Owlbeech Woods - Volunteer Task

Leechpool Woods

A stunning morning greeted us as we set off early for a morning of heathland restoration with Horsham Green Gym at Owlbeech Woods. The ground was frozen solid and there was an eerie mist which clung to the trees as Sam, Judith and I headed up early to start the fire. The task today was to head to Redwood Hill Enclosure and uproot/pull the invasive Downy and Silver Birch which had been sprayed in late summer. 

Redwood Hill Enclosure - Owlbeech Woods

This morning we were bathed in sunshine as the ground began to defrost and there was a definite warmth in what the sun had to offer...spring is on its way...maybe! This mornings task was attended by nearly 30 keen volunteers which allowed us to get through a lot of the birch in the target area. It will only take small group in the near future to finish off the south-east corner of Redwood Hill Enclosure which will make a huge difference this summer. We have recently been able to get a tractor and mower into this area which has meant we can manage the area more effectively in the future. The use of mower as well as our sheep and cattle is that it focuses on one particular area more intensively whereas the livestock do a more 'all-round' job. 

Usually this type of approach would not be the ideal scenario as it leads to the habitat all being of one age a bit like a lawn and limits the biodiversity in the area. Those of you who visit the heath regularly may have seen some rather random bits of mowing particularly in this enclosure but also in Broom Heath and Middle Heath. This is an attempt by us to get a range of ages to the heather in particular but also to create some bare areas for the heathland invertebrates to thrive in by scuffing the surface with the mower. 

Before

Above you can see how effective the group were this morning; the first photo shows how the area looked as we started to uproot the birch at the beginning of the task. Some of the birch were huge, up to 15ft in height with root balls of well over 2ft in diameter but this was nothing to our band of merry men and women and they made light work of all that we could throw at them! The photo below shows how the enclosure looked just before we ended today's task. We now expect the Bracken to try and take a foothold here but that little problem is for another task later in the year!

After

It was a fantastic morning both weather-wise and productivity-wise so thank you very much to all the excellent volunteers who came on this mornings task. Also of note whilst pulling and burning the arisings we had our first Great-spotted Woodpecker of the year drumming as well as a few nice fungi. Although it felt warm enough we weren't lucky enough to see an early Red Admiral but our fingers are firmly crossed!