Eight of us turned out early on a hot Sunday morning to clear thick vegetation from a south-facing slope next to the quarry-face site at Nosehill Farm in East Glos.
We call this the ‘butterfly slope’ because it is a good spot for several species of butterfly, particularly the Common Blue and the Small Blue. Their caterpillars feed respectively on Birds-foot Trefoil and Kidney Vetch, small yellow flowers which grow in grassy areas rather than thick undergrowth. By clearing the slope of hawthorn and brambles we connected it up with the grassy area at the side of the lake where the caterpillar food plants and the butterflies are seen.
On a sunny Sunday 24 March, four members of Gloucester Vale Conservation Volunteers continued our efforts to clear the barrow from encroaching vegetation. The barrow is probably bronze-age and had become overgrown with thorn bushes. Over the last three years, our volunteers have successively cleared the barrow itself, creating a grassy clearing that is nearly at the perimeter ditch that forms part of this ancient monument. In so doing, we have also created a glade that will fill with wildflowers in the summer and provide a valuable habitat for threatened butterflies. We should be back next year to strim back emergent vegetation and expose some of the ditch. If you’d like to join us then do get in touch. Making a start on the fresh vegetation that has been growing for the last year One big heap of tangled cut material from last time’s cutting Three-quarters of today’s team at work clearing Big heap all gone and our sunny lunch spot One clear barrow Today’s team of Dave, Candy, Mike and Chris
2024.03.24 Nosehill Bowl Barrow Clearance
