The Green Submarine

Was it mention of the word ‘compartment’ in the site warden’s advance email, or memories of how much it rained last time we were here, which had me instantly think, “Submersibles”?

The brief we had been sent for today’s session sounded unusually precise:

to cut and burn scrub (mostly hawthorn and bramble) in compartment 0.2,
at the bottom of the reserve … 

At least it would mean – I thought – that if the weather turned foul, we would not this time be on one of the exposed upper slopes.  I had imagined that we might nevertheless still find ourselves wishing we could conjure up a colourful submarine.  And indeed on arrival at the RV point, the weather did not look too promising:

As we waited for colleagues to arrive, there was some chatter around the unusual range of reasons there were this week for some not being able to make it.  Two of our number are on the injured roster (making good progress, I understand, but not quite yet ready for the rigours of Green Gym – it takes time for tendons to mend); one said she had the “plague”; one had a funeral to attend; one was in (or on the way back from) France; one in Australia; etc.

It then turned out that to get to where we would actually be working, we needed to walk “three or four hundred metres along the path” – uphill.  And then turn right, through a gateway familiar to some of us from a session before, where we cleared overgrowing vegetation for public access:

This led on to a slope which is about as exposed as any on the site:

Fortunately, the weather was kind to us today.  It was not the best of days to be viewing autumn colours, but rain did not actually fall out of the sky.

Moreover, the fire marshal may have looked pensive for much of the morning:

The bonfire did, however, get going well enough:

As for those cutting and slashing, sawing and lopping, chopping and carrying, we worked with some abandon this morning:

For some reason military metaphors seemed to come to several minds other than my own.  Here our eirenic Tools Officer proudly announced that he had “taken the enemy out” in his sector:

“There was a pillbox there!”

In another place, cutting back bramble revealed a long-forgotten habitat pile, which was left in place:

Today was also a Green-Gym ‘first birthday’ (1st anniversary of joining).  It was marked with chocolate – many happy returns, Andy!

Below is the scene when we volunteers left at session end.  Bramble and scrub had been cleared; hazel had been coppiced for healthy regrowth; and note in the foreground, juniper which was also deliberately left in place: