Ivy Clearing: Finishing off

Despite the universal frost and frozen ground elsewhere in Dalgety Bay, the area that the Donibristle P7 pupils had cleared of ivy the previous week was frost free and in the sunshine. With 6 of us working we were able to remove most of the remaining roots and leave a surface of bare soil.

We thus completed the task that in pre-history would have been done by wild boar.

It will be interesting over the next few years to see what plants emerge from dormant or wind-blown seeds to replace what had been an almost uniform covering of ivy.

The soil we uncovered was also very instructive. A light organic rich loam, helped by years of decaying leaf-mould, gave an insight into the nutrient rich soils that bronze-age farmers would have uncovered when they first felled the woodlands of Britain and started growing cereal and other crops.