Page 55 - br-mar-2022

March 2022 March 2022

WILD WOODBURY

The main news from the last
month is that we’ve finally
managed to get volunteer work
parties up and running! I’ve been
trying to have two sessions a week
over the past month, so we can fit
as much habitat work in before
breeding bird season is upon us
and we must cease any
vegetation cutting. I’m incredibly
grateful for the support and
enthusiasm shown from everyone
who has made it out so far, and to
those who have kept in contact
for future surveying sessions.
Our first volunteer job was to clear an area of non-native species from a small
block of woodland on site. We’re lucky to not have any other non-natives on site,
but this one area was completely swamped and took four volunteer sessions to
clear and pile up the vegetation. We then moved on to a dense area of
Blackthorn. Blackthorn provides a great habitat for nesting birds, nectaring
opportunities for insects, and berries for a whole host of wildlife, and I would never
usually be cutting it. However, this area was blocking a footpath that we are re-
opening on site, so needed to come down. We stacked the arisings in several
piles in the field to act as cover for birds and to stop emergent vegetation from
being browsed. I am happy to report that these piles are already being
frequented by flocks of Yellowhammer and Redwing, that I saw whilst walking the
site on the morning of writing this.

As we move into Spring and
Summer, the practical work will start
to drop off and make way for the
main surveying season to begin. I
have several surveys in mind across
the site, but I’m still very much open
to having more, should anyone
have a particular speciality and
wish to get involved. Just drop me
an email and we can have a chat.
Elsewhere on site, we were recently
offered around 300 traditional fruit
trees at a very good price, so spent

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