Even MORE Bracken Bashing! - Bryan's Wood: 20-08-2013

There have been 3 recent reports on bracken bashing (and more on balsam pulling) which leaves very little to say about the work that hasn’t already been said. So what else can I tell you about the day which can be posted for posterity? ....

Paul, our doughty leader, found that after a half hour of bashing he had to go to see Kit at Sparrowhawk Farm but bravely returned after lunch to join us. On his retreat from the wood he came across two distressed volunteers who had arrived a little late, got lost, and whose cries for help had gone unheeded by the workers who were some way away. Meanwhile, the rest of us laid waste to some large areas of bracken in the clearing round the hut.

Not a single frond left standing in this particular area.

Paul and Will face each other, preparing to demonstrate 

to other NCVs how to do-si-doh across the bracken. 

 Lunchtime:

• Food: Audrey’s flapjacks, those that were left after the morning break, were consumed in short order.

Even out in the wilds NCVs try to maintain high standards. 

You just cannot sit down to lunch without the right furniture.

• Scintillating conversation: Following a mention of the time that we were joined by a young female volunteer bearing a gold handbag and wearing unsuitable clothing, Will pointed out that no attractive female turning up for the first time ever came back for a second work day. The three ladies who were with us didn’t react favourably to this remark, but we understand that Will will be out of hospital fairly soon.
• Wildlife: apart from the 9 humanoids who turned up (yes, bracken bashing and balsam pulling does take its toll) we heard one robin, one wren, one jay, and saw and heard a buzzard. No mammals, but at lunch time, sitting among the bashed bracken, Ros K. was startled to find that a toad had joined her, walking over her legs but not evincing any interest in her sandwiches. Pat made a lunge for her camera but the toad disappeared before she could get a photo. There were no particular problems with flying insects, which was a mild surprise, but on getting home after work I found that I had unwittingly brought out some wildlife – a tick which had decided that my leg would make a useful home. It was fascinating watching the visible end of it waving around. I hope no one else was hosting any wildlife.

We continued with the work after lunch. Three of us went up to the coppicing area to check the fencing, beat down the bracken around the area and assess the state of coppicing to plan out work for the winter. The area not previously coppiced – we plan to coppice one third of the area in alternate years – needs at least two days of work, and the area first coppiced five (?) years ago will need further treatment in the 2014/2015 winter. The good news is that the work we did to reinforce the fence is proving durable and although there are deer signs near the fence there have been no deer incursions.

By 3 o’clock wrists and arms were getting tired and after a retreat to the hut for rehydrating drinks we headed back to the car park, bashing on the way. 

Will's hopes of featuring in the next B&Q shed catalogue 

(p.32 Bracken bashing rehydrating unit section) 

are dashed as Julia and Jan are photographed for the 2014 edition.

A very useful day’s work, and thanks go to everyone who turned up.

Tony K.