Good for butterflies and bees

There may not be many birds showing off at the moment, but there are plenty of bees and butterflies enjoying  the flowers on the common at the moment. This seems to be a particularly good year for peacocks, so after a couple of years of not having many opportunities to photograph one, I finally found an obliging specimen in good condition this morning.

Balsam bashing

Very successful working party this morning, to pull Himalayam Balsam plants out before it sets seed. It has pretty flowers, but is massively invasive and if left unchecked would choke the Beck to the detriment of all the native vegetation and the animals dependent on it.

Here's our chairman choking some plants in retaliation.

And here's what he has to say on the matter:

"Dear All

Saturday morning’s exertions were recorded for posterity and here (below) is one of the best.

Thanks again for helping with this annual task which counts among SCT’s success stories.  It must be so  because this year we had to penetrate so much further just to find any Himalayan Balsam to pull out.  I really think we got it all for which not just the community of Southrepps should be grateful but the whole of the Rivers Ant and Bure watershed including all the Northern Broads right the way to the sea.  So now you can feel justly proud of your achievement on Saturday morning – thank you.

Regards

John"

The plant grows along the sides of the Beck and anywhere damp enough nearby to support it, so a certain amount of exploring the deep dark recesses of the site is needed. Here are some intrepid volunteers on their return from the interior.

Urgent trim, and good spots

The call to arms came last evening, that we needed to convene a working party urgently. The recent excellent growing conditions had caused the vegetation lining the side of the boardwalk to grow intemperately, and people were finding it impassable in places. So 10 intrepid volunteers gathered in the growing heat and cut, slashed, raked and swept what felt like several tons of reed and assorted plants. It was nice to discover the boardwalk underneath it all! Anyway, it looks great again now, until it all grows again.

What it did illustrate once again was that we need more volunteers. If many hands make light work, the reverse is true and we all got pretty hot.

I was excited to find a decent sized lizard basking in the sun on the boardwalk: haven't had a good view of one for a couple of years. And then, going back this evening, I found this nice female common darter dragonfly, enjoying the early evening sun.