerly air flow, the usual autumn influx of migrant birds has not yet happened – at least so far as I have seen. There are now a few redwings about (Gilbert White noted that they “begin to appear at last” on 10^th November 1776), and blackbird numbers appear to be increasing, having been worryingly low lately. Occasional skeins of geese pass noisily overhead, while flocks of gulls are following the busy ploughs and beet lifting machines. Rev. White also noted at this time in 1770 that “Lime-trees leaves fall all at once”. Gilbert, I hear you: our neighbour’s Limes have shed their leaves too, and under them can be found our little garden by the intrepid delver into leaf drifts. By 1773 he was noting flooding from rains that had lasted for ten weeks, and the next year he declared 11^th November to be the first day of winter, with snow on the ground.