Today the group worked on the Orchard off Queen’s Road Tewkesbury. This is part of the larger Tewkesbury Nature Reserve(TNR) tewkesburynaturereserve.org.uk a natural floodplain of mostly grassland, grazed by sheep and cattle. There have been a few scrapes recently added to improve the biodiversity particularly for birds. The orchard is linked to the Priors Park Neighbourhood Project which includes allotments.
The work was to remove encroaching vegetation and create a wide path to the rear. Six of us took part and we were visited by a member of TNR who is responsible for volunteer work parties at the site. We managed to clear an area of mostly bramble and blackthorn that opened up the site and freed around some of the fruit trees planted here including plum. apple and pear giving more light and reducing competition. Compost heaps are also envisaged for the area to supply the next door allotments.
before we startedthe work nearing completionWork almost completed
A pleasant days work with good weather and keen volunteers and a satisfactory task completed
On Sunday 01 March 2020 GVCV worked on a farm at Farmcote, Winchcombe for FWAGSW.
The Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group South West (FWAGSW) is a registered charity representing the region’s farmers and landowners in the delivery of wildlife conservation. They are part funded by Natural England and work with partner conservation organizations including the Wildlife Trust. In Gloucestershire they are heavily involved in Water with Integrated Local Delivery (WILD) projects restoring ditches, streams and rivers to aid the currently failing ecology and fish populations.
Our allotted task that day was to make a start on coppicing a stand of hazel, which had not been previously done for a number of years. Specific birds, insects and mammals depend on young hazel and left untended the stems grow into substantial trees, producing a changed habitat, so regular coppicing is required to maintain the existing ecology.
This particular hazel was of the Cobnut variety which appeared to have been planted for commercial cropping of the nuts. Cob nuts in the shops cost twice as much as hazel nuts! Cobnuts originate from Kent and are sometimes called Kentish nuts. Young nuts have a taste like coconut and a can be eaten on their own or added to salads or in baking. Mature nuts have a deeper, richer flavor and should be roasted then eaten with a little salt or added to a crumble topping or used to add “crunch” to any desert.
The hazel we harvested will be used in the FWAGSW waterway restoration projects. We cut the stems into 5 foot lengths and tied them into manageable bundles. These bundles will be taken and fixed as reinforcement for the banks of waterways to help prevent erosion
Rather than just leaving the bundles on the ground, where they would quickly degrade we constructed a raised platform on which to stack them. Our construction was of a lightly lesser standard than the bridge over the river Kwai but it did exactly what we wanted of it. Looking forward we made the platform large enough to take the product of another 2 or 3 tasks.
Tea break – the best part of the morning. Beautifully straight spaced out rows of hazel behind.
Hard to concentrate on the task in front with such a fantastic landscape behind.
A happy team at the end of the day with our bundles of Hazel neatly stacked on the platform.
The weather was kind to us, cool, mostly dry and with periods of bright sunshine. And we were able to look back at the end of the day at a tangible outcome rather than the blank space we normally leave after a hard day clearing scrub etc.
On Sunday 01 December 2019 GVCV worked in Stanway Ash Wood, Tewksbury for FWAGSW.
The Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group South West (FWAGSW) is a registered charity representing the region’s farmers and landowners in the delivery of wildlife conservation. They are part funded by Natural England and work with partner conservation organizations including the Wildlife Trust. In Gloucestershire they are heavily involved in Water with Integrated Local Delivery (WILD) projects restoring ditches, streams and rivers to aid the currently failing ecology and fish populations.
Our specific task that day was to make a start on coppicing an area of the hazel, which had not been done for some 40 years previously. Specific birds, insects and mammals depend on young hazel and left untended the stems grow into substantial trees, producing a changed habitat, so regular coppicing is required to maintain the existing ecology.
Our starting point – the Hazel of various ages and sizes
The hazel we harvested will be used in the FWAGSW waterway restoration projects. We cut the stems into 5 foot lengths and tied them into manageable bundles. These bundles will next year be taken and fixed as reinforcement for the banks of waterways to help prevent erosion (another task for GVCV ?)
Tying the cut lengths into bundles
Hazel bundles being placed to reinforce a stream bank (another group)
Tea break – the best time of the day
Rather than just leaving the bundles on the ground, where they would quickly degrade we constructed a raised platform on which to stack them. Our construction was of a lightly lesser standard than the bridge over the river Kwai but it did exactly what we wanted of it. Looking forward we made the platform large enough to take the product of another 2 or 3 tasks.
Our bundles of Hazel neatly stacked
The weather was kind to us, cold and dry with bright sunshine and we were able to look back at the end of the day at a tangible outcome rather than the blank space we normally leave after a hard day clearing scrub etc.
This Sunday the group were involved in planting native bluebell bulbs in a previously coppiced part of the reserve along with a few snowdrops. We also did some weeding of the hedge planted in 2018.
Similar to our previous task at Bulls Cross, working for Natural England. This is a small linear grassland important for invertebrates, our work today was to remove ash saplings using Tree Poppers – many of the trees were showing signs of Ash Dieback too.
GVCV TASK 20 October 2019 –
STINCHCOMBE HILL, DURSLEY
See GVCV previous report dated 26/02/1017 giving a detailed description of the Stinchcombe Hill site and of our efforts to reverse the decline of the butterfly population with especial reference to the Duke of Burgundy, the Dingy Skipper, the Heath Fritillary and the Large Blue.
The Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, the beneficiary of our efforts, we hope.
The site is managed by a warden from the Stinchcombe Hill
Butterfly trust with a team of volunteers and their objective is to bring the
site back to its original state of untreated Cotswold grassland forming an
environment favouring orchids, butterflies and sky larks.
This is an uphill struggle because lack of resources has allowed
extensive encroachment of trees and shrubs.
The lower slopes are by far the most in need of clearing, but
this is private land belonging to Stinchcombe House and cannot therefore be
included in our scope of works.
Discussions are however in progress with the current owner.
Our task on Sunday was to progress the clearance of the scrub
etc on the Western slopes of Drakestone Point consisting mainly of Blackthorn
and Ash all bound together with bramble.
This slope is just below the plateau known locally as “the village green”, notwithstanding that it is remote from the village.
The warden keeping an eye on our activities at the fire
The volunteers tackled the blackthorn etc with loppers and
bushsaws, dragging the cut material to a fire site
There is some debate as to the ecological significance of
bonfires as opposed to retaining the cut material in habitat piles but as soon
as the material reaches any significant quantity then the advantages of habitat
piles become disadvantages as the retained material covers the very grass we
are trying to expose.
Better by far is a roaring bonfire, consuming the brash and warming the volunteers on cold days on what is a very exposed site
Last night in the disco they all learned a new energetic dance which they now regret.Is this a Genie appearing in a puff of smoke – or has a volunteer managed to get the fire goingThe pink Hawthorn blossom around the site is attractive at this time of the yearCaterpillar of the Fox moth (Macrothylacia rubi)
An unexpected find was a Fox Moth caterpillar, named for the fox red stripe down its back.
It feeds on bramble and enjoys sunning itself on paths etc (we had some hot sunny spells that day). It over-winters in leaf litter or loose soil and then pupates in spring for a month before emerging as a Fox moth.
The caterpillar is more striking than the duller coloured adult mothA well earned lunch break, surveying the whole world laid out below our siteSore feet at the end of a hard day’s work
Nature being nature, the material we cut begins to re-grow as
soon as we turn our backs and there are many sites where we return year after
year to repeat the process in the same location.
In order to try to prevent this, the cut stumps are painted with
glyphosate which penetrates downwards to kill the roots of the plant. This painting must be done within minutes of
the stem being cut else the capillaries will self seal. Use of this powerful chemical can only be by
a trained and licensed operator, in this case the Warden on the site.
So theoretically, in a few years we will have worked ourselves
out of a job, but the expression “dream on” springs to mind.
A task for Natural England on this species rich grassland just off the B4070 Slad Road. Uprooting saplings (mainly ash) to maintain the integrity of the site as limestone grassland.
A continuation of our work opening up the stream side at Kemerton Wood nr Bredon. We were able to complete this up to one the small wooden bridges across the stream. During the course of this we came across 40+ peacock butterfly caterpillars and also an eel. Exciting to know that the stream had such life in and around it.
A return to this nature reserve in the midst of Quedgeley. The task was to block off a path that lead too close to the pond. In this respect we decided to erect a dead hedge – mostly using previously cut material from when we did some coppicing. Knocking in some posts we then weaved in various small branches, some of which we had to cut fresh (mostly sycamore). It did the job, so well pleased with our work.
A chance to get together beyond our normal tasks, 13 of us met up at the Docks Gloucester. Started at the Lord High Constable before moving on to Brewer and Chef just a short way along. We did have to wait a bit for the food but it was pretty good stuff when it arrived.
The Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group South West (FWAGSW) is a registered charity representing the region’s farmers and landowners in the delivery of wildlife conservation. They are part funded by Natural England and work with partner conservation organizations including the Wildlife Trust. In Gloucestershire they are heavily involved in Water with Integrated Local Delivery (WILD) projects restoring ditches, streams and rivers to aid the currently failing ecology and fish populations.
