CROW (Conserve Reading on Wednesdays)
Wednesday, 27th May 2015
Padworth Common ~ Path clearance and bracken control

Despite being billed as 'Bracken control' much of the morning was spent clearing the paths in the vicinity of the car park which were becoming overgrow .....

..... as well as around the car park itself, this with the intention of deterring fly-tipping.

It was after coffee by the time we started work on the bracken. Probably the best known of all this country's native ferns of which there are about fifty, it is essentially a woodland species. However when it spreads into more open areas by means of its rhizomes (creeping underground stems) as much as by its spores, its vigorous growth (being the largest of our ferns it can grow to a height of about two metres) and the dense leaf litter created when it dies back in autumn can rapidly smother all other vegetation; hence the need for control in heathland areas such as those at Padworth Common.

Lunchtime and the group relaxes in the warm sunshine.

Task complete!

Created: Friday, 29th May 2015
Photographs: Alan Stevens