Saturday 29th November - Dry Sandford Pit

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 Blog by Eleanor, photos by Julio and Sally

It was definitely Wet Sandford Pit when we met in the car park in the pouring rain. Our leader, Kevin was wondering whether to call the session off, but surprisingly and admirably, fourteen people turned up, so we voted to go ahead.

A soggy arrival




The tasks were to clear the brambles and other vegetation from the base of the sandy cliffs and, if time, to do some coppicing in the fen. We weren't sure about the latter task as we thought the fen might be too wet. Fortunately, the cattle had been taken off the site, so that was one less thing to watch out for.

Soggy briefing




"Before" photo




We picked up our loppers, rakes, pitchforks and scythes and set to work. most of the brambles were long and trailing, taking root again several feet from where they started.

We set to work




 
The team at work



We soon realised we had made the right decision as the rain eased off and finally stopped. By tea break time we decided to carry on until 12.30. You can see the barrier we had continued to build up with the cut materials. This was to keep cattle, dogs and even people out of the fen, which is an important area for flora and fauna.

Tea break - without added water!




Kevin and Simon braved the fen to do some work there.

Kevin and Simon in the fen






More work beyond the interpretation board





Roger with a load of brambles







James carrying branches





Simon with the tree popper




Julio and Eleanor working on the other side of the path





Red campion still in flower





Raindrops on rosehips and whiskers on rabbits
Mad fossil hunters and dogs with bad habits



By the end of the session, I could swear I saw a bit of blue sky. We were pleased with how much we had achieved after such an unpromising start.


"After" photos


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