Clearing willowherb from Cleeve Hill

One of the regular sites for the Gloucestershire Vale Conservation Volunteers are the butterfly reserves at the top of Cleeve Hill. The views from here are stunning and the nature reserves have shown great improvement through management.

This time it is willowherb that is overtaking the grasslands and heather banks.

The idea today was to pull up from strategic places before it sets seed and makes the problem worse for next year.

Willowherb is a native perennial plant, which is nectar rich for all sorts of pollinators. However, it can dominate the areas where it takes over, pushing out other vegetation. The butterfly trust have a fenced off area where heather is being encouraged to re-generate, so that was the part we tackled first.

We had brush cut the area last year (which doesn’t get the root of course), so it was not too bad a state. By hand pulling those plants, we managed to clear the reserve before break for morning coffee.

We managed another hour or so after that, but the rolling rainstorms got ever closer. Not wanting to get soaked, we called it a day just before lunch. It can get wild up there when the rains come in.