Members will remember that last year (2007) we received a BBC Breathing Places grant for improving the Hardy Farm site. So all winter we worked with the BTCV to prune the old fruit trees on the site, open up paths and clear scrub. As a finishing touch we built a short section of dry-stone wall to act as an invertebrate habitat (a 'Bug Hotel').
Then we found that we hadn't spent all the money - so we've got a 6 month extension.
The committee tend to think that we need to be clearing more scrub - but what do you think? We're looking for suggestions. If you've any bright ideas - please let us know by adding your comments to this post.
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1 comment:
The work on Hardy Farm over the winter of 2007/08 has been excellent in opening up this area of land that was becoming a no go area. The dense scrub habitat, in places dominated by blackthorn, prunus spinosa (sometimes called sloe), can very quickly grow back, so I suggest that the Friends group continues to cut back the scrub and open up glades and paths with more areas like the one where the bug hotel has been constructed.
However, the scrub habitat is valuable for nesting birds particularly warblers such as blackcap, sylvia atricapilla, and chiffchaff, phylloscopus collybita, so it is important that when opening up new areas and paths the structure of the surrounding woodland vegetation is retained and managed for these birds which are abundant at Hardy Farm.
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