Two Pines Fen, 28th November 2020

By Andrew -

We returned to Two Pines Fen today to pick up where we left off last week - to continue scything and raking the reeds across this Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), set within Frilford Heath Golf Course. Again, our session was held to take advantage of the current course closure.

Led again by Sally, we were 18-strong this time including new member Colin and almost-new member Camilla. We had five scythers among us and the remainder of the group raked and stacked reeds both in piles on the boundaries and within the stream running through the fen to slow the water and encourage it to spill outwards onto the wetland area.

There had been plenty of reeds left untouched despite our best efforts last week and these were all cut during the morning on the main site with clearance on an additional small area off to one side. A further large reed bed area will also require attention in the near future, but we did well to achieve what we did today.

-Andrew


Meeting at the compound.

Arriving on site.

Mushrooms amidst the dew.

Discussing the plan.

Break-time scenes.

Damming-up the stream.

Alison and scythe.

Socially-distanced raking.

Jim sharpens his scythe.


Clearance begins on the secondary area.

Barbara and Camilla keep busy.

Lesley counts up the many golf balls that we found during the session.

The fen all cleared of reeds at the end of the morning.
Piles of reeds at the fen boundary.



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