A grassland haven

Another new site for Glorious Grasslands, where we were asked to help restore a grassland belonging to a care home in the Painswick valley. It’s really been a number of years since the land was actively managed so was quite daunting where to start on first look.

The first major task had been done which was to remove two enormous conifers which were shading the grassland and harbouring scrub.

So a team stacked the brash from this to one side, while Chris and I set to work on brush cutting different parts.

Ideally the land would be grazed, but that plan has not been finalised yet. Hebridean sheep are available, but with this dense sward, cattle would be better. So instead of cutting patches, we make wavy paths through the grassland to create different sward heights and encourage more biodiversity.

I focussed on cutting the bramble back from the edge. There was little point in cutting into the dense bramble at the field edge because no grass was underneath. However, at the edge it was winning the battle with the grass, so cutting it short there will really help.

There was a lovely old Sweet Chestnut (a species you don’t come across all that often) which was surrounded by thick bramble. Again, the job there was to cut a two metre circular strip around the bramble edge to prevent encroachment.

The rest of the team cleared enormous buddleia patches on the southern end to let more light in. David worked in the corner and cleared a lovely woodland edge patch with the chainsaw.

All in all, the habitat looked in much better shape when we left at 3pm. A structure and management plan has been started, which hopefully can be continued with a local, dedicated volunteer team. It will take several years to restore, but will be well worth it, both for biodiversity and the residents.