Little gems

Little gems

 

Near a quiet cemetery in Lake a strange sight, a gaggle of people milling around a green space next to allotment grounds, like the tardis, eco-island hub had landed in Lake, what were they doing? Too many high spirits for it to be a funeral, though some of the people wouldn’t have looked out of place attending one, suits aplenty even on a hot day. David Green wearing his ubiquitous smart, but casual cream beach/cocktail, every occasion attire, and sporting his infamous solar powered grin. But I digress, back to the photo shoot, where various organisations/representatives were gathered. The owners of the land have handed over the patch to eco-island to arrange for the local community to use in growing food etc. Those of us on the fringes were thrown eco-island t.shirts to wear, (and keep) for the photo shoot, a local woman walking past grumbled about ‘mainlanders ruining the island’, and ‘my family can be traced back a thousand years living on this Island’ – she would probably have had to be rugby tackled, and tranquilised to get her into an eco-island t.shirt!

 

 The land earmarked for ‘community’ use may appear in need of some TLC, brambles cover it like a billowing green sail. If only it were just ripe blackberries to be picked (the fruit is just turning plump and glossy) but in this case it’s ripe for clearance, who could possibly want it to stay like this? Perhaps the butterflies, and bees who collect nectar from the flowers, or the birds that forage amongst the leaves for insects and fruit, or the mice, squirrels, slow worms, toads and frogs that may be sheltering beneath its prickly crown. These are one of the few places that the domestic cat and dog don’t reach, the bed of thorns a deterrent. Brambles are natures larder for little and large critters. Eco-isle’s Joni Rhodes assured me that an ecological report will be made of the area by Ian Boyd of Natural Enterprises. But do reports cover all that happens, all the critters that use this area, surely it can only be a glimpse on that one day, whereas natures always changing, the burrowing bees I spotted in Spring aren’t there in August. Like mayflies they may appear one day and be gone the next. What will be missed?

An interesting conversation ensued regarding a swathe of pretty flowering plants on the allotment adjoining the newly acquired ‘community’ patch, the couple working the allotment didn’t know what it was, but being intrigued, I looked it up, remembering reading somewhere that this area couldn’t be built on because it was a sight of special, scientific interest. The allotment couple said they thought a rare orchid growing on the allotment had saved it from development. After the photo shoot we all went our separate ways. Online the mystery plants appeared in several different reports, and checking the image found it was the same ‘Martin’s Ramping Fumitory’, a nationally rare annual plant, that needs annual cultivation of the ground to provide the conditions necessary for the seed to germinate.

 

According to the English Nature report there are other rare and interesting species of plants on the allotment. In the few minutes I spent with the allotment couple, a small toad was spotted, numerous, unusual looking black and white striped bees collecting nectar from the MRF plants, an Adonis blue butterfly amongst the wildflowers, and past regular spottings of slow worms, we disturbed a sinister shape amongst the dried grass, to find a local moggy’s sunbathing spot. Who knows what other wonders may be lurking around these precious patches. How will the community react to a 'gift’ of land that they may have to manage?