Budging grass at Budge Hill
It’s the sixth year I’ve been to this site with Glorious Grasslands, and it’s become the fixture for a work party followed by christmas lunch. We met at 9am because we’d be breaking early to go to the Old Prison for lunch in the afternoon.
I was shocked by how much the hornbeam has encroached in the top field over the years. We had a quick discussion about the best way to deal with it and decided to leave the main patch. All we are doing really with the brush cutter is coppicing the plants – they’ll continue to shoot up.
So, Rob focused on pulling whole trees with the tree popper on the parts of the grassland where it is sparsest to prevent further spread from the boundary. I then focussed in the other field where the long grass and wild clematis needed a low cut with the brush cutter.
We had four brush cutters and five operators which is more than we’ve ever had on a work party.
As a result, we managed to cut and rake an enormous area which built on what we did last year. In a survey earlier this year, this meadow was pretty species rich.
There are cattle planned for these fields early next year. This is the first time in years and will be a big step forward in managing the site. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens next season.
We headed off around 1.30pm to the Old Prison cafe at Northleach. Anna treated us to christmas lunch, and there was a delicious menu to choose from. A lot of banter and conversation as usual, and Anna gave out the plan for the habitat management sessions in the New Year. We also saw Jane who is recovering from an operation and itching to get out with us again.
It was Lorna’s final day with the team – she heads off to a new role next year. Sad to say goodbye, but Andy presented her with a model truck to remind of the time spent here.
