Here Goes!!
Have you noticed how your back garden has been transformed recently, from having patches of brown earth visible, to something akin to a tropical rainforest? Warm weather with a bit of rain and everything just takes off. The same is true in the countryside. Wildflowers are everywhere; grasses are waving in the wind; and, once more, bracken crosiers have unfurled and are reaching for the sky.
It was in an attempt to discourage the invasive growth of this last mentioned species, that the NCVs ventured forth into Old Spring Wood to wreak havoc with their bracken bashing sticks. They bashed with gusto and laid waste to large tracts of it, making sure that the look alike ferns were left unharmed in the process. It would have been a good place for this year's Wimbledon hopefuls to come to practise their tennis stokes - the NCVs could have taught them a thing or two.
As you can see, by the end of play it was 'Game, set and match' to the NCVs.
Well, nearly.....
Work started at the bottom of the wood and,
surprisingly, this large area was almost
completed by coffee time.
Everyone made use of the handy oak trees
to ensure full comfort when having their breaks.
Then it was back to work, determinedly
swinging their sticks this way and that.
15-love to the NCVs.
An action shot of Osian - stick just a blur.
30-love.
Andy favoured the downward thrust.
40-love.
Whereas Paul preferred the backward swing.
Game to the NCVs.
Anita, missed a shot when she
decided to pose for the camera.
Love-15 for the bracken.
Dave retrieved the point by remembering
to sweep under some fallen branches.
15 All.
Mick, Paul and Andy all scored points by circling this bracken island
and beating it into submission.
Game to the NCVs.
Any areas under tree cover were not too bad at all.
The bracken was skinny and thin on the ground.
Ferns were more likely to be seen.
BUT - in this open area it was a different story!!
Luckily the NCVs had a secret weapon up their sleeves
- the terrifying Bracken Eating monster....
...which rampaged out of its hole and
made short work of the area,
leaving only ferns in its wake.
Game, set and match to the NCVs.
The NCVs were unsure what lived down these holes. Mice, voles or baby Bracken Eating monsters?
No stinkhorns were harmed
in the making of this blog.
At the end of play, NCV Tim (a bracken bashing
sceptic at the start of the game) was asked
how he now felt. He commented -
"You can't have enough bracken bashing in your life.
I loved it. And it obviously makes a big
difference to the woodland floor.
I will never suggest otherwise ever again."
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