Holt Copse Conservation Volunteers
Newsletter Number 19 – Autumn
2003
Editorial
As I start this Newsletter, I’m realising that there is, in fact, quite a lot of news. There’s the events and activities of the Summer to report as well as the plans for the coming year, never mind months.
Last evening, Nic Hopkinson, Colin Melhuish and I got together to plan the work to be done at our forthcoming season of work parties and to discuss the various other projects that are “in progress” or are planned. It was very encouraging to realise that, as a group, we have not settled into a steady routine of coppicing and tidying. We do have a number of very exciting projects either on the go or being explored. There is no doubt that the HCCV is a very dynamic group that will, in the long term, provide a valuable legacy for users of Joel Park and Holt Copse.
Work Parties
I’ve decided not to be bashful and come right out with the most important part of this Newsletter – dates for the forthcoming programme of work parties. The weekend work parties dates are shown below. These are all on Saturdays and start at 9.30am. Meet in Jubilee Avenue.
October 18th (Boardwalk building – good turnout essential)
November 15th
December 12th
December 27th (Inebriation no excuse for absence!)
January 10th
February 7th
As most of you know, Nic Hopkinson organises weekday work parties for those who want to do a bit extra or find a weekday more convenient. If you fall into this category, please contact Nic on 901 9392 to discuss and agree convenient days and times as your interest and availability may have changed since last year
Boardwalk 3
During the Parks & Amenities Committee’s annual review of Joel Park and Holt Copse during the Summer, the idea of the HCCV building a third boardwalk was mooted. The section of footpath identified for this boardwalk is the flat area just south (town side) of the “top” boardwalk. In Winter and during other periods of prolonged rain, this section of the main footpath becomes part of a much larger quagmire around which it is virtually impossible to find a firm and mud-free route.
After some discussion, the Committee agreed that a boardwalk was a worthwhile project which would enhance the amenity value of the park and improve year-round accessibility. A few weeks ago, Nic Hopkinson received a letter from the Town Council saying that the money to pay for the materials and their transport to site had been approved. At the Work party “planning meeting” we decided to assign the first work party to constructing this boardwalk. By choosing this early date (October 18th) it was felt that the boardwalk would be in place in time for the expected seasonal weather.
I know that some of our newer members will not have had the “pleasure” of making post holes in the copse and carrying out prolonged wood preservation while some members have enjoyed these delights on more than one occasion. However, what is certain is that we do need a full turn out of members. A boardwalk may look to be a simple thing but there’s a lot of work involved. We need to complete the work in the day as we can’t leave materials on site in the hope that it will still be there on the Sunday.
We will need an
early start crew as the supplier has said he will deliver for free but he needs
to be there by 8am! The materials will
be delivered to the copse edge in Holt Lane opposite the new housing
development. We’ll probably unload, go
home for breakfast and return at 9.30 hoping no one has stolen it all in the
meantime. So, can you get there for 8
o’clock, even if you have to go home for breakfast later?
I have received this report on the Information Board which the HCCV is developing for the copse:
For some months now a number of us have been planning and designing a public Information Board to be placed in Holt Copse near the playground. The idea is that it will act as an encouragement and incentive for people to get more interested in, and involved with, the Copse, its management and wildlife diversity. It has proved to be a lengthy task (as we were warned it would be by those experienced in these things!). However, we have been considerably assisted by Rebecca of the WDC Countryside Service at Dinton Pastures.
We are now at the stage where our concepts and requirements have been developed into a design, estimates obtained for sign production, and selection of the supplier. Their detailed design should be starting shortly and the provisional timetable is production and delivery of the Board by Christmas. After consideration, it was decided that installation was probably best deferred until next Spring when visitor numbers tend to increase.
The board will present information about the history and geology of the Copse area together with the range of birds, animals, trees and plants that can be seen in the Copse and Park. The underlying background to this information is a depiction of a coppice woodland. The hope is that visitors to the park and copse, especially those with families, will be stimulated to look out for the species described and so become interested in the Copse itself.
We have received funding for the Board from the Wokingham Society and Wokingham Town Council. It is also possible that English Nature will provide some grant money which will be supplemented by group funds as necessary to make up the total sum required. It’s been encouraging that a wide range of people have seen this project as a beneficial resource and have supported us in this way.
The Pond
Another potential project we put before the
P&A Committee of the Town Council was the idea of a pond. A written proposal/briefing paper was made
available to the Committee prior to their inspection and, after examination of the pond’s proposed location and
further discussion, they approved the idea.
With all the other, more immediate, projects
the HCCV is currently undertaking, this project is being progressed
slowly. We don’t want to bite off more
than we can chew and lose our good reputation together with the Councils
support.
I have liaised with Andy Glencross at the WDC
Countryside Service to determine the best approach to getting this project
under way. Andy will be visiting the
proposed site in the next few weeks with the contractor who will actually
excavate the pond area. He will obtain
a start date and agree the scope of work together with the intended shape and
depth of the pond. Apparently, Andy has
several digging projects for this specialist contractor and ours will be
included in a package of work. A
consequence of this is that the pond is likely to be dug before Christmas.
On hearing the timescale, I immediately asked
Andy about the HCCV’s workload in completing the pond. He assured me that it would be negligible as
the contractor would spread and level the spoil to achieve pond depth, water
containment and suitable gradation of the surroundings. He said that as far as planting goes, the
contractor would set aside clumps of plants from the existing boggy area and
reset these in place on completion of the excavation and grading. Then, as this is not a garden water feature,
all we have to do is let nature take its course when the margins will acquire a
range of suitable plants while the pond will naturally become stocked with
insects and amphibians. (research has
shown that, in the long term, planting up has no advantages over letting
natural colonization take place).
It’s possible that the HCCV will work with WTC
to rake over the spoil and sew a suitable grass seed mixture. Also, in order for the pond to increase its
benefit to newts and frogs, etc., there needs to be a strip of uncut grass
between the pond and the “Bermuda Triangle”.
Andy suggested that this strip is planted with a wildflower/grass mix to
facilitate insect migrations.
Is anyone interested in carrying out a series
of surveys with me to record the colonization progress of this pond?
I
have tried to contact the Embrook Primary and Junior Schools together with
Walter Infants and St Paul’s Junior schools with a view to co-operating with them
to develop Joel Park and Holt Copse as educational facilities. Despite several attempts by letter and
email, I have had only two responses – from Emmbrook Infants and Walter
Infants. Disappointingly, the other two
schools didn’t even reply one way or the other.
Meanwhile,
on a brighter note, Kerry O’Flinn, the Community Wildlife Officer at BBOWT, has
offered her full support and, more importantly, her expertise. I now have to set up a meeting between the
interested parties to see how we can best respond to the schools’ needs.
The
basic idea is to develop a sort of nature trail that the children can follow
round with a work sheet. It is NOT
intended that HCCV members deliver any teaching or supervision.
Another
issue raised during the parks inspection was that of the deteriorating fence
around the “Bermuda Triangle”. It was
agreed that, at some time in the next year or so, rooted “whips” of blackthorn,
hawthorn and field maple would be obtained and planted inside the fence. Then, as the hedge grew the fence would
continue to fall apart, disappear into the hedge and finally, rot away.
This
would resolve the problem of the Council having to maintain a fence that
originally served only to meet the legal requirement to enable the Council to
acquire ownership of this previously ownerless land.
Many
of you will have seen the unauthorised use of part of the copse by the water
supplier’s sub-contractor. The
sub-contractor, Pipeway, has now confirmed that they will soon remove all
débris and re-instate the verge. We
(HCCV) had previously discussed the idea of planting a hedge along that
boundary with a view to deterring fly tipping and the development of more
footpaths. Nic is investigating if
Pipeway will supply or finance the 100 whips needed to create a hedge along
that section. The trade-off would be
that the HCCV would do the re-instatement work after removal of the
débris. However, the Town Council Amenities
Chairman is needed to ratify such an arrangement while Pipeway need to get the
agreement of their reinstatement department.
I am to laurel that Daleks are to earthlings –
I can’t stop going round chanting “Exterminate! Exterminate!” Laurel is a problem in the copse because
birds eat the berries and subsequently deposit the seeds haphazardly all over
the place, along with a very convenient bit of fertilizer. Unfortunately, laurel is of virtually no
value in enhancing biodiversity and supports very few insects that might feed
other creatures in the food chain (by comparison, the average oak tree supports
some 237 insects, etc.,). So, every now
and again, if only to shut me up, we have a laurel pulling day – usually one of
the work party days. The idea is to get
them while they are small as they are easier to pull up.
On the other hand, some people find the tendency for brambles to spread to the detriment of the bluebells their particular bête noire. It has to be said that the bluebells in the copse are greatly appreciated by the average copse user and are one thing that might get an “anti” on our side. However, the advice I have had from Andy Glencross is that we shouldn’t remove too much bramble despite its unkempt appearance and its ability to hide some of the bluebells. If we do want to remove some bramble, we should take that nearest to the footpaths but avoid removing that along the copse margins. The latter is that butterflies use brambles a lot and copse margins are typical haunts for them. Also, wrens, dunnocks and wood mice are frequent users of bramble bushes. Once the hazel and other coppiced trees have grown, the bramble will naturally be suppressed from lack of light.
One of the notable things about our first few work parties in 1999 was the, often, heated comments we’ve received from passing park users. The common factor that quickly became apparent during these harangues was what seemed to be a lack of understanding of the difference between neglect and conservation.
Many seemed to believe that conservation is all about leaving the environment to look after itself - for woods and copses to naturally regenerate and to achieve a natural equilibrium. It was good enough in the past, so why not now? The difference is essentially one of size and pressure. How often do we see on television some primeval forest looking after itself and thriving? And does the presenter tell us the actual size of the forest he’s in? The two answers are “often” and “rarely”. The truth is that for forests to achieve that wonderful natural rhythm and balance they need to be at least hundreds of acres in area and preferably hundreds of square miles. On such a scale there can be the essential sequence of life, death and regeneration. The problem in countries the size of Britain is that there are very few areas of wild countryside of that size. Also, we have a population that demands recreational spaces and puts enormous pressures on them through intensive use.
Holt Copse and Joel Park are an example of a small recreational area with a wide range of demands on it, from exercising dogs to children playing to people just walking to the station. The Council cannot afford to just let trees mature, die and fall naturally to the ground, it’s not safe with so many people using the area. When a space does open up and seedlings appear, inevitably users will walk through breaking down the emergent growth. The natural cycle of regeneration in these circumstances usually means the spread of tough, dominant species such as bramble, bracken, and laurel. This results in the need to manage the natural resources of the Copse to ensure the control of these dominant species and the nurturing of, often, more desirable but relatively weaker species.
So, in the context of the average urban landscape, to conserve means to manage. In this way, we ensure the maintenance of existing species and, often, allow a wider range to re-establish themselves and flourish. The ultimate aim is bio-diversity.
Project Owners
By now you will have realised that the HCCV is a very dynamic group with a lot of projects on the books. Presently, the people actually co-ordinating and driving these projects amount to two! In addition, Colin Melhuish stores and maintains the group’s tools while Mike Davis does the finances.
Below is a table showing the projects and general tasks together with their present “owners”.
Project Present Owner
Information Board Nic Hopkinson (ably assisted by Pippa , John, Colin
and Valerie)
Hedge (Jubilee Ave.) Nic Hopkinson
Hedge (Bermuda Triangle) Nic Hopkinson
Boardwalk Nic Hopkinson
Pond Jack Meatcher
Schools Project Jack Meatcher
General
Tasks
Work Party Admin. Nic Hopkinson
Tools Colin Melhuish
Treasurer Mike Davis
Newsletter Jack Meatcher
It would be a great help, and relief, if a few other members could come forward and take ownership of a project or two. The only project that has really taken a lot of “Owner” time is the information board - and that’s nearly completed. The schools project will involve some meetings and some development time but the others are more a case of liaising with other organisations to get things done.
It really is important that others in the HCCV take on some of these tasks, otherwise what you get is what “The Few” think is right. There must be other ways and opinions that are equally viable and valid.
Reports
If you do spot something interesting in your garden, on the estate, in Holt Copse or in Joel Park, please email me and I’ll put it in the next Newsletter/Newsflash. Not only will this help to avoid me writing everything but it will help us to build up a picture of the wildlife in our immediate area. (since putting this request in Newsletter No. 18, issued in June, I have not had a single report)
Jack Meatcher
Resemble not the slimy snails
Who with their filth record their trails.
Let it be said, where you have been,
You left the face of Nature clean.