Leaky Dam Board and Bridge Repairs
6th June 2023
A bright sunny Tuesday morning, which promises to transition into an equally sunny and hot afternoon. Thankfully it is not too hot just yet, with a cool north-easterly breeze tempering the sun’s warming rays.
My first task today is to repair Leaky Dam Trail post number 4 - “Back-swimmer”. This was damaged last week by an over-excited information board reader (hopefully they now have a better understanding of the law of levers and the sheer strength of plywood when one is applied to it).
On the way I collect a piece of solid sweet chestnut board to replace the plywood and check on the state of the other boards on the trail. ‘Water Flea’ - board number 2 is fine. At ‘Leaky Dam’ board number 3, at the bottom of ‘Icelandic Hill’ (it’s not official, but you would be welcome to support the petition, if there was one – I use the name since some 20 or more leaky dams here were built by visiting Icelandic teachers over the last couple of years), I pause to check for damage and find evidence of childish Biro scrawl on it. No accident this. I remove the offending script with my pen knife, since in my book graffiti is like a fly on a dog-doo – everyone wants a piece of the action!
I put this post here about 2 months ago and now it is sprouting epicormic growth (shoots with leaves) along its length. Amazing how resilient life is to its termination (I wonder if Charles I has sprouted a new head yet). We may get a new tree out of it over the years, although this might make reading it tricky, as we will have to put a ladder in to get to it.
Board 4 ‘Backswimmer’ is obviously not there since this is the one I am to replace. I hope I have all the tools I need, since it is a long way back for a longer screw or a different screw bit. 45 minutes later it looks as good as new (except I forgot to bring the staple gun to put the information sheet back in place).
I continue to ‘Dragonfly’ board 5 and all is good. I am delighted that the wooden flaps that cover the boards are doing their job reasonably well. This one has a coloured photograph of a broad-bodied chaser, which has avoided UV discolouration thanks to the cover. The leaky dam it overlooks is a strong candidate for conversion to a non-leaky dam, or at least a sort of hybrid which permits a pond to develop behind it. Watch this space.
I get to the rustic bridge across the Wilderness Stream and realise I have all the tools necessary to fix the hand rails that have fallen off. Within 30 minutes they are coach-bolted to the uprights preventing anyone falling into the torrent below (with climate change such a notion is entirely possible, but not on a sunny day after several months without rain).
I am doing really well today as I approach the penultimate board (number 6 ‘Newt’) This one is also in good condition, overlooking the new ponds – which currently don’t have an official name. I did once suggest “Old Fish Ponds”, but realised that this was an invitation for some dork to rewild it with a cat-fish, shark or barracuda. Not a good idea – the name, or the action it might encourage.
The ponds here are far outlasting the rudimentary one that existed prior to enlargement by mechanical digger last autumn. I am hopeful that it might see the tadpoles to froghood before it finally dries up, but the stream is probably down to little more than a few litres per minute. Time for me to do a rain dance I suspect. The tadpoles still have no legs, despite being a good 2 inches in length. They sit basking in the shallows where the water is more oxygen rich. This could be induced by falling dissolved oxygen levels in the water caused by warming as the summer progresses. Sometimes wildlife just hangs on by its finger-nails (even webbed ones).
Checking the other ponds everything looks in good order. Then I spot a broad bodied chaser helicoptering its pale blue body from plant to plant and half submerged stick to stick. I wouldn’t know a male from a female, but if it starts grape-shotting eggs into the water I’ll have my answer (coincidentally it is the dragonfly species which illustrates board 5).
Finally I make it to board number 7 – ‘Frog’. This board is fine too, as are the tadpoles in the pond it overlooks. This pond has the best chance of retaining water since it is not only stream fed, but has a number of springs trickling water into it also. It is 12.30pm and the dinner bell must be ringing. I march back up through the wood in 10 minutes flat and am pleased to find that the rest of the vultures in the Home Team have not picked the carcass clean. Ok, I’m being fanciful since it is a vegetarian stew, but you know where I’m coming from.
The afternoon sees me collecting tree-guards from hedge shrubs planted 4 years ago at Bat Park (no bats and it’s not a park either). We planted several hundred shrubs and the guards have done their job – stopping the rabbits from coppicing them with their teeth. I’m glad to see the back of this ugly yet necessary evil (the guards – not the rabbits). I’m told the plastic is biodegradable, but remain unconvinced - perhaps I’ll test the claim and put them at the bottom of the compost heap. I have a sneaking feeling that they will still be there, totally un-degraded, long after I have stopped writing this blog.
Just before I leave the woods I have the pleasure of spotting a common lizard sitting on a log in the wood yard. This is possibly the first one I have ever seen during 9 years of working at Wilderness Wood. Perhaps it is a sign that our conservation efforts are actually working.
