September 2022 Conservation Report

The summer is fast disappearing and the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness will soon be on us which means that the Conservation season has started again!

Deeping Lakes – Sept 8^th

On Thursday 8^th September a select group of us – Garth Perry, John Dorward, Paul Quenby and Bob Gregory-Smith met at the Deeping Lakes reserve on a beautiful warm day.

The Warden, Dave Van Dome, had been cutting the long grass meadow area in strips, leaving strips of longer grass to create different habitats. Our job was to rake up and burn the grass, which of course created a very smoky fire, but fortunately the wind was blowing away from the working area.

The fire was on the "beach" by one of the lakes, which is normally under water, but was a convenient and safe place to have the fire.

We managed to rake up most of of the cut grass but it burned slower than we raked it and some had to be left to burn another day. It is very satisfying when you can see the impact you have made after a day’s work!

Swadiwell Pit – September 22^nd

Two weeks later on another lovely warm day we met at the Langdyke Trust Swaddiwell pit reserve. Again there were only four of us as others were unavailable due to various commitments and aliments, so Garth Perry, Paul Quemby, John Baxter and Bob Gregory-Smith represented the Long Service Club. We were working with some of the regular volunteers (who meet weekly) and the task proved somewhat less rewarding. It sounded simple, but turned out to be very slow work.

At the end of the reserve is a “transient pond” which means that it usually dries out in the summer, and is certainly very dry at present. It supports water mint, which is a favoured plant for great crested newts to lay their eggs on, but the pond and surrounding banks have recently been colonised by saw sedge, so named because the leaves, which are like long blades of very coarse grass, has sharp saw-toothed edges, and can only be handled with gloves. In most of Britain this is a rare plant, and it appeared at Swaddiwell Pit a few years ago, causing great excitement in the British conservation community, but for some reason it flourishes in this reserve and has taken over as the dominant plant to the detriment of other species.

Chris Topper, the warden, wanted the work party to remove the saw sedge from the pond area without disturbing the water mint. This proved rather difficult as the saw sedge seems to propagate from its long lateral roots that went along under the water mint. The only way to remove it was to dig up the top layer of soil, separate the water mint from the saw sedge and replant the mint. The group of 10 or so people, including Garth, Paul and John only cleared a small area. It would have been much easier if the ground had not been so dry.

Bob meanwhile, with his expertise as resident arsonist (sorry, bonfire expert) was sent off with another of the volunteers with similar expertise to burn a large pile of brash, mostly willow, that had been created during clearance work during last season, and had dried out very well in the summer. This certainly was a rewarding task, and we not only burned that pile, but dragged another pile from 150 m away and burnt that too. You could see what we had achieved after that!

Our next session will be on October 6^th at Deeping Lakes. If you are interested in joining us, get in touch with Garth Perry, whose details are on the main Conservation page.