Sun and Rain Conspire to Create Lush Growth at West Beckham Old Allotments

5 hours ago
2 min read

This week’s work party took place at the WBOA site and, as can be seen from the beautiful view below, we continue to be successful in encouraging a greater diversity of flora - and hopefully fauna - than was originally present at the site!

As ever, we started by gathering to hear what needs to be done during the morning’s session, importantly matching tasks with volunteers and covering health and safety aspects

This included getting ready for Saturday night’s Bat Walk and Sunday’s Bio-Blitz biodiversity survey: i.e. lots of improving access, clearing brambles, scything and mowing of the paths, as well as the usual site development tasks such as water management, tree care and tool maintenance.

A small team was also dispatched after the mid-morning break to the smaller West Beckham Green site to perform similar tasks; and, at the end of the morning, two volunteers headed for East Beckham Common to tidy the path there.

Learning to use an Austrian Scythe to mow the sides of paths

As well as providing a very efficient method of clearing unwanted invasive plants, the Austrian Scythe promotes growth of small young plants. Manual scything does not compact the soil and minimises disturbance of small mammals and birds. However, the safe use of the scythe is an acquired skill. Regular training sessions are arranged for volunteers to increase the number trained to scythe. We use a motor mower solely on the paths themselves.

Necessary use of the mower to maintain site access

Water is an important resource for the species we attract to the site. The WBOA site relies mostly on North Norfolk’s unreliable rainfall, so water management is important. Maintenance of the various ponds and stoops on the site is regularly carried out.

Water resource management at one of the ponds on site

As has been mentioned in other blog posts, WBOA was an open field site previously used for Daffodil cultivation on a commercial scale, as well as for allotments, so Felbeck Trust has undertaken a long-term tree-planting programme. Trees planted from whips in previous years are maintained by removing the plastic guard, clearing some of the competing plants, checking the health of the sapling and replacing the bamboo stay, if necessary, then careful replacement of the guard. This time-consuming process ensures that we get the maximum survival rate from the planted whips.

Linda carries out important tree maintenance

Sustaining usable spaces on the sites we look after is key, so good access to benches, to hides and even to the essential facilities such as the composting toilet is essential.