Scorchio!

Warning for arachnophobes! Spider image below.

Having bemoaned the lack of insect life this summer, it is pleasing to now see plenty of dragonflies whizzing over the Common, but butterflies are still not numerous. As is normal for the time of year most birds are skulking away while they moult in preparation for migration or staying put here.

I associate fungi with rather later in the year, but I did spot this spectacular Dryad’s saddle bracket fungus at start of the Jubilee boardwalk recently.

The weather presenters are always very keen to tell us when we’ve entered a new meteorological season; in this case it’s autumn. Not much sign yet of mists or even mellow fruitfulness (although I tried a couple of blackberries yesterday – still too sharp). What there was instead today was a lot of heat and humidity, although fortunately not the thunderstorms promised for some parts of the country.

So it was that 12 volunteers arrived this morning for another work party; dressed less for the weather than to guard against the vegetation or any wildlife that might think us tasty. The result was, of course, a dozen very hot volunteers; even the ladies appeared to be doing more than merely glowing. Unusually, and exciting much comment, your correspondent arrived a full 10 minutes early, but was still outshone by about 11 eager beavers. (Memo to self: get there 10 minutes late next time, or will never get that time back.)

On my arrival, there they were, picking up the material that had been cut earlier in the week, with new Team Leader Michelle on Grillo cutting some more.

Drag sheets were already neatly laid out, waiting to be filled and then dragged by hand the short distance to be dumped under the trees. The previously cut material had at least the merit of being dry and consequently light.

The trick was, where possible, to work in the shade.

One of the drawbacks to arriving as much as 10 minutes before the advertised start is that it takes 10 minutes longer to reach the break, so for this correspondent at least, it was extra welcome when it arrived. This week’s biscuits were ginger nuts – lovely!

Once that was over we moved on to clearing the material cut today. A naughty response to the question “where is this going?” was that we should add it to someone else’s sheet when they weren’t looking: but they always were looking, so we couldn’t. This stuff being much greener and heavier, the winch was deployed.

Laborious tipping out by hand was still required; despite our best efforts no Team Leaders were buried.

Michelle is still learning the ropes as Team Leader; today it was the approved way to fold up drag sheets, under Julie’s watchful eye.

In mowing close to the edge of the notorious Area X (not formerly known as Twitter), a major infestation of the wretched Himalayan Balsam was discovered. Some was removed, but there was too much there to be properly dealt with at that time.

A significant spider was spotted on one of the sheets, and with the help of the excellent ‘Obsidentify’ app it was declared to be a four spot orb weaver. Apparently this is the heaviest of British spiders, and it certainly did seem to have a hefty abdomen, possibly stuffed full of the small grasshoppers that is its meal of choice, as apparently it builds its web close to the ground to catch jumping insects.

If any exist, regular readers of this drivel informative blog might wonder how the singing is going. To be honest, it has died down a bit lately, but when we had tipped out our final load of the morning, the ever-dependable Noel did lead us in the chorus of the Kinks’ iconic Lola. Quite like old times!

At the end of the session Area B now looks like this.

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Dear All

A huge thank you to the 12 volunteers who came today on a very hot and humid day. You did an absolutely sterling job with your usual good humour even if you did have to work harder than expected. Fortunately the first lot of cuttings were beautifully dry and light.

 We look forward to seeing you all in two weeks on the central area,

 Thanks again.

Margaret for the team leaders.

 

Plenty that’s new, and a welcome return

 Still warm, and not a little humid, but that didn’t deter the 15 volunteers who turned up this morning to continue dealing with the verdant growth on areas A and B. We were delighted to welcome back after a fair old while one volunteer, and to welcome for the first time another. Also present were many well-grown frogs, looking put out about the removal of their hiding places.

John and Margaret were there in their new capacity as doting grandparents; congratulations on the birth of Charlotte, who we hope to see pulling drag sheets very soon!

Our new Team Leader Michelle was there too, doubling up as our new Grillo operator.

Here she is receiving instruction:

Inevitably, the start time being 10.00 your correspondent arrived promptly. Too many fellow volunteers must have defective timepieces, for most of the 15 were already on site and hard at work. Even they could not have got far if it had not been for the two hours of pre-cutting done by Kevin and John a couple of days earlier, and even then Noel and Margaret needed to clear part of last week’s heap in order to get to the tree so the winch could be tied to it!

It’s interesting to see how many different ways a group of people can be looking at the same time. It was early on in the session, so we can be forgiven for not acting too well in concert.

There was a good collection of hats on show, and many of us had decided that wellies were not required this time, the recent weather having been pretty dry. We were mainly concentrating on continuing to cut Area B, but were also under instruction to deal with the reeds making unwelcome inroads in Area A: here’s Kevin doing just that.

One of the benefits of prolonged dry spells is that the vegetation is much lighter to handle. A lot of the material on Area B was close to where it was to be dumped, so unusually for these times, many sheets were lightly loaded and dragged the short distance by hand.

Tipping out at the dump site remains a challenge, both for the person in the firing line, and those opposite, trying in their humorous light-hearted way to bury their colleague. The vegetation not being soggy, Team Leader Julie took it all in good part…

… and indeed started to settle in for a bit of a kip.

The half-time break was as welcome as ever, and a couple of us fell to musing on whether or not we were modern-day equivalents of Shakespeare’s ‘rude mechanicals’ (erudite or what, eh?). There was also a burst of rampant alliteration after a casual remark about hats making one’s head hot. The best we could come up with on the spot was ‘hot headed hay heavers’ before we were whipped back to work.

One of the dark arts that it’s important to get right is that of folding the sheets at the end of the session. They need to fit neatly on the trolley for the ride back to the storage container, so there’s no excuse for sloppiness; only the right sort of people can achieve this level of expertise. It was encouraging to see a training session under way.

Once that was done, it was time to go. There’s still plenty left to clear over the next couple of sessions, but here’s how the area looks now.

 

Here’s Team Leader Julie’s message of thanks

Hello all

This is a thank you to the 15 volunteers who turned out today to clear the cut material on the Fen areas adjacent to Warren Road.  Thanks also to John and Kevin for doing the pre-cut for us on Friday.

It was so lovely to welcome back a volunteer who has been absent for a while and to welcome a new volunteer. It was also good to see Michelle getting her teeth into the Team Leader roll - including having a go with Grillo, cutting an area for us.  Very brave!

The weather was lovely, the cut material dry and everyone was in good spirits - making for a lovely sociable, yet productive work party.

We will be back in the same area in two weeks’ time, moving further down towards the beck. We realise that quite a few of you are away, but look forward to seeing those of you who can make it.

Regards, Julie (for the TLs)

Follow that rope!

The hot spell two thirds of the way through July saw the long-awaited emergence of invertebrates. Amongst the butterflies finally on view were ringlets, meadow browns, gatekeepers and commas. A few dragonflies were also in evidence, but they’re so hard to identify since they will insist on zooming around the place in a show-offy kind of way. However, I also found this banded demoiselle damselfly dead on the road (surely Britain’s most beautiful insect).

On the 20^th July, so slap-bang in the spell of hot weather, Julie, Margaret and Sue had another go at eliminating the wretched Himalayan Balsam. Here’s what Julie had to say about it:

“Myself, Margaret and Sue did a mini sweep of the area by the car park for HB today.  Please record 3 hours. It was very hot and very tough through the very tall reed!! I couldn’t find my way out at the end!!

We got around 6 bags of HB as some were quite big. Margaret lost one bag full and we couldn’t find it, so that will turn up in the next few years!! Some we left hung over branches to dry out.

I attach some pics (including a raspberry bush I found! Unfortunately, the birds had found it first!)” 

The searing heat of the previous few days having subsided somewhat, 17 grateful volunteers turned up this morning to get the new cutting season under way. Acting under orders from NWT, instead of dealing with the central section (Area G) first, this year we started on the Warren Road side of the Beck; the bit known as Area B – that is the furthest bit from Pit Street. Earlier in the week, while Margaret tackled some reeds by hand, John, Kevin and Brian struggled in the heat cutting some of the lank vegetation in order to provide enough material to clear at the start of today’s session.

More cutting was of course required, to feed the ever-eager pitchfork and drag-sheet crews.

At the winch end Brian was in charge, as he demonstrated by pointing out the winch, Kevin having overlooked it.

After a few months’ break from this work, it can take even (or perhaps especially) the oldest of old hands some time to reacquaint themselves with the various processes, tricks and tips involved. Things like where to stand when a sheet is being tipped out, which end of the pitchfork to hold, and when the tea break is. Nowhere is this better illustrated than when your correspondent, in all innocence, asked where the next sheet was going: “follow that rope!” was the helpful response, which certainly worked, so thanks for that.

The half-time break was as welcome as ever: see the joy on the volunteers’ faces.

After enjoying refreshing beverages and Ginger Nut biscuits, just before springing back to work the vote was put to the assembled company about whether we should begin our work parties at 9 or 10 am (until the clocks go back in October). In this striking vindication of the democratic process, at the first attempt one person voted for 9, and two for 10. The rest either abstained, or just didn’t realise what was happening. Somehow the decision was for 10 but in the event of hot weather we might start at 9 anyway; a Sunday morning hour of which I was previously unaware. Here’s the case being even-handedly put by Team Leader Margaret:

Tipping out the laden sheets can be a tough task, fraught with the risk to unwary sheet tipper-outers of getting buried by the descending material. If you’re going to stumble, the trick is to do it when nobody is lurking nearby in the hope of photographing your misfortune: something your correspondent forgot. To the observant they can be spotted, pretending to look at their phones when really they are poised to snap.

As is clear, it can be a distressing experience, although it has been uncharitably suggested that this looks rather as if I am seated on a toilet. Gentle reader, it is for you to decide!

Here’s a short film clip of the process, with Andrew taking the risk of entombment.

Happily, he remained upright, and was able to escape.

As the session begins to wind down, the sheet folding crew springs into action (actually, they’ve been active all along, just not folding sheets). As can be seen, they can take a bit of subduing (the sheets that is).

When those sheets were being removed from the storage container at the start of the session, one was discovered to have been adopted by a colony of ants as a suitable spot in which to raise their queen's countless children. Sadly, their endeavours will have been in vain, but then again, they didn’t ask permission – just saying.

At the end of the work party (why ‘party’? you might ask), we were heartened to see that a large amount had been achieved. Here’s how the area looks now, with plenty more to do in the following frolicsome events.

Here is Team Leader Margaret’s message of thanks:

Good afternoon to you all.

Wow what a start to the new season! On Tuesday when Kevin, John and Brian came back from the Common exhausted and dripping in sweat, I thought we would never get the job done. John returned to do some more pre-cutting on Saturday and he and Kevin started earlier this morning, thank you to both of them. What a clearance we have achieved today. You really are the most amazing group of volunteers. Thank you. After a rather ragged vote at coffee time we will return to the same area in two weeks at 10.00 as voted. If it is forecast to be exceptionally hot we may start at 9.00 so do check the start time.

Enjoy relaxing in front of the Olympics and we all hope Teddy won a prize at the Trunch dog show.

Margaret for the team leaders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Babbling Beck

 

Team Leaders Julie and Margaret pulled some more Balsam on 22^nd June. To reach it they walked along Fox’s Beck at the bottom of Area B. Here’s what Julie reports: 

“The Beck was looking really good - the mini dam caused by the fallen branch seems to be having an effect in stopping the silt!

To prove the point, here’s a photo and a short video - such a gorgeous gurgling sound as the water goes over the branch!

We tackled the HB in Area A. It was more of an investigation into how much was there - you really can’t imagine how excited we were when we found it was very little!

We hammered this area last year when the plants were small to medium - I think we did around four work parties and shifted probably around 35-40 bags of HB. Today we got two bags and we had to hunt for those.

This would suggest that this method of pulling them up early is successful at not only controlling it but possibly even eradicating it in this area.”

Your usually absent correspondent being once again missing (I had a plumber to supervise, which beats the dog eating the homework as an excuse hands down), it fell to Team Leader Margaret, new Team Leader Michelle, Andrew, and NWT warden George with colleague Adam to venture back into the wilderness on the 1^st July in search of yet more Himalayan Balsam. Hoping that this was to be the last such session of the year, this time they forded the stream and climbed over fallen trees in order to eject the Balsam from its protective cover of stinging nettles.

Michelle has stepped into the Team Leader role following the decision by the legendary John Houlgate to step back, which after all the commitment he has put into the Commons over many years is entirely justifiable. When we refer to redoubtable and doughty volunteers, it’s John who exemplifies them. Happily, he is continuing to help out at working parties when possible.

Have you felt that this summer the insect population is much reduced? It feels like it to me, and if that is true it must be having an impact on the birds that rely on invertebrates for food for themselves and their young. At least with the fitful warm sunshine some butterflies are about, but it seems to me not in great numbers, and with only a few species represented. Dragonflies too seem in short supply, although I did get a good close-up view of what I think was a splendid male Emperor whilst walking along Craft Lane on Election Day. (I was doing the walking, by the way; the dragonfly was whizzing about, the way they do, and not intending to vote.)

 

Finally for now, the exciting news is that a new website devoted to the history of Southrepps has recently been launched, bringing an online presence to the History Hub, which has its physical home in the Village Hall. As you would expect, the history of our commons is included, including how our involvement has developed over the last three and a half decades. It can be found at https://southreppshistory.org.uk/places/southrepps-commons/ Why not check it and the rest of the site out?