Rolling with gorse
Another stunning new site with Glorious Grasslands in the Windrush valley. A classic steep sided bank down to a floodpain. This site is also designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and today’s work had to be approved beforehand.
The species rich grassland bank – home to the rare pasqueflower – has encroaching gorse from the top. The idea was to keep the gorse habitat at the top of the site, but remove the fingers which were making their way down the bank.
The idea was to cut them as low as possible to the ground and allow the grassland to dominate again.
No brushcutters or chainsaws, just hand tools and listening to the birds (Goshawks are known to inhabit the opposite bank although we didn’t encounter any).
The biggest challenge was getting the cut material to the bottom of the slope to be picked up by the farmer. It turns out that large wedges of gorse don’t really roll well, so the best technique was to form a human chain and throw it to the bottom. A tarpaulin might have been a good thing to have had.
There were already a number of species poking through so we got a botany lesson from Anna. Some pasqueflower seed heads were found, so we put them up on the bare earth created after the gorse removal.
We have a walk planned along this valley in the summer, so it will be exciting to see the difference today’s task made.
