Cutting and Treating

It was a very wet morning and I wasn’t sure if anyone would turn up for the conservation work day I was supposed to be leading. It was in a privately owned area of heathland, which is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. Our task was to remove the birch seedlings which are spreading across it. Without constant management this patch of increasingly rare habitat would just become another birch woodland and all the heathland species would be lost. To my surprise, five volunteers turned up, the rain stopped and we got a lot done. During the day, a great spotted woodpecker drummed on a tree, two swans flew over, their wings creaking noisily, and a buzzard, flying low and mewing.

Lunch break - with baked potatoes, of course

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