Iain Carruthers-Jones gives his account of the BWMG work party on 19th February. Earlier parts of the Chronicles can be found here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Nearly twenty volunteers gathered on one of those days. You know, the ones where the sun shines and there is a little crispness in the air. We set to work , were ready for the tea break and really enjoyed the Water Meadows Oaties made to a secret recipe by Sue (some even had two!!), set to work again and by about 12.15 those with sensitive noses noticed the wind changing and the temperature beginning to drop. We gathered all the tools in and dispersed as the clouds began to darken a bit and before long it was raining and cold. Great timing. I would not blame anyone who turned up the heating and relaxed with a good book and a cup of tea for the afternoon and evening.
So what did we do during the volunteer session? Well, we all commented that it felt like spring was within grasp. While there were no lambs gambolling in No Man’s Meadow, there was plenty of birdsong. A robin sang his heart out, while keeping an eye to see if we turned up anything juicy for a snack. A flock of tits flitted around. We see a mixed flock of blue tits, coal tits and long tailed tits most days. It is lovely to see although it drives the local robins wild as they graze the very bird feeders which the robins consider their territory. The tits have worked out a cunning strategy for distracting the robins; it works every time.
One group of the volunteers set to on the meadow and Linnet bank part of the south Crankle. A lot of dried off plant material was gathered in using rakes. Essentially the material was gathered into 3 different types of habitat pile, all with their specific uses. The first is finer dried grass and plants; at wildlife Trust sites this would probably be burnt in situ, but it breaks down and in the process creates heat which attracts lizards and slowworms. The second was thicker twigs and small branches which will attract bird foraging for grubs and act as shelter. The third pile was cut bramble which the council will take away. Some bramble of course is left as it’s a favourite source of nectar for many beasties and it’s good nesting material for hedgehogs and birds.
What was really nice ? As the ground was raked it became obvious that there is already a lot of new green growth and there is a large variety of plants. Most spectacular today was the extensive carpet of snowdrops in flower. They had been completely obscured before the area was raked. Now there is a large patch beside the bee hives and a bigger stretch along the east bank of the Linnet to enjoy.
So a large part of the volunteer team was satisfied with the change they achieved. Big smiles from the team and from passers-by as well. The other part of the group was working on the north bank of the South Crankle ditch. While centuries ago this ditch and the others a few yards further south were probably kept in a very orderly way since they were the arms of the Abbey fish farm, in recent years an air of neglect has developed. A number of trees, some quite large, have fallen and the ditch is criss-crossed with the boughs.
Our task was to begin to tidy up while , at the same time, leaving the well rotted boughs to continue to provide a wonderfully rich habitat for birds and all kinds of “creepy crawlies”. For example, at one point I moved a foot fractionally and nearly trod on a beautiful green frog. It made me jump but it lived to hop another day. In the muddy bank, too, I saw the hoofprints of a muntjac deer.
Sometimes it is difficult to see what has been achieved. During this session the piles of twigs, branches and brambles were clear evidence and the objective of clearing “stuff” to allow fresh new growth to burst through was achieved. Congratulations to the whole group.
A week or so ago, I received my invitation to the latest volunteer working party from Jillian and Julian. My invitation was to join one of two work parties planned for Sunday March 15th. Those wishing to join the litter picking team would assemble at Barwell Road for litter picking in Ram Meadow. This was led by Ian Campbell. I was delighted to see that there was an excellent turnout – around a dozen or so – and, under Ian’s guidance they soon spread out across the Meadow.
Necessarily, a lot of attention was focused on the river and the banks. In a number of places there were fallen trees reaching across and into the water. It was clear to see that the river had flowed at widely varying levels in recent months. Plastic bottles and plastic sheeting had lodged in bundles of twigs and even in the higher branches of the low hanging trees. In small groups the volunteers dispersed across the Meadow and began filling the collection bags. Having offered encouragement and taken a few pictures, I set off upstream to the Abbots Bridge and then into the Abbey Gardens.
The planting team had assembled around the iron foot bridge over the River Lark. The plan was to seed the gabions with soil, which later on (either later in the season or in autumn) would be planted. Additionally, plug plants of woodland favourites such as bluebells, aconites and primroses would be planted under the trees where the wildflower turf had not taken. Another dozen or so volunteers tackled this work. As always we were advised to wear gumboots and tough gardening gloves. We have all learned to be incredibly careful where brambles are concerned. The work on the gabions was exciting for those with a mountaineering bent; it was good to see transformation happen quickly. Those working on the riverbanks north of the bridge achieved a lot of change, too. Caution was needed all round to make sure none of us fell into the river.
As well as the woodland plants we gaped up some spaces in the existing wildflower turf and planted 5 of each of Meadow cranesbill , Lesser knapweed, Greater knapweed, Wild marjoram, Wild basil, and Common Birds-foot-trefoil. The latter arguably the most important one as it’s a vital foodplant for the caterpillars of the Common blue butterfly as well as Silver-studded blues and Wood Whites. You won’t see any Silver Studded blues or Wood Whites in the Abbey gardens but you should see Common blue butterflies.
The volunteer work party on 2nd February 2020 was different from any session that I have been involved in since I started writing The Water Meadow Chronicles, part way through last year. While we planted wildflower seeds some months ago on the River Lark west bank in No Man’s Meadow, there was nothing to see and no immediate visual impact. This session we were planting snowdrops and the transition was from nondescript to terrific and uplifting.
A record number of volunteers participated. We really deserved sunshine, but we had to make do with mild and overcast. At least there was no rain. The twenty or so attendees set to the task with a will and in no time, a carpet of nodding white flowers had been planted along the river side at the entrance to Ram Meadow. Spirits were high and, rightly, we were pleased with ourselves. It is said that getting out in the fresh air and enjoying some exercise contributes to hygge (or a sense of meaningfulness and wellbeing) and this session was a wonderful example of this. There were plenty of smiles and a clear collective sense of achievement. We had created our own sunshine!
We were joined by Ian Campbell who leads the “in-river” volunteer group. That’s the volunteers who have been trained in river safety and can get into the river with fetching garments on called chest waders, for jobs such as restoration, litter picking and Himalayan balsam removal. He was cutting back a willow that had fallen and obscured the entrance, which now had lovely snowdrops along it’s way. When the team had cut back some of the low branches and cleared some of the dead grasses and brambles, the view along the path was very much improved since one could see the sea of snowdrops from quite a distance.
So we tackled the Crankles North side which is nearest the Abbey Gardens. It was a repeat of what we were doing in the Crankles on Feb 18 last year, when we cleared the arisings and made habitat piles of the vegetation. The arisings ranged from simple dead plant material to wickedly prickly briars. One of the group was delighted to be working with briars as she has recently treated herself to a fantastic pair of gloves. She was very proud to be able to give us a demonstration of their excellence. Collectively we took out several yards of briars. They need to be separated out and disposed of away from the other arisings since they have the capacity to root from cuttings left on the ground. An extraordinary plant with good qualities but also to be handled with the greatest care.
This part of the Crankles has not changed much, apart from the planting of the alder saplings, since the cricket bat willows came down in 2015/16, and there are lots of logs in various states of decay lying on the ground. All this is wonderful habitat for wildlife but we needed to take care in case of tripping and falling over. Some logs were slippery with moss and several hosted varieties of toadstool and fungus. There were signs of animal life with several nest holes; there was a reminder of animal death as well. One volunteer turned up a muntjac deer skull. It was easy to identify because the horns form part of the skull.
The mid-December (14/12/19) Watermeadows Volunteers work party assignment was a good challenge. The weather forecast was fair and it was a bit nippy. The incentive to get started was clear. More activity means that you keep warm as well as see progress, and even transformation.
As always, a really good team esprit developed. It’s always nice to chat as well as work. Today’s session was particularly lively because we discussed the results of the general election which was held two days ago. Opinions and comments were very forthcoming about Brexit (yes or no), the pantomime of the election promises made during the last few weeks as well as the personalities of both the leading and lesser characters. It would be fair to say that plaudits were in very short supply. It will be interesting to see how things play out over the next weeks and months. Will the election promises, such as the improvement in meeting the urgent needs of the NHS services and infrastructure, be fulfilled and who will become the new leader of Labour? Even that discussion and the heavy rain we endured didn’t seem to dampen our spirits.
The weather improved through the morning. By the end of the session, which was very ably led by Julian Case (pictured left, pointing), the sun was shining, we all had smiles on our faces as well as a great sense of satisfaction with our work. This session’s task involved sweeping and gathering leaves from the river bank, clearing litter, pruning back some plants, giving some plants more space to prosper in the spring and removing brambles which can rapidly smother other plants as well as cause some blood letting if you are not wearing stout leather gloves.
