Another crisp, sharp Autumn day for a CROW and GROW
Community Garden collaboration. This time it was a Parklife Treasure Hunt, perfect
conditions for hunting out fauna in Alexandra Park and the Waterworks followed
by a feast of pumpkin soup, bread, banana cake and apple and walnut cake.
We convened at the Milewater St entrance to Alaxander Park
and after all the kids had a quick play in the playground we set off in search
of fauna from a sheet of clues provided by Justin.
Doc and Himalayan Balsam were quickly spotted close to the
Milewater River bank, which runs above ground at this stage. True enough the
doc sat curative in a bank of nettles. Himalayan Balsam a plant originally
introduced to Europe for its ornamental appearance soon found itself demoted to
the status of weed once it was realized how veraciously it spread thanks to its
inbuilt, spring loaded seed dispersing technology.
There is plenty more to be found here, we could start ticking
off the ingredients of the ‘9 Herb Charm’, an old English potion to counter the
effects of poison. Lambs Cress, one of its ingredients is spotted nestling
under the bridge.
Plantain, low growing, below the lawnmower’s radar clings to
the incline leading up to the peace wall. We spot it none-the-less thanks to the
beady eyed children scanning close to the ground. Justin recounts how European
colonialists brought it on foot wherever they went and that local people could
identify the presence of the white man by the evidence growing underfoot.
Ingredient no 2 ticked off. We move towards the peace wall noting dandelion and
hogweed as we go. Again we find ourselves asking ‘are weeds just plants in
the wrong place?’
The park also boasts some fine Oak (both Irish and English) we
spot specimens of each on both side of the corrugated ’peace wall ‘ that
bisects it. The English oak is charachterised by rounded leaf fonts whilst the
Irish Oak are more elongated and pointed, a species of tree we learn, that is
more likely than any others to be struck by lightening.
A path, circumventing the pond fed by the Milewater River
runs around the back of Camberwell Terrace on the other side of the park. We
follow this path and it yields our first siting of Ragwort, a plant notoriously
poisons the livestock. However, the squirrels in the surrounding oaks and
sycamores are unperturbed by its presence. We find prehistoric looking Mares Tail
in abundance, then round a corner to encounter Japanese Knotweed running
rampant where the river breaks the surface to feed into the pond. It is another
introduced ornamental that is now seen as a general scourge because of its
veracity and the difficulty in eradicating or controlling it.
We pass through a tall gate and walk out towards open path
flanked by Horse Chestnuts. The kids belt across the park to the playground for
a quick play before we head up Jubilee onto the Antrim Rd and down to The
Waterworks.
Our first species here is a very climable looking Ewe
opposite the all weather pitch. Justin recounts how all Ewes in Ireland are
apparently descended from the one specimen in Florencecourt Co. Fermanagh.
We approach a row of Willows in planters running along the
top of the small pond. One tree is tagged by the council. They are split
Willows, distinguished by their long tapering leaves. Further on as we progress
towards the Cliftonville side of the top pond we pass what we decide must be
Maple after a debate about what differentiates Maple from Sycamore . We find
more Ewes here and a Haw, which once provided a sheltered den, becoming a
favored climbing spot of local kids until one of the Ewes was recently felled.
Further on there are Lime trees to our left and Reeds in the
pond to our right. People are getting tired and hungry now in the bracing cold
and appetites are whetted by the prospect of hot soup at the GROW garden at the
top of the waterworks.
Our last leg, past the new pitches at the top of the park,
allows us to take in a spruce and some larches before we ensconce ourselves in
GROWs polytunnel for soup bread, banana cake and craic.
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