At least the mud was a bit drier

 Enticing though the prospect of another wet morning on the Common was, for your usual correspondent this was trumped by a pre-arranged Sunday lunch with visiting friends at the splendid 'Greyhound' at Hickling. (As it turned out, the rain stayed away, but the roast dinner was great anyway!) We are therefore indebted to Team Leader Julie for her account of the morning’s activity:

“The scene as we arrived to setup:

Showcasing the new (dry and organised box)…

…. And the new water-resistant box for the sign in sheet!

This follows the disaster of a broken water-filled box last time out, wrecking the sign in sheet!

The pitchforkers were soon at work filling sheets…

... however, the winch team were having a Mothers’ meeting and were not ready for action for quite a while!

So it was time for a chat and catch up for most of us!!

We had a few complaints from the winch team that it was too quiet…without our usual correspondent as the musical director no one knew what songs to sing!!

His steering skills were also missed as we managed to hook the yellow sheet and mesh on the boardwalk as we pulled over it, necessitating a hasty repair with the staple gun … Margaret was carrying an injury to her wrist but refused to hand over the staple gun to anyone else! 

That wasn’t all - note to winch team to remember to attach the hook before trying to turn the sheet - no wonder the load felt light! 

All sheets had to be carefully steered to avoid the precious snowdrops by the dump site 

With everything being a bit drier, turning a sheet was a bit easier than last week.

Coffee time was taken beside the helpfully placed ‘people working' sign – oh the irony!!

Sadly, Nina was unwell today having fallen victim to one of the horrible bugs doing the rounds… so no apple cake…. Both Nina and the cake were missed.

We had the rakes out today…

Andrew was very impressive with his skilful use of the implement.  Thankfully no one photographed the pathetic amounts I was able to rake with mine!

Soon we were at that time where we had to call a halt to filling sheets to allow the winch team to finish at a reasonable time too.  Margaret told them we had just three left to pull - leading to comments about being three sheets to the wind  🤷‍♀️

Tim and Dave skilfully navigated the last sheet of the day - note that Margaret and John kindly brought some sunshine back with them from their hol!! Turned into a lovely morning for us!

The area is looking good…

However, we will be returning in two weeks to clear the last bit.

Including a large worm cast possibly!

Back at the container work was done on the trolley to restore the gap in the metal edging to the handle end as it should be …” 

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Hello all.

I am so glad I missed the last working party, from Duncan's blog it was clearly awful. Luckily we were blessed with better weather today as 16 of us again attacked area E. The winch team did an excellent job of trying to hide the heap in a nearby hollow. The forkers and rakers had a difficult task with heavy material and as always the atmosphere was of fun and friendship.

Thank you all for coming and doing your bit. It gives a view across the common that only materialises every four years which perhaps makes it extra special. Hope to see some of you in two weeks’ time to complete the job.

Margaret for the team leaders

And here’s that view:

We’re well aware of the value of communications between individuals. Without any hint of scandal, the letters between Gilbert White and his two principal correspondents form the content of the always in print Natural History of Selborne, but in writing those letters he drew on the journals that he had kept for many years, and that are occasionally referenced in this blog. I have recently borrowed from the library A Year with Gilbert White: The First Great Nature Writer by Jenny Uglow. This lovely new book takes a single year (1781) of his journals, explaining each day’s entry and fleshing them out with a wealth of fascinating information. And it’s beautifully illustrated. Disappointingly perhaps, the 1781 entry for 1^st March reads only “Rain, dark and mild”: as well as noting species, good old Gilbert was very keen on recording each day’s weather. (By the next day, it was “Fog, mild, grey.”) As the days roll on however we can re-live the start of Spring long ago, and make inevitable comparisons with our own time. It is undeniable that as the climate changes the seasons are also changing, with many events occurring earlier than used to be the case, and Gilbert’s reports illustrate that well. What they also chillingly illustrate is how desperately depleted our natural world has become in the intervening years, and that too is surely cause for alarm as well as sadness.

On a brighter note, last week’s warm sunshine woke some butterflies, and I was delighted to see my first male Brimstone of the year on Wednesday: not on the Common, but within the parish boundary anyway.