Submerged grassland

We returned to one of our favourite Glorious Grasslands sites for habitat management. It’s a large unimproved grassland surrounded by farmland with a strict management regime placed on it to improve biodiversity. We’ve visited for a couple of years but were very surprised to see large parts of it underwater – a combination of the recent heavy rain and an underground spring.

The priority today was to cut back brambles and encroaching scrub on the higher ground. We removed a few larger hawthorns which really opened up the area to sunlight.

It was encouraging to see lots of grassland spreading to areas which were scrub in previous years prior to our interventions.

A new stock proof fence had been erected in front of the boundary wall so that made a great location for a dead hedge made from the cut material. The owl boxes which were installed last year are now being visited by a barn owl and a little owl, so it will be fabulous if they actually decide to nest there.