The last time there was any Balsam to be bashed your correspondent had some sort of excuse, but this time round, to avoid the inevitable tirade of abuse, I turned out in the heat (thankfully much reduced from the recent inferno) to do my bit for Balsam. Never mind Livingstone and Stanley, the Balsam Bashers of Southrepps are intrepid explorers indeed. The vegetation in the intriguingly named Area H, leading down to Fox’s Beck, has been taking advantage of the growing season in order to grow prodigiously, leaving the seven of us to delve deeply into the Common’s moist unseen places.
Once a Basher has delved, they are hard to spot amongst the tall reeds, giant nettles and seemingly world-wide web of goose grass, cleavers, sticky weed - call it what you will. Here are two Team Leaders setting out on their great adventure.
Here are a fast-disappearing correspondent and an almost completely lost Janet.
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The trick in fording the Beck is to not let the water over-top your wellies. At first I thought I had failed in that, but in the event it was just the cooling effect of the water through my boots that gave me a bit of a turn. I had tentatively crossed the stream to try to reach a particularly large specimen, but having mounted a fallen tree trunk I realised the plant was un-reachable. My vantage point gave a good view though...
… and by way of compensation I did come across this sizeable specimen.
Here is Team Leader Margaret at the final heap of plucked plants. That’s a lot of balsam!
Here is the
said Team Leader’s message of thanks:
Thank you
to the seven volunteers who braved the heat and humidity this morning. I hope
you are all now thoroughly rehydrated. We attacked area H just by the
footbridge with the satisfaction of pulling four foot high plants, when we
weren't being tripped up by hops or being covered in the burrs from the sticky
weed. None of the plants had gone to seed and only a few were even in flower so
an excellent job. Sadly we didn't even cover half the area so it will be a
return match on the 12th of July when they will be even bigger, such fun!
The
leaders would also like to say a special thank-you to Kevin and Dave Goode for
their sterling work keeping the pit mown despite the conditions. They have to
collect the mower from the container which adds extra time and effort to a not
inconsiderable task. Thank you chaps.
See you
all soon.
Margaret
for the team leaders
Because they do it outside the normal working parties, the unsung heroes who mow Pit Common deserve great credit too, as Margaret mentions above. I was there recently and also admired the experimental un-cut wildflower patch, which was a glorious sea of Ox-eye Daisies, with the mown section beyond providing a pleasing contrast.
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Way back in March a couple of people from the Felbeck Trust gave a most interesting talk to a meeting of the Southrepps Society about how they care for many sites in North Norfolk. It was clear that there are many similarities to how we work now, and how the previous Southrepps Commons Trust worked too, so it was decided to set up a couple of mutual visits. The first of those took place on a very hot Friday, 19th June, with five SCV representatives going to see the excellent sites at Sustead Common,
West Beckham Old Allotments,
and East Beckham Common.
It was good to see that the art of dead hedging is alive and well beyond the Southrepps area
Their signage is particularly impressive…
… as is this tool store. (Having numerous widely separated sites to maintain, they need to have tools stored in multiple places.)
They have a lot of volunteers, some of whom have built several viewing structures and hides: this one serves also as a refreshment spot and outdoor classroom, but also afforded Bob the chance to botanise:
They have an
excellent website at https://www.felbecktrust.org.uk/ which is well worth exploring.
A return
visit to us is expected in July and will be reported upon here in due course.
