Two Pine Fen, Frilford Heath Golf Course, 29th March 2017

By Andrew -
For the last couple of years, we have held a midweek session at Frilford Heath Golf Club, specifically on Two Pine Fen.  This was repeated today as we took the opportunity to carry out our annual raking duties here on a Wednesday, while the golf course was (relatively!) quiet.

The fen had recently been mown and we went armed with rakes to gather the cut material into piles and to eventually consolidate into larger stacks at the edge of the site.

We were supervised again by Judy Webb, representing Natural England.  As well as raking, volunteers were also involved in damming the fen runnels, with the aim of making the ground wetter, to improve the habitat.  A number of wooden boards were erected at intervals to achieve this, and reinforced with peaty soil dug from the vicinity and deposited as required.  Ideally, the two pine trees that give the fen it's name will be felled in the near future, as these draw up a large amount of water that would be better remaining on the fen itself!

A group of nine gathered for this session, including new volunteer Lindsay, with some of us just working the morning, and others seeing the job through to completion.

Many golf balls were recovered as is normally the case during this session and we also had to dodge flying balls as golfers regularly tee'd off nearby.  A small price to pay perhaps for preserving and slowly improving the habitat here.
-Andrew
Getting ready at the ground staff area.

Judy has at least one volunteer in the palm of her hand as she instructs us before commencing!

Let raking commence...

The runnels are dammed up across the fen.

Eleanor's chocolate brownies are a hit during the intermission.

Pausing while some golfers tee off nearby.

Rakings and a golfer.

A small selection of recovered golf balls.

Adrian surveys the scene having collected some damming material.

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