Shed Development and Tree Care at West Beckham Old Allotments

The drizzly rain fizzled out for today’s enthusiastic work party of eleven regular volunteers at West Beckham Old Allotments. We were split into two teams – one to nurture tiny trees and one to develop the on-site shed. The idea behind upgrading the shed is to increase storage space for our equipment (scythes, rakes, etc.) and create a space for bird-ringing, which will make Roger E very happy.

‘Team Shed’ immediately got to work building a hefty wooden door for the front of the shed and clearing a space for hard standing to the side of the shed where the trailer could be parked, thereby creating more storage space in the shed itself. Any whips that were dug up here were handed over to ‘Team Tree Care’ to replant. Additionally, a new bench was built by Nick and Vision – a good place for us volunteers to sit and enjoy our half-time coffee and doughnuts. Happily, all that development work was completed by the end of the day, so many thanks to everyone who brought their skills and muscle power to the task!

 

Meanwhile, ‘Team Tree Care’ rocked up to the north boundary of the site and got to work, under Val’s careful supervision. The whips had been planted earlier in the year and were now getting a bit overgrown by nettles and brambles, so we cut down and cleared as much as we could and then created space around each whip, checking that there was indeed still a viable, living baby tree inside each protective cover first. We also carried out some tree care near the hide; the trees here were planted in November 2021 and some already have substantial trunks several centimetres thick, so we were able to remove some tree guards.

 There weren’t many sightings of wildlife today, other than a buzzard flying over the site to take up a vantage point in a tree in the far corner, and a flock of geese flying over in their wonderful arrowhead formation – Trevor totted up the number of birds as ‘the thick end of a hundred’. Always a glorious sight in a Norfolk winter.

And, finally, a rusty old horseshoe was found by one of our volunteers – let’s hope it will encourage the still-elusive turtle doves if we keep it the right way up to attract luck!

Our final work party of 2024 is at the Aylmerton site on Thursday December 19th, meeting at WBOA first, as parking space is limited at the Aylmerton site.

Fran Hiller

December 5th 2024