Gur Beck Defamiliarisation
Defamiliarisation helps you to see things that you no longer really notice – good poetry does this. So when David H took us all for a walk with talk along Gur Beck, both between the Common and Surveyor’s Allotment in Sustead, and within Spurrell’s Wood, it had that defamiliarization effect: I suddenly started to see what I had simply taken for granted in the past. A stream, walked past hundreds of times, came back to life again.
This was the most beautiful morning: October 1st, a windless, sunny and warm day – perfect for a work party. 12 volunteers gathered for instructions from John. Five of us took off for the Roadside Nature Reserves and gave the verges their annual trim. They were very thin indeed – presumably a result of the very hot summer, - and didn’t need much scything. While this was going on, Bev let a little light in to the Norfolk Comfrey, which had become a little overgrown with brambles and overshaded by the oak tree next to it. While doing this work, Bev discovered that it had migrated across the ditch to take root on the other side. We plan to have an expert look at it, to tell us whether it really is the rare Norfolk Comfrey or a hybrid.
On the Common, Trevor and Julie (a new volunteer!) tackled the young hedge plants near the outdoor classroom, cutting them back and tidying around the classroom. And Val, Nick, John and David beat the bounds of Spurrell’s Wood, checking to see what material we would need to provide for work on Gur Beck in early November, when we plan to continue to reinstate the flow controls previously installed by Norfolk Rivers Trust but washed away by winter flooding a few years ago.
After the break, David led us on the above-mentioned walk, talking about the probable history of the beck (straightened any time in the last four or five hundred years, but quite likely relatively recently); and about the reasons for slowing the flow and the benefits this will bring – and has already brought, where deflectors were restored around two and a half years ago. A really stimulating, educational walk led by our resident Professor of Ecology!
An excellent morning in wonderful weather. Let’s hope it will be as good for our next work party on October 15th, at West Beckham Old Allotments.
Peter Maingay
October 1st 2026
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