Grassland with a view

A new site for the Glorious Grasslands, located not too far from my home, so a leisurely start to the day. The site was a really fine unimproved calcareous grassland in the middle of a large farm. It was South West facing on a steep slope.

There were really terrific views over the estuary and Wales, but also Lower Woods and Nibley Tower nearby. The brief was to clear bramble and scrub which is starting to encroach the grassland.

It was mostly a job for hand tools, but we did some brush cutting work in patches of pure bramble.

One of the challenges was to put the arisings in the dead hedge at the top, which was tough work, or to carve an area in a copse at the bottom.

In the end, I cut a reasonable entrance into the copse where they could be stored.

The steep site made this tough work today. You had to keep a steady foot and hoisting the cut material was exhausting. We will return again next week and tackle the very large bramble patch towards the bottom of the slope.