Sunday 23 June 2013

Bridge Field open space

Message from Clive Dean, Countryside Sites and Greenspace Officer, Sh CC

Tel:  01743 255909           Mobile:07582 003561


THE BRIDGE FIELD

 I visited the fields the other day and thought I would write to you all, not all good news though I’m afraid!

 You will have noticed no benches have arrived on site yet. Work has been pretty hectic as usual and I haven’t had time to order them yet, plus our practical team has lost a few members of staff to new jobs so I know they won’t have time to put them in at the moment but I will get onto it soon.

 The new mowing regime is in place and I hope it is making the place more useable. I am still having problems getting a circular path mown at the top end of the field but I am working on it.

 The trees seem to be doing very well. The bigger ones are struggling but they had been hanging around for a while before I put them in so I’m surprised they are not all dead! The ones we put in as a team all seem to be doing well so well done!

 I have inspected the areas where I had the ground prepared and sown with hay meadow seed and the results are extremely disappointing. I can find no seedlings coming up from the mix, a result that is really inexplicable. Even if the conditions were really poor I can’t explain why there wouldn’t be at least some germination. I would like to try spreading hay from a flower rich meadow this year to see if that works better. I am currently looking around to source hay from some appropriate Shropshire Meadows and will organise a hay spreading day in July or early August so I hope you can all come and help.

On top of this the show of flowers down by the bridge is very poor even though I was assured that they would persist for quite a while, I may try seeding this again for next year, another job for us all in October?

The one glimmer of hope is that I have found patches of hay rattle and eyebright (see attached images) in the sward. These are semi-parasitic plants that are normally found in meadows and help to reduce the vigour of the grasses so allowing more wildflowers to grow. They will have arisen from some hay meadow seed I spread last year near the bridge. It would be beneficial to spread the seed from the hay rattle throughout the rest of the field later on in the year.

 There is another problem I could do with some volunteer help with! Where we prepared the ground near the bridge a lot of stones were unearthed and are sitting on the surface. These could cause a lot of damage to the mower and I worry that the contractor will refuse to cut it. If we were to spend an hour stone picking we could probably clear them and put them on the pile of stones by the bridge.

If I organise a stone picking evening one Tuesday or Wednesday at 6pm who would be prepared to come and join me? A couple of wheelbarrows would be useful.

 Well I would love to hear from you and I hope to see you all soon.

 


 


--   Yoland Brown  Brownhill House B&B, Ruyton XI Towns, nr. Shrewsbury SY4 1LR  ShACC - Shropshire Alternative Car Club  www.eleventowns.co.uk  www.eleventowns.com  www.ShACC-uk.org  Tel:  01939 261 121       Fax:  01939 260626