A Hole and a Pole at West Beckham Old Allotments, and Other Stories

There was a definite nip in the air when we met at West Beckham Old Allotments for our first work party of the year there, but, nonetheless, 17 hardy souls joined the fray. After the usual safety briefing, John R explained the tasks for the day. The main target was to erect a telegraph pole onto which a Barn Owl box can later be fixed.

Simon G, Simon W and Brian, under the supervision of John Taylor from Taliswood  Barn Owl Nest Box Project, set about excavating the required deep, narrow hole. As a third of the 5-metre pole had to be in the ground, they needed to dig down 1.7 metres – quite a challenge in the flinty soil.

Deep Hole!

Using a variety of cunning implements they beavered away, and even when the call of “tea break” came, having got the bit between their teeth, they carried on. Finally, the hole was deep enough to satisfy John T that, once fixed, it would be stable enough to withstand the wind and not wobble. The diggers did then allow themselves a break for doughnuts etc.

After their break came another challenge: getting the pole upright in the hole. After a long discussion, it was (nearly) all hands on deck, under the guidance of Simon G. Ropes were fixed to the top of the pole, four strong chaps carried it to the hole and it was manoeuvred into place and pulled upright using the ropes – at the first attempt! (No-one should be surprised – we really do have a great team!) John T checked that the pole remained perpendicular to the ground, as concrete, water and flints were deposited into the hole to hold the pole in place. While the concrete was setting, the ropes were tied to various trees and fences to prevent the pole from sagging. A job jolly well done! John T will be back in March to attach the owl box to the pole, and then we shall have to wait and see whether the Barn Owls like what we have done.

Success!

While this was going on, the rest of the volunteers were far from idle. Before the break, Pete R, Roger, Seán, Alan, Robert, Fran, Carol, Jake, Andrew S, Val and Peter M did a lot of work clearing around the hedging plants, many of which have grown really well and are now sufficiently established to have their tree guards removed. We were also pleased to see that some of the hedging plants, particularly Blackthorn, were suckering nicely, helping to thicken up what we had planted back in 2019. During the break, John R brought our volunteers up-to-date with progress on the Upper Bure and Glaven Conservation Triangle.

Dead Hedge Around Spinney

After the break, those who weren’t on pole duty began tackling the enormous mound of branches left from earlier work parties when the height of the hedges had been reduced. Instead of burning the cuttings, as we have done in the past, we decided to create a dead hedge round one of our spinneys. This shows the benefit of creatively using leftovers to establish new habitat for birds, mammals and invertebrates. The effect was pleading to the eye as well. There’s still plenty more brash for us to use up to finish the dead hedge and perhaps create one around another area – but that will be for another day.

We also had a visit from Richard Harpham, Chairman of Harding's Pits Community Association (Kings Lynn), who had attended the 2025 Norfolk Biodiversity Awards and noticed a composting toilet on Felbeck Trust’s presentation. HPCA is looking at ways to gain and retain volunteers and need to improve their current toilet facilities, so we invited Richard along to inspect our composting toilet – which seemed to impress him. It is always good to connect with other community groups that share our aims.

When we left at the end of the morning, you could definitely see what we had achieved, so a big thank you to everyone who attended and mucked in.

We will be at Hindolveston on February 5th, clearing ponds and planting a hedge at Wood Norton.

Val Stubbs

January 29th 2026