Another perfect day, if not quite in paradise

Ah, now this is what an English May Day morning should look like:

Mist over the meadows gently uncurling at the first caress of dawn, the trees dressed in fresh green, the pearly-blue sky above promising a perfect early-summer’s day … All as it should be, except that today’s date is 30 April.

It did indeed turn out a very fine morning.  And that was exactly as it should be, because today is by far the most important day of the week.  It’s Tuesday.  So this morning was: Wallingford Green Gym. 

Now a fair number of us WGGers had been under the impression that today we were going to be in Paradise (Wood).  Having convened at a central car-park, we left most of our transport there, and all piled into three vehicles to head off for one of the smaller satellite car-parks on site.  Car-parking spaces there at a premium because the spot is much used by dog-walkers. 

The road certainly took us in the direction of Paradise Wood, the fields either side caparisoned in gold.  Rapeseed plants one side:

Opposite, a field which once was arable, now sown with mixed wildflower seed, where the cowslips have really taken:

It soon turned out that our destination this morning was not Paradise Wood after all, but the family area beside neighbouring Neptune Wood:

The reaction on the part of volunteers was not so much one of disappointment as a tremor of anxiety.  For the area is home to a number of willow sculptures.  Like this one, which we think is meant to represent a telescope:

Now we have nothing against willow sculptures as such, nor against sculptures commemorating HMS Neptune.  We know the whole site was planted to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar – with the number of trees needed to have built and fitted out the ship – a great many oaks, of course, but also ash for tools, elder for waterproof casks for gunpowder, &c.  What we do have an ‘issue’ with is the pruning and weaving to keep willow sculptures in shape.  And the site warden had promised that we wouldn’t be doing that …

We need not have expended a moment’s worry.  Our site warden was as good as his word.  Fixtures like these were our target today:

Our mission: a destructive one.   [Though not when compared with the purpose of HMS Neptune. – Ed.]  For the task was to remove the exclosures, which are now redundant.  The trees are now well established, so the wood and wire-netting barriers were to be taken down; and the tree-guards relieved of their duties.

So it was going to be destination happiness after all.  We love destructive tasks!  And the weather was warming up too.  A fleece had been much needed if out seeking the dawn-light.  But now ...

The first step towards dismantling tree-hokkies was to remove the staples which were securing wire to posts: 

Some of the staples came out easily.  Others had been hammered in too far, so they lay flush with the timber.  Others had been placed very far down, where in the intervening years they had been overwhelmed by overgrowing grass and accumulating soil.  And the really obstinate specimens were both underground and hammered in fast.  But all had to yield in the end to the unremitting hammer-blows wielded by true-hearted Green-Gymmers.

Timber rails and posts were then removed.  Again, some came quietly.  Those were the rotten ones.  Others stood their ground.  Those were the ones where the wood was still sound.  But in the end, all were carried off the field …

and into the hands of the ‘denailing’ teams, who removed any remaining metalwork from the wood:

The wire netting was also carefully collected up for re-use.  Rolling it up required special measures to stop it springing open again while it was being secured.  Just occasionally, this whole process looked like some ancient English May-Day ritual – a sacred dance, perhaps, with ritual enthronement of a May Queen?

As we reached the last tree-pen, it was most satisfying to be able to look back and see the place already “looking less like a park, and more natural”. – Although you can tell in the ‘after’ picture below that one little job still needed doing when the photograph was taken.  Soil had still to be back-filled in the holes where fence-posts had been.  In the meantime, the site warden’s dog appeared to be checking out that these were not rabbit holes:

Before

After

Fewer hands were needed now on the task of tree liberation.  One Green-Gymmer took the initiative to be Wardrobe Mistress, retrieve all the warm tops which had been discarded, and use the side of the trailer as an impromptu coat-rack:

Even so, gradually the number of spectators increased, as the mopping-up operation came to a close:

By session end, the job had been well and truly done.  There was a good trailerful of materials to show for it – and a field full of contented Green-Gymmers ready to head off home or to the pub:

And the weather forecast for the real 1 May, tomorrow?  “Cloudy.”  Also cooler than of late.

The birds are awake

It seemed almost a shame to disturb the tranquillity of the scene by the stream on this beautiful morning:

Certainly the duck, which appeared to be asleep – except for promptly getting up and moving away every time the photographer attempted to approach for a closer shot – was of the opinion that another party of humans arriving to do volunteer work on site was really rather tiresome.

The work, however, was much needed.  For just at the moment these are watercress beds with rather a shortage of watercress, and an excess of other plant species:

In places, the weeds made for some pretty patterns:

At other spots, the duckweed was so thick, it made the watercourse look like solid ground – more of a green river than a self-respecting Chilterns chalkstream:

Some barrows were already loaded with weeds and silt removed from the stream, courtesy of yesterday’s work-party.

The rest of the spoil extracted from the brook by the group preceding us was resting – and drying out – on the concrete bund.  It was now ready for us to cart away, one barrow-load at a time.

“Why are we always clearing up after other people?”

It was a long way to the compost heap.  You can just make out the tiny figure of a Green-Gymmer in the distance on the first of these photographs.  We were grateful that the weather was pleasantly sunny, but not as hot as it had been for our predecessors yesterday.

Even as the pickings from yesterday were being barrowed away, other volunteers were hard at work generating more material to be carted away this afternoon.  Some were weeding by hand/fork, others raking out unwanted vegetation:

Meanwhile, down at the other end of the site – downstream – engineering works were in progress:

Two sets of work, in fact.  One consisted of ‘just’ moving things around on site.  This was more than “an engineering tidy”, though.  For one thing, the items concerned were rocks – heavy rocks; and the barrow had a flat tyre.

Some of the cargo, to be transported

from here …

to there (where if they are piled up by other hands to dam the stream, they will not be obstructing the way for fish)

This was not the first time we had relocated items from that particular stretch of the stream, which is clearly popular with small persons.  Last time we did a similar job, it was to extract old tyres, and re-form them into a planter.  It was good to see our handiwork in use on site:

The resident robin also checked out whether this development had turned up anything of use for him:

And the other engineering works – well those had something to do with repairing a weir, including making a through-route for fish.  For those not immediately involved (that was most of us), it was all very mysterious.

And there were an awful lot of us on site today.  For we were joined by two teams of people (young, fit, hard-working!) on one of their out-of-office days. 

The mid-morning break was a time to socialise and, of course, to take on board refreshments.  A most impressive range of eats and drinks (thank you, EA and Watercress Beds Visitor Centre bods!)

“I don’t know when I last ate an ice-lolly” one of our own volunteers cheerfully observed.

Because we were based right beside the site visitor centre, rather than being out in the wilds as were last week, there was also an opportunity to put a fresh edge on some of the tools:

For the second half of the morning, there was for some of us a chance to swap jobs.  While work to make watercress-beds less of a haven for weeds and more of a reserve for actual watercress continued, another party carried some more tools downstream.  The immediate task was to remove mud – a copious quantity of sloppy, black mud (but far from the worst we have ever encountered) – from the area where the weir was to be restored.

Looking over to the right from the pathway, it really did look as if an Arcturan mega-cow had had an unfortunate accident.  [There’s a bathroom on the right? – Ed.]  And yes, the only way to get the gloop out, and high up on to the bank, was to scoop it up in buckets:

We Green-Gymmers did our bit, but for completion of the tasks, it was over to our visitors.  For they were staying for the whole working day, while we dispersed as usual at 1 o’clock.