Last week, our Conservation Volunteers returned to Pudsham Meadows to rake up Molinia, which had been cut during a previous workday. Cutting back this fast growing grass helps to check its virility, giving slower growing meadow species a chance to access sunlight and nutrients. New shoots of Molinia are also much more palatable to grazing animals, including deer, meaning that they are much more likely to be naturally controlled than tough, older growth. Raking the cut grass, and allowing it to decompose naturally in specially created compost piles, promotes natural nutrient recycling, without smothering fresh growth in the fields.
Sixteen volunteers took part in the workday, meaning that much was achieved over the course of the day. Dense patches of bramble in the four fields were cut, allowing light to grass species below. Bramble will be retained as part of varied scrub edges, as both the leaves and berries are a valuable food source for insects, small mammals and birds. With more light reaching the patches of meadow that the brambles once covered, species such as black knapweed, yellow rattle, self-heal, greater butterfly orchid, southern march orchid and twayblade orchid can move in.
Workday Co-Ordinator Derek Collins said: ‘With high pressure and wall to wall sunshine forecast I was hoping I would be able to enthuse about the wonderful weather I had laid on, instead it was wall to wall ‘orrible fog, however, it did not dampen your enthusiasm and 16 of you achieved an enormous amount of essential work. We carried on with raking up the Molinia that we had cut on the previous workday and endeavored to get on top of removing the bramble patches. In addition, under the guidance of Albert Knott, we started hedge laying, which will give more light to the field edges and make fence maintenance much easier.’
Hedgelaying is a traditional rural skill which may have been practiced on Dartmoor since the Bronze Age. People generally work in pairs, choosing which stems to cut low and which to partially cut, before bending and laying down. The cut trees won’t die, but will send up new shoots which increase the height of the hedge. If these are then trimmed in early summer, they will send out another 2 or 3 new shoots, forming a dense hedge. A second cut can be carried out in the autumn, after which the hedge can be left alone for up to 10 years. This hedge then becomes a corridor for wildlife, offering both food and protection as small mammals move through it. At Pudsham Meadows, we are keen to offer favourable habitat for Hazel Dormice, and hope to survey for these critically endangered animals later in the year. As well as attracting small mammals, hedges offer food and shelter for insects and birds, with the hazel, blackthorn and hawthorn trees used flowering and fruiting through the course of the year.
Under the guidance of Ecologist Albert Knott, DPA Conservation Volunteers put up dormouse nesting tubes, which are placed horizontally on branches in the hedgerows. The idea is that dormice will build nests inside the tubes, which can be surveyed later in the year for signs of habitation. Healthy hedgerows offer the ideal habitat for these rare animals, providing aerial walkways which help to keep dormice sheltered and way from the ground, while searching for food. Dormouse surveying is strictly controlled, and can only be carried out by people with a special license, so visitors to Pudsham are politely asked not to interfere with the tubes.
Albert will be offering various surveying opportunities later in the year and our active Conservation Volunteers are always delighted to meet new people. For a full list of upcoming workdays, see our online calendar.
Image: Albert Knott