Search found 16 matches

by Alice
Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:10 pm
Forum: News and Events
Topic: Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development
Replies: 6
Views: 363

Re: Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development

Jon Valters wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2024 2:47 pm Hi Alice,
I've signed the petition. Like Donna I wondered if your local wildlife trust was helping you? Is it possible the grassland could be defined as ancient? As if so I think an Environmental Impact Assessment is required for a
Thanks Jon, I'll pass on your suggestions.
by Alice
Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:06 pm
Forum: News and Events
Topic: Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development
Replies: 6
Views: 363

Re: Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development

Thank you Lisa, that's a really good point. Worth following up!
by Alice
Sat Feb 17, 2024 8:37 pm
Forum: News and Events
Topic: Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development
Replies: 6
Views: 363

Save Abbots Leigh meadow from development

Close to where my stepmother lives is a beautiful meadow where skylarks nest, and many species have their homes: butterflies, bats, green winged orchid and so many more. Roots allotments plans to turn this space into allotment plots. It would really help if lots of people sign the petition opposing ...
by Alice
Sat Nov 04, 2023 1:28 pm
Forum: Meadow Cutting
Topic: Poor wet soil - fine mulch/the exception to the rule of clearing cut vegetation?
Replies: 5
Views: 5593

Re: Poor wet soil - fine mulch/the exception to the rule of clearing cut vegetation?

Thank you, Alice. Your dissertation sounds very interesting. I'd love to hear about it. Your situation is a wonderful example of how simplistic 'rules' on how things should be done cannot fit every situation! Thank you for showing an interest in my dissertation. In it was trying to understand how '...
by Alice
Tue Oct 17, 2023 10:14 pm
Forum: Identify This
Topic: Caterpillar identification
Replies: 4
Views: 4199

Re: Caterpillar identification

Thank you for this identification. It's helped solve a puzzle for me - a load of caterpillars munching their way through all the leaves on our little silver birch: they are Birch Sawfly larvae. Of course they weren't in my butterflies/moths book!
by Alice
Sun Oct 15, 2023 7:57 pm
Forum: Meadow Cutting
Topic: Poor wet soil - fine mulch/the exception to the rule of clearing cut vegetation?
Replies: 5
Views: 5593

Re: Poor wet soil - fine mulch/the exception to the rule of clearing cut vegetation?

My thoughts are that it is clear you know your piece of land very well, and you should go with your gut instinct. It is good to keep the ground covered over the winter, specially if there is some 'peaty' soil - that needs protecting to stop it degrading and releasing its carbon into the atmosphere. ...
by Alice
Sun Oct 15, 2023 7:47 pm
Forum: Identify This
Topic: Caterpillar identification
Replies: 4
Views: 4199

Re: Caterpillar identification

I thought maybe Heath Fritillary because the caterpillar has similar colours, but in your pictures I don't see the tufts that are evident in the picture in my insect book. If it is one of those there must be some cow wheat around. The only other one that looks similar is the mullein moth, but the he...
by Alice
Tue May 30, 2023 12:09 pm
Forum: Questions and Answers
Topic: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland
Replies: 10
Views: 10928

Re: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland

As @newinvention suggests eventually I went for a compromise. The farmer and I walked round the field and we chose about a fifth of it with the smallest anthills. He took his big tractor in and flattened that area. He will come again in the autumn to mow the flattened area. It was quite traumatic wa...
by Alice
Wed May 10, 2023 9:27 am
Forum: Questions and Answers
Topic: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland
Replies: 10
Views: 10928

Re: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland

Thank you Jane, that sounds like a sensible suggestion, but actually this was tried a few years ago by Surrey Wildlife Trust, using electric fencing. Inevitably the cattle got out from time to time and because no one was living on site and SWT are miles away, they found it impossible to keep dashing...
by Alice
Tue May 09, 2023 4:07 pm
Forum: Questions and Answers
Topic: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland
Replies: 10
Views: 10928

Re: Advice please on whether to roll and mow humpy bumpy anthill strewn grassland

Thank you so much for all your thoughtful and helpful replies! It looks to me as though the consensus is not to let the roller in. Unfortunately the field is not ancient grassland because we have evidence from the 1842 tithe map that it was at that time divided into smaller pieces, about half marked...