On the Heathland

Thirteen volunteers spent their day out in the sun weeding invasive Silver Birch and Willow from a section of the heathland. This is an ongoing management task for our heathland with different sections weeded each year. As you can see from our 'before' photo this area was very overgrown with many plants now tall enough to shade and outcompete the Heather.

With so many hands at work good progress was made throughout the day.

By the close of play the area had been cleared of these invasive plants and the Heather once again exposed which will allow it to flourish over the coming months. Everyone definitely deserved their cup of tea back in the Field Centre after a hard days work in the sun!

With the warm weather hundreds of butterflies have been seen on the wing. Glennis captured this fabulous photo of a Dark Green Fritillary feeding on a thistle flower. Small Skippers, Red Admiral and very high numbers of Ringlets were also recorded on the butterfly survey today.

Thank you to everyone who has helped out with the various jobs around the reserve today!