West Beckham Old Allotments Shed Clearance and Path Re-Routing

Our first work party of 2024 (two, in fact – see separate blog Billhooks in Brinton) saw nine of us turn up at WBOA bright-eyed and relatively bushy-tailed. Trevor and Val divided us into three parties: Trevor took the two Davids to the new pond and hibernaculum area, where they re-routed the path to pass to the east side of the pond, thus encouraging people to use the new path. A few whips were re-planted to enable this change and a rope barrier was erected to prevent people using the old path.

Meanwhile, Brian did fantastic work repairing the guttering and waterworks around the shed; then moved on, with Susan’s help, to raise a store of timber on wooden balks to allow air to pass under the timber and keep the timber dry.

And the third group – Val, Peter, Bev and Roger – set to tidying all the debris around the shed: tree guards and accompanying bamboo stakes, old bags and flower pots, a mound of bird boxes covered in large Travis Perkins bags (other companies’ bags are also available), stray pieces of metal, plastic and wood, an old mower … All of this was hauled out and sorted into piles – some to be returned in better order, some to be taken to the tip, some to be removed by volunteers who thought they might find a use for rusty bits of metal, pieces of timber, bamboo …

The end result was a tidier shed area, which will, for a while at least, be far easier to access. And a better path system near the new pond. So, a very useful and enjoyable morning’s work. During the safety briefing we were treated to the sight of a Grey Heron flying in and landing in the grassland, while a Sparrowhawk put in an appearance during the coffee break.

Our next work party is in Sustead on Thursday January 18th.

Peter Maingay

January 4th 2024