Up the hill, down the hill

What more idyllic spot could there be than an English chalk-grassland meadow in June?  Actually, that rather depends on two factors:

• the weather – it is the wettest June in Britain on record; the land needs rain, but there are parts of the country that are copping seriously excess quantities.  We, however, were treated to an (almost) dry, warm morning
• the gradient – the incline on our hill felt like 1 in 3

The task was: ‘upgrade fence enclosing sheep pasture, Pt 1’, ie remove old fence.  Happily, the sheep were busy grazing on the far side of the site – indeed on the other side of the motorway – so we could demolish the old fence with impunity.  (‘We’  = WGG + community-volunteering team from the Environment Agency.)  Other parties of volunteers will come along IDC to hammer more posts in the ground and erect the new fence. 

Removing staples from posts was job enough, but removing the posts themselves ...

The fencing itself, of course, had to be peeled off the posts; and redundant wire and posts carried down to the landie to be taken away:

Inevitably tool wanted was at bottom of hill, so we were well carting old material down and the new up.  One roll of fencing (“Just roll it to the truck, it’s easier than carrying”) took a bid for freedom (Oh no! D-d-d-d-dive!) and a Green-Gymmer was seen chasing it down the hill, only to schlepp it back up to the landie. 

Thanks to the help from our friends from the EA, it was a very productive morning.  With 19 of us working away, we had most of the old fence and posts out before the half-time break.  Tea time featured a feast – and discussion of knee support?

Afterwards, back to work.  Uphill.

The priority now was to dig holes for the two new strainers and get them in.  Even with half a dozen workers in attendance on each post, this was no mean feat.  They sunk one, and got the second well on the way.  [Session Leader says, “Well done teams” – Ed.]

The rest of the party tackled some rabbit fencing, cutting it away at ground level on hands and knees, so as not to rip up the precious turf.  While others trimmed the hedgerow - a thorny mass/mess of rose, brambles, hawthorn - to give line of sight between posts one and two.  

So now it’s over to the next crew.  It has all been nicely set up for them – though they may still get that Grand Old Duke of York feeling: it comes with the territory.

And here is the full story of life today in the Green-Gym universe

Even the ducks were enjoying the scene.  It was a beautiful day, sun on the river, what was not to like:

Humans, however, had no time to relax and merely enjoy the view.  The first task tackled was a familiar one: filling potholes in the slack road.  Two volunteers duly set to, finding a barrow, filling it, then filling a few holes, and dancing on them to pack the gravel down:

A second team – the experienced engineers – took on another task familiar from a different site: repairing the rotten base of a section of boardwalk.

Meanwhile, a larger group set to work on the ivy that was ever so slightly overwhelming the fence by the road:

Originally the request was to cut off the ivy along the top of the fence and just give the ivy growing outwards “a haircut trim.”  Site management was worried lest it be only the ivy which was holding up the fence.  As soon as the ivy was cut off the top, however, it peeled away from the fence; WGG destructive instincts kicked in; and most of the ivy ended up in a barrow, and from there to a pile for burning next time; and the fence is still standing strong & sturdy.

Yet another group was tasked with raking out where a willow tree had been removed previously, then bagging up the brash and dragging that too for burning at some point in the future: 

No bonfire today!  Overnight there had been a downpour as can be seen by the state of the road:

So our tea break did not have its usual glow to warm us:

After the break, another task was produced: moving piles of cut weeds, nettles and grass over to the reptile home.  (Not that we saw any of the resident reptiles.)

Towards session end, the ivy group was putting the finishing touches to the fence, and the two road menders were still working hard on the potholes.  We managed to finish on time, though.  Which was just as well really.  The Green Gym weather had behaved perfectly, as it should.  The day changed dramatically after we had arrived home:

Blasts of January

By the Session Leader:

A “good sess” this morning – and, thanks to Green-Gym efforts, much easier driving away from the site afterwards than it had been arriving by wheels along a bridleway rather the worse for winter weather.

January usually means plenty of these to enjoy where the habitat is right for them:

Those specimens were spotted near Oxford around the weekend, so I was on the lookout for more flights of angelic snowdrops on site today.  In fact, the ones in the nature reserve were still in their infancy, though bearing the promise of some spectacular displays to come:

We were not, however, there to be surprised by snowdrops.  And thankfully, though it was a crisp day, the “blasts of January” (as I think one of the characters in The Winter’s Tale says?) were not so strong as to blow anyone through and through, however lean. 

The main task was to shift several tonnes of scalpings: from pile in car-park to the potholes in the bridleway.  This was the job that most of the volunteers this morning piled into with zeal – also knowing, of course, that it would ensure they were not be cold for more than 10 minutes:

Task #2 was to level a mound of soil and prepare for sowing:

Task #3 pond clearance:

And the initially unscheduled task, to see to the fence which had worked loose in the wind, and which urgently required repair before any serious blasts of January (or February, March, &c) shredded the panels:

After tea-break, there was a little re-organization.  The fence job was completed, to the evident satisfaction of the construction team:

They then moved on to clearing “leaves” [actually more like leaves + compost - Ed.] from the industrial-heritage area:

Meanwhile, volunteers new to the place set off on a guided tour to view some of the sights of the site:

The soil-prep team had levelled earth, and ‘raked to a fine tilth’ (as the expression goes):

The pond-clearer could look back at a job well done, and measure the remaining depth in one from which a massive quantity of leaves had been carefully removed without puncturing the liner:

And the roadway-maintenance crew?  Well their satisfaction was that of all of us driving away from the site today (while two volunteers virtuously walked to their respective homes): it was a much smoother ride leaving than arriving.