I was invited to the Kingcombe Centre by Nigel Spring to attend the preparation weekend that I missed out in in 2009, due to my very last minute enlistment on the La Brenne trip. It was another chance for some free feeds and accommodation. All they wanted in return was a bit of slave labour.
The people attending the weekend are due to travel to France, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic throughout the year. http://www.eucan.org.uk/page/programme_2010
Friday night was spent with general settling in and introductions, followed by supper (which appeared to be a pasty in a pancake!?!?!) and if you were especially lucky there was a bit of pan scourer hidden in your helping of cabbage. Then it was off to sleep in the cowshed.
The following morning we were treated to a proper breakfast 
(albeit a small one, would have made my dear H's Cafe in Tooting cry at there being only one of everything. Scandalous.) Then we went for a stroll from the centre around the Kingcombe Meadows DWT Reserve. It was pretty muddy and my toes were gradually freezing. We looped back round to the centre for some lunch and to watch the birds caught in the nets being ringed. It was the first time I'd seen Marsh Tit and Coal Tit in the hand, so that was a treat.
For the afternoon we drove over to Powerstock Common where we were clearing some scrub to open up the grassland a bit. This was chance to get re-acquainted with my friend the Blackthorn, and show i
t the scars I still bare from its French cousin 4 months ago! We also got a couple of fires going thanks to some nice dry gorse - although the first clump I cut had a harvest mouse nest in, which was nice to see intact as they usually disintegrate when I try to pick them up! We spent the rest of the afternoon working, and as the light began to fade we packed up the tools and headed back to Kingcombe to get changed for the evening. Nigel had organised a barn dance in the village hall to raise money for Aggtelek National Park in Hungary, the EuCAN work site which is hoping to purchase more land. http://www.eucan.org.uk/page/aggtelek. We were the VIPs of the evening getting free entry and free venison goulash, as well as a pretty good time with lots of skipping and confused dancing!! 
Sunday we awoke for another cooked breakfast, and more coffee was needed than the previous
morning! We set off on one of Nigel's travel-sickness-inducing minibus rides to Powerstock Common, where we were working under the supervision of Martin Warren, Chief Executive of Butterfly Conservation http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/. Yet more slash and burn was needed to remove the conifer trees planted in the 50s and return the area to wet grassland, hopefully encouraging more Marsh Fritillaries.
This is the lowest place in Dorset so wellies were a prerequisite; my toes were frosty yet again. I was dying to get the fire started but the damp wood was proving to be an enormous hinderance, and it did take to best part of an hour before we felt it could cope with branches from the large Norway Spruce that were being felled around us. But soon enough we were warming up, the layers coming off, and plenty of smoke was going up. We worked this area for the entire day, breaking for a lunch of baked potatoes and various assortments of cake. We trudged back up the hill with all the gear, then had to rush back in the minibus in time to catch trains. Our progress was slowed by a stray branch that knocked the wing mirror off, a struggling engine that could only just make it up hills, and the slowest horsebox I have ever encountered - it would have been quicker to borrow the horses and ride them back!
We arrived at Kingcombe and spent far too long refreshing ourselves with tea and cake, causing us to panic-pack and drive to Crewkerne station, shedding wellies and bags as we sprinted for the train
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