19th December - Greywell Fen - Mark Clay
I thought I would be clever and visit the site beforehand to find
a dry route to the work site. However, I didn't allow for a
slight complication - SNOW! We crawled to the site and the user
body was unable to make it, so we guessed on the work site and
staggered on into the fen. We were clearing trees and bushes in a
strip along the River Whitewater. I was the only one to get stuck
in the mud. The weather was very cold but beautifully sunny, so
the tea breaks were short and sweet.
12th December - Clayfield Copse - Neil Frankum
The aim of today's task was to remove the non native sycamores,
to create a space where native trees can be replanted. This
involved Richard C chainsaw felling a number of large sycamore
trees. Careful felling left all the trunks neatly stacked in two
piles. All the brashings were stacked up to create a new dead
hedge around the clearing that we had created. Unfortunately the
weather wasn't kind to us and it rained for most of the day,
although at least the wind held off and ensured it was still safe
to fell trees. The real problem with the rain was that it
liquified the mud where we had parked the van and we had to get
the winch out and winch the van back onto solid ground. It was
only whilst doing this that we realised that the height barrier
on the car park had not been locked, and we could have driven in
and parked on solid ground! However, it did let us practice using
the winch, and enabled us to be good samaritans and winch out the
van that had parked next to us!
31st October - Wildmoor - Neil Frankum
We had a nice day in the sun cutting down birch & pine scrub
to help restore the heathland habitat on this, one of the largest
remaining areas of heathland in Berkshire. I didn't think we had
cut much down until after lunch, when we had to drag the
brashings about 100m to where it was going to be chipped up for
mulch. At this point the amount of brash seemed to multiply about
four-fold! We made quite a visible impact, but there is more
still to be done - January's task?
17th October - Waterloo Meadows - Phillip Allen
Had an extra half hour in bed as Richard wanted to pick the tools
up after the station pick up rather than before. At the station
we picked up two new volunteers doing their Duke Of Edinborough
awards, & Fin, a former member who had just returned to
Reading after 2 years away studying. Arriving at the site we
drove through the area we cleared among the young trees on our
haymaking task on the12th September. We parked near the bridge on
the cycle path, and then carried the tools to the work site. The
task was to tackle the brambles that were swamping the reeds
between the path and the industrial park.
We split into 2 groups to attack the 2m high bramble thickets
with slashers, loppers, and scythes. A female fox watched us for
a few minutes before getting bored. After tea break Richard C
swapped to using a motorised brush cutter in one area whilst the
rest of us worked at increasing the other clearing.
By the end of the day we had cut all the areas Mike wanted us to
do, and piled the brambles around the edge of the clearings to
prevent unnecessary trampling of the area and provide a cover for
the wild inhabitants of the reserve. We all had enjoyed the warm
day and had seen an improvement to the site that made all the
scratches worthwhile!
26th September - Ecchinswell Village Pond - Mark Clay
We were clearing reeds from the pond and taking them back to be
planted at Maiden Erleigh Lake at a later date. We had a number
of people helping us from the parish and district councils.
Richard C displayed his rubber fetish by jumping into his wetsuit
and paddling around like a lunatic where everyone else feared to
tread. The rest of us were more sensible, and stayed dry except
for the wife of the parish councilor who demonstrated how not to
pull reeds, by sitting down on the job!
19th September - Eelmoor Flashes, Basingstoke Canal -
Neil Frankum
Nice task, pity about the weather. The task involved felling some
sallows that were invading the flash (a shallow lake at the side
of the canal), and re-coppicing some smaller sallow trees. The
Hampshire Wildlife Trust who manage the site are going to be
winching out the stumps at a later date to create a larger area
of open water. Although it rained for much of the day, the sun
did poke through in the afternoon, and the dragonflies came out
and were hawking back and forth over the water in the newly
cleared area.
Langton Herring, Dorset, 20-22nd August - Neil Frankum
Quite amazingly we actually managed to get to the right village
first time this year, and after a pint or 2 in the pub we settled
into our luxurious village hall accommodation. On Sunday, a 5
minute walk took us to the work site in a field overlooking the
Fleet & Chesil Beach. A slight detour showed that the wall we
built last year was still standing. This year's dry stone wall
was to be built on the other side of the field on the foundations
we laid last year. After a days mental hard work trying to find
the stone that fits into the 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle you are
building, we had managed to get about halfway up. But we had also
demolished an equal amount of wall further up the hill before it
fell down. That evening Alex cooked us a delicious risotto, and
Richard C provided the drinks - home brew apple wine that left
none of us in a fit state to walk the 20m to the pub!! On Sunday
after much hard thought & endless trial & error we
managed to complete both sections of wall. It was nice to know
that there was an even larger collapsed section of wall a bit
further up the hill - watch this space for next year's summer
resi.
Greywell Fen, 6th June - Rodney Chapple
This task was to remove an old fence so that the resident
highland cattle could graze part of the reserve. This seemed
fairly easy until it came to digging out the straining posts. The
best way was to dig down about 2 feet on one side of the post to
loosen it, then remove it by the Tredgett method. This involved
lashing a fence post horizontally to the strainer at ground
level, and using the fence post to lever the strainer out of the
ground. However it only worked if you were a boy scout who knew
how to tie a secure knot! The reserve was notable for its bird
song, especially skylarks in the adjacent fields, also the sight
of hundreds of marsh orchids, among many other wild flowers.
Bartley Heath 9th May - Rodney Chapple
The task involved removing small birch scrub from an area under
some power lines, and leaving alder buckthorn for brimstone
butterfly caterpillars to feed on. Several male brimstones were
seen on the wing, and a female,(a paler yellow than the male) was
observed laying eggs on a nearby buckthorn bush. On a walk around
the reserve, we saw tormentil, heath milkwort, and a pale heath
violet. A passing roe deer glanced at us, then bounded off into
the woods. This site was also known for the marsh fritillary
butterfly and its food plant, the devils bit scabious. The mauve
flowers of the devils bit scabious should be in bloom during the
summer and the butterflies on the wing in June and July. I
recently heard that one reason the M3 was put through the middle
of Bartley Heath was that no records were kept for the site.
Apparently, records of the species present on a threatened site,
especially if they go back a number of years, can influence the
outcome of a public inquiry. It has been known for the line of a
motorway to be moved to reduce damage to a sensitive habitat.
(Note how the M40 curves around the Bernwood Forest in
Oxfordshire - Ed)Any records of rare, or even fairly common
species on a threatened site should be signed, dated, and sent to
your local wildlife trust.