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Burning rhododendron
Had fun on Brownsea Island today.
Today is the annual 'Make A Difference Day' known as MADD for short. I don't know how many companies sponsor this, but Barclays certainly do. They encourage their staff to do a day's voluntary work and a lot of them do.
The regular Brownsea volunteers, including my family, get called on to organise some of the work parties.
All summer, the volunteers cut rhododendron, until you can hardly move for great piles of the stuff. MADD is the start of the winter burning season and we had enough helpers to get seven very large bonfires burning all day. We were lucky with the weather as it remained dry until mid-afternoon and even then tended to drizzle more than heavy rain. By the time you've got a really good bonfire going, nothing will stop it as long as you keep adding more wood.
We were so warm that I stripped down to a t-shirt and opted to get wet - waterproofs would have been too hot and sweaty.
By the end of the day, the three of us looked like drowned rats - we stayed on an extra half-hour along with the other old hands in order to make sure the fires died down safely. YOu have to watch fires on peat as they can get into the soil.
It was good fun. There's still plenty left to burn, but today broke the back of it. We'll be cutting and burning simultaneously before long.
The rhododendron on this part of the island is around 70 years old and is so dense that hardly any light reaches the ground at all. It's a desert as far as wildlife goes.
Saw a very obliging red squirrel who actually pasued over my head to chatter to me. As the rhododendron decreases, the squirrels increase. Brownsea Island (in Poole harbour) and the Isle of Wight are the only places in the south of England to still have red squirrels.
Introduced species are a real devil.
Stopped on my way back to the quay to spend a few minutes in the alder carr. There are water voles there, but I've never yet seen one. I don't really mind. I love just looking at the black water and seeing the overlapping circles as the raindrops hit. I love the sense of stillness that is always there, and the silver-green shagginess of the lichens on the trees. It's a beautiful place and the mind can relax there.
Today is the annual 'Make A Difference Day' known as MADD for short. I don't know how many companies sponsor this, but Barclays certainly do. They encourage their staff to do a day's voluntary work and a lot of them do.
The regular Brownsea volunteers, including my family, get called on to organise some of the work parties.
All summer, the volunteers cut rhododendron, until you can hardly move for great piles of the stuff. MADD is the start of the winter burning season and we had enough helpers to get seven very large bonfires burning all day. We were lucky with the weather as it remained dry until mid-afternoon and even then tended to drizzle more than heavy rain. By the time you've got a really good bonfire going, nothing will stop it as long as you keep adding more wood.
We were so warm that I stripped down to a t-shirt and opted to get wet - waterproofs would have been too hot and sweaty.
By the end of the day, the three of us looked like drowned rats - we stayed on an extra half-hour along with the other old hands in order to make sure the fires died down safely. YOu have to watch fires on peat as they can get into the soil.
It was good fun. There's still plenty left to burn, but today broke the back of it. We'll be cutting and burning simultaneously before long.
The rhododendron on this part of the island is around 70 years old and is so dense that hardly any light reaches the ground at all. It's a desert as far as wildlife goes.
Saw a very obliging red squirrel who actually pasued over my head to chatter to me. As the rhododendron decreases, the squirrels increase. Brownsea Island (in Poole harbour) and the Isle of Wight are the only places in the south of England to still have red squirrels.
Introduced species are a real devil.
Stopped on my way back to the quay to spend a few minutes in the alder carr. There are water voles there, but I've never yet seen one. I don't really mind. I love just looking at the black water and seeing the overlapping circles as the raindrops hit. I love the sense of stillness that is always there, and the silver-green shagginess of the lichens on the trees. It's a beautiful place and the mind can relax there.