We spent today at the SSSI site of Juniper Hill near Stroud (Wick street), working for Natural England. The grassland is an important habitat for rare butterflies and is in the danger of becoming a forest, due to an army of ash saplings eager to grow and take over.
To restore the grassland, which has started to be grazed again, we cut the ash saplings while a member of staff from Natural England treated the stumps (that’s what the man in the green suit is doing!). We left any hawthorn or black thorn alone because of their habitat value.
We had a good bonfire going!
Although the day was grey, it was dry and it was nice to spend it outdoors in this amazing scenery!
The end of a good volunteering day!
PS: If you fancy following Natural England Cotswolds on twitter, there they are: https://twitter.com/NECotswolds