Over the last five months as many of you have noticed and stopped for a chat we have been steadily progressing the management of the orchard / limestone grassland site off Brook Lane.
As advised by Filipe Salbany from Blenheim (see previous report) we have been removing blackthorn, hawthorn and blackberries from the site with as little disturbance to the grassland as possible. This is nearly complete and we have also targeted the ‘Clematis vitalba’ old mans beard (OMB) which has been all over the site and neighbouring area this year. You can also see that we have been removing OMB from the surrounding trees and shrubs on the southern boarder.
We continue to evaluate the site to have a detailed baseline to monitor progress as we aim to enhance and promote the habitat, ensuring environmental benefit and increase biodiversity. Our first detailed report is on the limestone grassland (see village website) this calcareous grassland is nationally scarce with over 90% having been lost since the war. Hence we have had a lot of specialist interest and discussions on how best to manage the site for the longer term. In response to the findings we have reduced the number of orchard trees in our funding applications to 17 and positioned them away from the key grassland area. We should hear by the time the Slate is published the funding outcome. Fingers crossed.
The site will soon be cut and the cuttings moved off the site. Please let me know if you would like to help with hay raking.
We will get further detailed reports in the coming year for insects and moths. We will also monitor male glowworms , thanks to discussions with the national trust lead on glowworms and the lead on National glowworm surveys.
A big thank you to everyone who has been involved so far and we hope to have more news for the next Slate.