Sustead & East Beckham May Work Party

12 volunteers gathered in Sustead on Thursday May 20th – no restrictions at last! During the morning, the roadside nature reserve was tidied up, all the access paths on all three sites were made more accessible and all the tree and hedge plants were cleared of surrounding vegetation.

We also moved an oak bough that had come down in one of the autumn storms and was still perched on the bank of the Gur Beck, near the road, and the pathway through the blackthorn scrub was made safer by the lopping of a few overhanging branches. One trustee drove over to East Beckham and did a little tidying there, clearing the path that runs through the middle of the site – but leaving the bluebells that grace the area. While we worked, the birds carried on singing, undisturbed: Blackcap, Wren, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff at Sustead, and Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat at East Beckham Common.

Many thanks to all who came and to the providers of chocolate biscuits and doughnuts. As ever, the pleasure of the morning was as much in the companionship and chat as in the work we completed to keep the sites in good shape.