Blog by Sally. Photos by Denis, Julio and Sally
After our Christmas break, with no session scheduled for 27 December, 16 Green Gymmers turned out in force on a very crisp but glorious sunny winter's day on 3 January to continue with scything vegetation (mainly rush, sedge and reed) and raking it onto existing heaps on Boundary House Fen situated in Frilford Heath Golf Course. We worked in Rod d'Ayala's (the consultant ecologist) absence as unfortunately he was unwell, but Sally had been given instructions on what we needed to do.
With Barbara's help, the tools were unloaded and collected by the Green Gymmers near the entrance gate to the Greenkeeper's compounded and carried to our usual meeting place near the fen, but safely away from any golfers who had braved the winter chill. There had been a heavy frost and it was icy in places on the path. After the briefing, 8 scythers set up their scythes and made for the centre of the fen, crossing over the stream, to continue with the cut.
A frosty frozen fen at the start of the session
Kevin and Lesley tackled sprouting willow by sawing or lopping the branches and these were put onto existing piles. Once the scythers got going, Kevin then helped with the raking, leaving Lesley to finish the rest.
There was a marked contrast between the area of fen basking in the sunshine and that still in shadow
Work in progress
Scything and raking in full flow
Julio perfects the wellyboot stomp - trampling down the raked vegetation into the stream. This will rot down and form peat eventually and will slow the flow of water, thus re-wetting the fen. A wet fen stores lots of carbon.
Susan sharpens her scythe blade
The vegetation that we cut was often frozen in patches, which made it difficult to move it out of the way as the ice acted like glue.
After a short while scything, hats, gloves and outer garments were removed as we soon warmed up. Here's Adrian scything away and Philip raking up after him
A perfect hat rack
Julio and Rhian meet halfway as they trample down the cut vegetation which had been raked to the stream
Break time! And very welcome it was too!
We were soon back to work after break before we got too chilled.
It was all hands on deck as we tried to cut as much vegetation as possible and ensure that it was raked up before we left
Lesley cutting down bramble and scrub from near the boundary. The cut vegetation was used to form a dead hedge, which will be a great habitat for invertebrates
David adds another forkful of cut vegetation to an ever-growing heap
At 12 o'clock, the scythers were asked to stop scything and help with the clear-up operation. This is vital to allow light for germination of seeds and for emerging vegetation, as well as to prevent nutrient build-up. This is a calcareous fen and the specialist plants that thrive in these conditions cannot tolerate a nutrient-rich soil.
Operation clear up
Job done! The happy Green Gymmers
Willow stumps with no sprouting branches, thanks to Lesley and Kevin.
Boundary House Fen after our efforts.
Brown-lipped or white-lipped - Google couldn't decide which type of snail
After packing up the tools, we carried these back to the gate and by the time the car was loaded, the last of the Green Gymmers had left the site so we locked the gate behind us. We look forward to returning to this fen next month to continue the good work. What a great start to the New Year!
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