The Lincolnshire Bird Club

There are plans to slub out c 70% of the degraded reedbed alongside the entrance path this autumn, after consulatation with Natural England and consent given for the work on the SSSI, , this is to attempt to restore a good quality reedbed over the next few years as the area is now choked with a deep layer of detritus and reed has been declining for some years.
This will provide a temporary shallow water area for the late winter and next spring if the current low level recovers through the winter months.
This work will depend on the water level remaining low as it will require a large tracked excavator to remove the considerable amount of material which will be embanked alongside the current edges.
regards John

Hey John, glad to hear Huttoft Pit is to get some reedbed management by way of a good "slub out", a fascinating term I have never heard before. I googled "slub out" reedbed, and got only 5 hits which is remarkably few suggesting the world of slubbing out is quite constrained to Wicken Fen, the Broads, the Lincs Biodiversity Action Plan and now Huttoft Pit.

How did you first come across it? Is the machine or the driver the "slubber"?

Hi Phil, its a terminology i,ve known for years and was well used of Farms and in the Drainage boards etc for many years and most main drains are slubbed out ( remove silts and debris build up )
about once every 10 to 15 years, however a good dictionary descibes it as a roll of wool or cotton. regards John.

sounds like something to do with a piggery to me john, watch out for swine flu !!!

terry whalin

Called in at Louth library today to consult the Oxford English Dictionary re "slubbing out". Vol 9 revealed the first definition for "slub" is "thick sludgey mud, mire or ooze" first recorded use in 1577.

"slubby" is defined as "muddy, sticky or slippery with mud".

Interestingly "slubbing" as in slubbing out is not in there and there is certainly no doubt that the word is in wide use in eastern england for cleaning out watery silted up deposits. So it looks like the OED has missed this definition which is quite surprising.

Sadly the library copy of the Dictionary of Lincolnshire Dialect has gone walkies so couldn't find out if it is a Saxon term. If anyone has a copy or could find find out I'd be interested to hear. Also do any English specialists out there have a view on this?

Far from being an English specialist I delved into my copy of Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary and it gives another version of Slub.

It can also be spelt Slubb and has several definitions: to twist after carding to prepare for spinning - a roving, a lump in yarn or lumpy.

The dictionary also defines Slubber:to smear, soil, daub, to perform hurriedly and carelessly, slur over, to gobble, to wallow.

Another related word is slubberdegullion, a sloven. Slubber appears to come from the Dutch slobberen or Low German slubbern which means to lap.

Colin

The tracked excavator with a 16m reach boom, is in and slubbing today 21st, and the work will be completed by midday friday, the area cleared will leave a layer of slightly peaty rootmass, which will reflood as the currently low water level recovers the c 40 cms its now down, through the winter, given a reasonable rainfall, regards John.

Slubbing out. A teaser for 'Call my bluff'!

Richard....

Hi John. Any chance of some photos of the slubbing out? and before and after.

Hi Phil not visited this page for some time, no didn,t take photos as my camera was broken and have only just replaced it.
Other work has now been completed at Wolla Bank with c 4 acres of private land south of the reserve has been extensively graded and lowered with a sluice constructed to hold winter water levels, this completes 8 acres of land wetland habitat creation between Wolla Bank and Chapel six marsh car parks , and the adjacent ditch has had a diversion tunnel constructed at the upstream end to take house and toilet block drainage away thus allowing the ditch water level to be raised by 80 cm and keep the entire 65 acres of wolla bank and Anderby fields wetter and hopefully attract a wider range of wildlife, given 2 or 3 years it will be interesting to see how it develops as a core area of the country park and wether other nearby landowners will come into Higher Level Stewardship schemes ( 2 have already done so along with LWT and ELDC)
Regards John.