Frilford Heath Golf Club, 12th October 2013

Saturday's session was once again at Frilford Heath Golf Course, working on Boundary Fen. The morning got off to a bad start as we found the gate leading to the place we usually park was locked. Alison, from Natural England, which manages the site, tried in vain to find somebody with a key, and in the end we had to park in another car park across the main road. By this time we had lost about 45 minutes of work and there was a lot to do.

The weather, however, after a night and early morning of rain, was amazingly mild and sunny. We saw a comma butterfly sunning itself and several varieties of ladybird. We worked hard raking reeds and piling them up on the edge of the fen along with sticks and branches. This would give the fen flora a chance to grow through, and with the conifer debris removed, would preserve its alkaline nature.

Judy Webb was also there and as usual she found some interesting fungi. We stopped for a later and foreshortened coffee break before battling on to try and finish the raking. Considering the unforeseen delay to the task, we felt we had all done pretty well. We packed up and returned to the car park. We will probably be back early in the new year and plan to use this car park in future. It isn't very much farther to walk and there are no locked gates.
-Eleanor

Photos by Dr Judy Webb:
 

Alison and sedge

Eleanor

Robert

working hard at Boundary House Fen

work and rest!

honey fungus

orange peel fungus 'Aleuria Aurantia'