Some Talk of Alexanders

After a spell of really warm weather (see last blog), the morning of Thursday May 15th dawned cloudy and cold with a chilly north wind blowing off the sea. Which made us all the keener to get working and get warm. Trevor, newly returned from the Gulf of Mexico, gave us our orders: roof repair, path clearance, Alexanders removal and Marsh Pond improvements.

Our four roofers – Seán, Andrew, Simon and Nigel – took to the shelter roof, armed with hammers, jemmy and nails, and spent all morning removing the old and patchy corrugated iron roof and replacing it with shiny, new corrugated sheets, funded by a small grant from the Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme.

Alan and Barbara carried out essential clearance of the overgrown path leading to the bird hide and discovered, at the end of the path, a bird hide, that had been hiding in plain sight.

Fran, Pete R, David R, John and Peter M spent most of the morning removing Alexanders from the north side of the site, where they had successfully outgrown and overshadowed the hedge plants there. This was in the nick of time as the seed had already set and risked being carried to other parts of the site in the strong wind.

Last, but by no means least, Val, Bev, Nick and Sophia worked on the Marsh Pond, whose lining had been attacked by rats. The remedy came in the shape of empty hessian coffee sacks (kindly donated by Grey Seal Coffee) and turf which had been removed at the Harry Dawson Playing Field in Weybourne to make space for a herb path there. The sacks, partially filled with stones, were laid on the sides of the pond, with their weighed-down ends in the water, and then the turfs were placed on top. The end result looked much more natural, as well as protecting the liner from nibbling rodents.

The pond repairers were delighted to see that many Honeybees were making use of the stones left on the edge of the pond precisely for this purpose – they were able to access the water to drink without risk of drowning.

Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were singing in the spinneys and in the hedgerows around the field as we worked, testament to all the good work done at West Beckham Old Allotments over the last few years.

Our next work party is in Sustead on Thursday June 5th – in three weeks’ time, quickly followed by the Sustead Bioblitz on Sunday June 8th.

Peter Maingay

May 15th 2025