This week five volunteers took a trip to Winterbourne where we were shown round the Monkspool and Bradley Brook LNR’s by Frank Smith who founded the reserves over thirty years ago. The weather was fine and the trip most enjoyable. The Winterboune reserves score over BS in two significant areas. One they have no Japanese Knotweed AND they have very little Himalayan Balsam.
Frank believes that the Bradley Brook reserve which was set up as an arboretum now has a specimen of every native tree with some particularly fine Field Maples and White Poplars. The Bradley Brook was alive with deep blue Demoiselle damselflies and the whole area very pretty.
Today five volunteers visited the ‘Middle Plantation’ to clear ash regrowth from felled trees. The weather was perfect the birds were singing and the plantation was all green and verdant - I’m sorry I am waxing poetical. Quentin and I went down to the Himalayan Balsam site we have been working on and attacked those plants growing in the open meadow. Because of the amounts involved we slashed rather than pulled (I know, but not all of it will grow back and much that does will carry a reduced number of flower heads) I use my new £12 grass hook from ‘presentsformen’ (yes that is the name of the web site) and it goes through HB, willowherb, nettles and thistles like a knife through, well, vegetation. In fifteen minutes we had substantially cleared the area but then we retreated under the threat of sunstroke.
Sorry, deserted my post and went on holiday, forgot all about blogging.
So, first Saturday in June the Three Brooks Nature Conservation Group traveled up the Stoke Brook removing rubbish, of which there was surprisingly little - perhaps we are winning the battle. So we destroyed Himalayan Balsam instead.
On the same theme last week’s Green Gym was augmented by 17 volunteers from Orange PCS giving us an army of over 20 conscripts to attack HB. Feedback suggests the Orange guys all slept very well that night.
So onto the next patch.