Cothill Fen, 5th June 2021

By Andrew -
It was another bright, sunny and warm Saturday as we gathered at Cothill Fen. Adrian was today's leader, working under the direction of Steph from Natural England - also present.

A pair of tasks were on offer for the morning. The first of these was to rake up some cut reeds from the edge of the fen and to pitchfork them onto the causeway areas, whilst trying not to get too wet. The second job was to pull up cleavers - a herb which grows rather rampantly nearby, smothering the bluebells and other wild flowers in the woodland area. It is known by many names beside cleavers - goose grass and sticky willy to name but two.

We split into teams and set to it. Many hands certainly made light work. The raking detail was completed in the first half, just before break. The rakers then went off to assist the pulling team after the intermission. There was no shortage of work to be done there!

Carolyn had once again baked some muffins to share for our mid-morning pause. The occasion was Kevin's 70th birthday. Happy Birthday Mr chairman!

Full of coffee and muffin, we headed back woodwards for the second half to see how many cleavers we could remove. While doing so, we were careful not to trample any bluebells. Indeed, the reason for this assignment was to allow bluebells to spread and thrive in this area.

We were also careful not to trample on a frog that was spotted by Cathy, nestling beside a tree root. Hopefully the frog along with other woodland creatures and passers-by appreciate our morning's endeavours!
-Andrew



Adrian addresses the faithful.
The fen.
Kevin on the causeway.
Simon busy raking.
Cuckoo flower/lady's smock etc.
Dieuwke and Marga dragging a bag of cut reeds.
Eleanor with a large handful of cleavers.
Piles of cleavers/goose grass/sticky willy etc.
Carolyn's muffins - to celebrate Kevin's 70th birthday!
Cleavers in the bright sunlight.
Cathy's frog.

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