"Almost spring-like"

By the session leader:

Not sure which saying had the most effect: 

“Rain at seven, fine by eleven”

or

“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day”

It doesn’t really matter which one worked its magic, for the overnight rain and dull damp start to the day indeed turned into a pleasant morning as the session progressed.  Maybe it was just the WGG’s magic dispensation that it should not rain on Tuesday mornings ;)

As today’s main task was raking after wildflower-meadow cut, we were pleased the grass was not too long or too heavy from the rain.  The team merrily set to, raking the cut grass over to the old tarpaulin to be dragged down to a growing compost heap:

The poor tarpaulin had seen better days with several holes in it.  Holes not big enough, fortunately, for the grass to drop through:

It was only when we had hauled the first load down to the composting site that we realised the accumulated grass was actually quite wet and heavy.  That first load needed four people to drag it to the heap, then a great effort to get it onto the heap.  After that we made sure the loads were rather smaller!

There was also music while we worked today.  You may be able to make out a little of the birdsong on this video clip:

The loudest songster we (the volunteers) could not identify.  A redbreast for sure, but the body shape did not look right for a robin:

It was a workforce strong in numbers today, so there were plenty of people raking and dragging.  Half the team could take the easier (?) option of knocking back the long hedge that was growing into the field:

Cutting back the hawthorn revealed a nest from the previous year.  Again, even with help from the site warden, we were unable to identify the species.  The warden inspected it closely, and announced that it was “made from moss, feathers, and spider-webs – normally I’d say ‘long-tailed tit’, but it was a bit low down for them.”

Or perhaps it was the remains of a bird that had been eaten by a fox?  [So speculated one Green-Gymmer, while the warden carefully packed the find into a bag, to add to her collection. – Ed.]

Both teams finished their tasks soon after coffee break.  So the hedge cutters were reassigned to tidy brambles that had been bashed down by the snow:  

In case you haven’t experienced it, some types of snow can remarkably heavy.  The session leader has personal experience of his hedge being toppled over by snow piled on top of it.

A few of the rakers had some strength left to start hammering in staples as an alternative to chickenwire on a bridge-footway at the side of the site.  Chickenwire makes for good anti-slip covering for walkways, but eventually frays, and then becomes a trip hazard.  Before the wire here gets to that point, and has to be removed, staples are being driven into the planks:

It was some relief for them when time was called.

Back to spring

By ‘C’:

“I thought we’d done with snow for this year,” is a sentiment expressed quite a lot round here lately. 

For after last week’s respite, Siberian winds returned – leaving the rest of nature also looking a bit put out, if you’ll excuse the anthropomorphism.

The unseasonable white stuff, however, did not stick around for long.  Air temperatures had only to lift their noses above freezing, and the great thaw got underway quickly, courtesy of relatively warm ground temperatures.   A brisk breeze from the east?  Served to dry roads and pavements all the more quickly.

Even by yesterday, nature seemed determined to make up for lost time.  The wind veered to northerly, so the air a little chillier than one would expect at this time of year, but much brighter and drier.  At various nest-sites, which had been reserved, but where no building works had yet begun (avian land-banking?) birds set to work.  Only we Green-Gymmers were left with nothing constructive – or even destructive – to do.

For in the meantime, this sad message had come in from the venue where we had been going to do some vegetation clearance:

Due to the adverse weather conditions we feel we must cancel ...  The snow has flattened the vegetation too much to scythe, and made the debris too wet to burn.  There is little else to do [here] …

Nothing daunted, some of us made immediate plans to get together for at least some exercise and socialising.  Green Gym doesn’t give up easily!  “Could we,” suggested one volunteer, “go and examine our otter holt [not too close-up, of course – Ed.] beside the river and go up round the castle?”

So those of us who wished (some preferred to stop at home and use the opportunity to catch up on other jobs, domestic or horticultural) met for a walk round Wallingford Castle Meadows:

We did indeed look at where the otter holt had been built, back in 2014:

It looks like the external cladding has since been expanded to provide additional habitat space for invertebrates.

Our walk was partly by way of revisiting previous triumphs, eg discovering that some of us (not including myself) had been right in thinking we remembered a burn-site at a particular spot …

partly by way of general site-seeing …

partly by way of nature-observation – here snake’s-head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) …

 

partly by way of exercise …

partly by way of socially-useful work:

And, of course, by way of social get-together.  For at the end of the walk we rounded off the morning at the home of one of our members, with hot drinks and home-made cake.

Our route to the re-plen point was not entirely straightforward.  Plans had to be revised on account of one locked gate:

"This gate may be opened or closed at any time without warning."  Why?

This did, however, lead us to spend more time contemplating an unusual piece of work which had not been undertaken by Green Gym:

“This gate is unhinged!”

And we did eventually make it through to a lane, which yielded rich pickings for the wombles among our party, and prompted fond recollections among others:

“It’s like the door to the Secret Garden!”

So a cut-down version of Green Gym today – “the essence of Green Gym” according to one participant – and a good time was had by all, including the dog.