Boundary House Fen, 12th October 2019

By Andrew -
Eleven of us assembled in the Golf Club car park for our session at Boundary House Fen. We drove round to the other entrance and fortunately, this time, the gate was open. After a wet few days and a very wet night, we feared we might get soaked, but once again our Green Gym luck was on our side, the rain fizzled out and the temperature was quite mild and calm.

We made our way to the fen where we were working under the direction of Rod d’Ayala. Our task was to clear the piles of cut reeds to the heaps on the edge of the fen and around the tree stumps and rake up the remainder. This was a task we were well used to. 

In one corner of the fen, water had collected in a pool and we made a ridge of reeds in front of it to hold the water back. We saw a roe deer running out from the trees and across the golf course. We found a small frog, which we put out of harm’s way and a robin flitted impatiently around the hedge at the back of the fen.

We sustained ourselves with home made cake and biscuits at the break and by the end of the session we had cleared all the piles of reeds and it was time to make our way back.

We hope that we can continue to maintain and improve this habitat for its important flora and fauna.
-Eleanor

Green Gymmers scattered far and wide at Boundary House Fen, under the instruction of Rod, in the red coat.

Carolyn piling it on. Rod wanted us to cover some of the large tree stumps with reeds to make it easier to avoid them with his power cutter.

Joan and Janet clearing the edge of the fen.

James chopping back a willow which will always try and find a way to establish itself where there is water.

A toad discovered under the cut reeds soon crawled away to the safety of the watery undergrowth.

Judy, our fungi expert was not on hand to tell us what these are. Not to be eaten though. Thankfully Eleanor had made a delicious cake for us to enjoy at coffee break.


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