Uncovering new grassland
Returned for a second week to a SSSI site with Glorious Grasslands to complete the restoration of a species rich bank that was becoming encroached with scrub. Last week was the gorse and this week we focused further along where a large, dense hawthorn patch sat at the top of the bank.
The patch was U-shaped and the basic idea was to take a one metre section from the entire edge, which will allow the grassland to creep up higher.
This was made harder by being very steep on the scrub edge, so you had to be careful to get firm footing while sawing with the handtools.
The other problem was the arisings had to be left at the bottom of the bank for collection by the farmer. Luckily the hawthorn rolled fairly easily (unlike the gorse last week which had to be passed rather inefficiently down a human chain). But once a bundle was shepherded to the bottom, you then had to walk back up the steep slope, which was tough going after a dozen times.
We’ll be returning back to this site in the summer, along with others further down the Windrush Valley. This will be a great chance to see the difference this habitat management makes to this already species rich grassland.
