East Beckham Common re-visited

So, after what seems like months of no rain, we chose a relatively cool morning, with some heavy, and very welcome, rain to re-visit East Beckham Common. Five of us started at 9.00, then John H turned up to ‘have a look’ and ended up doing some invaluable scything and sycamore lopping.

Our main task was to clear the area at the top of the common which we had last cleared three years ago, with the intention of creating an open area, with a small dew pond. The area, once the village tip – it's easy to forget that, not so long ago, there were no refuse collections! - had become thickly entangled with nettles and other obstinate plants which eventually responded to a judicious mix of scything, shearing, lopping and plain pulling by hand and we were left with a pretty large, clear area.

Trevor then discovered that there was another space we had not tackled before, around a sycamore tree – this too succumbed to vigorous scything and cutting, leaving us with a surprisingly spacious glade, eminently suitable for butterflies.

In the process of the morning’s work, we saw one frog and one toad, as well as a muntjac – so there is life there! We plan to go back later in the year to clear the area further and complete the work on the creation of a dew pond. If you haven’t visited East Beckham Common (a long, narrow tree-lined footpath), do go. It’s not very easy to find but if you go by car, use this post code: NR11 8RP and your satnav will find it. Park in the allotments car park opposite the entrance to The Loke - The Loke leads in to the Common.