Seeding in Painswick

A seeding task with Glorious Grasslands started last October was completed today with a larger volunteer team. It was deep in the side lanes of the Painswick valley – not an overly large field, but a nice exposed slope which will have a conservation cutting regime applied in future.

The grass had been cut already, but we gave it another trim with the brush cutter in places to get it really low with bare earth. It was also hand rotorvated to provide extra patches. There wasn’t a huge amount of seed, so we were a bit more intentional about spreading and pressing in to try and increase yield.

The day started out pretty unpromising and miserable, but by mid morning, it was clear and warm. By lunch time, we had completed the task so left after lunch.

Stuart from Stroud Valleys Project came along to help. He owns a meadow close by which he has told me about before, so it was a good opportunity to go and take a look. It was five minutes on the other side of the value and is a stunning spot, with steep banks, woodland and two waterways.

He spent a lot of time building natural flood management infrastructure which completely changed the way water moved through site. It was pretty impressive to see and a lot of new vegetation has sprouted alongside the new stream.