Another chance to have a go at some green hay scattering, this time
inland at Chambers Farm Wood. 10 of us turned out on a warm, mostly
sunny day to work on the hay meadow behind the education centre. We
didn't have the luxury of a power mower this time, so most of the effort was
focussed on cutting the grass using our limited supply of grass cutting
tools.
A small section of the meadow is rich in wild flowers where the soil has never been enriched and the aim was to cut and spread some of the seeding flowers across to the rest of the meadow. As some of the rare plants had yet to flower, we only cut sections, so as not to cut them down in their prime. This also made sure the hoards of butterflies, bees and other insects still had somewhere to 'feed' in that field!
Progress was steady with a couple of scythes (most effective), sickles
(hard on the back) and shears (useful for a light trim!) as our implements,
but we managed to cut the 4 sections and spread half the hay across the
field, the rest being left so as not to deprive the good area of too much
seed.
In the afternoon, some of us went for a guided tour of the good butterfly
sites, organised by members of Butterfly Conservation, who were having an
open day at Chambers farm, while the rest of us planted a few new plants
into the field to boost the numbers.
Julian
More photos on the Picasa site