Whan that Aprille …

But no showers (or ‘shoures’) today: instead, warm sunshine flowed down on the ten of us who assembled at West Beckham Old Allotments at 9.00, for instructions and encouragement – not that we needed the latter! Roger was dispatched to the two net lanes used by the bird ringers, to tidy them up to make erection of the nets easier; Val took herself off to the Marsh pond to repair the damaged liner, covering it with sacking and turfs – and finding clouds of frog spawn; Nick, whilst raking, David, Fran and Peter raked up and removed the hay Peter R had cut earlier in the week - David R found a Short-Tailed Vole (Microtus agrestis) which bit Trevor as he held it up for photographic purposes (his yell was quite out of proportion to the size of the agressor!); Trevor mowed paths; Elizabeth and Bev carried out superb tree maintenance work in the hedge surrounding the parking area; Trevor mowed paths; and – last but not least – Nigel, with help from Nick after he’d finished raking hay, scythed and tidied the butterfly bank next to the large pond – which also boasted frog spawn, though in smaller quantities than on the Marsh pond.

The coffee break was graced with the appearance of two Yellowhammer perched on the telegraph wires 20 yards away; and by Trevor bringing us up to date on various FT developments, and by him giving us instructions for the second half of the morning. Three volunteers stayed at WBOA to finish tree maintenance and digging dock paths from the butterfly bank. And the rest of the team beetled off to Sustead to spread more road planings on the raised path that Dom had created out of the sludge removed from the scrape. When this was first made, the mud was very soft and squidgy, leading to one or two local walkers nearly getting stuck for life. But it has now hardened, enabling us to cap it with planings, thus forming a tough path, which will, eventually, blend into the Surveyor’s Allotment, greening up as it goes. Val and Bev weeded around the Norfolk Comfrey, bringing a good morning’s work to an end.

The next work party will be at Sustead, on Thursday April 17th, when we will be carrying out our spring mow of the paths and grassland.

Peter Maingay April 3rd 2025.