Of flocks and a festival
If you have been wandering in the water meadows recently you may have noticed
some new additions to the local fauna! In some of the areas where we work we use
scythes to cut the grass, manage comfrey and control nettles, particularly in
Crankles South where a regular scything programme over a number of years is
showing good results as the nettles give way to a fine wildflower meadow. However,
in areas such as Ram Meadow and No Mans Meadows more radical action is
required due to the large extent of the nettle growth. Here we are using another
traditional agricultural method. With the assistance of a local shepherd, sheep (a
variety of breeds including Suffolk Mule and Dorset Down) and goats have been
introduced to the meadows. The sheep will eat mechanically cut nettles and comfrey,
whilst live nettles are also fair game for the goats, and both munch away happily
together. They are also characterful creatures in their own right and simply by their
presence add an extra bucolic dimension to the locality.
Meanwhile, there was much activity in the Abbey Gardens in the central part of our
range at Bury Water Meadows Group’s fourth annual Wildlife Day which took place
on Friday 17 th and Saturday 18 th May. The culmination of months of hard work by a
dedicated team of volunteers it was wonderful to see the event going from strength
to strength. With a clever piece of redesign of the layout of the stalls this year’s event
had a real street-scene feel, one of the organisers likened it to a ‘mini-festival’.
Friday saw visits by local school children who had fun going on safari to identify the
multitude of tiny creatures that make the Abbey Gardens their home. They were
then able to add artistic interpretations of their discoveries to a colourful and ever-
expanding display of bunting which graced the fringes of the main tent for the
remainder of the event.
On Saturday stall-holders representing a range of local environmental groups arrived
for visitors to engage with, whilst an impressive array of experts were on hand to
present talks, or take visitors on walks, to learn about subjects ranging from birds,
trees, water voles and the flowers of Bury’s water meadows, to the magical
damselflies and dragonflies: the ‘Jewels of the Air’. It was great to hear feedback
from the stall-holders telling us how happy they were with the number of people they
were able to connect with, and also with the generally high level of interest that they
encountered amongst visitors in the town’s wildlife.
Our Wildlife Day is a fun event with a serious message, the natural beauty of which
we are stewards is fragile and we can all play a part in preserving it for the school
children of the future to enjoy.
Article by Richard Counihan, images by Chris Cross
