Butterfly Conservation - Upper Thames Branch

Home > Conservation > Holtspur Bottom Reserve - Work Parties

Holtspur Bottom Reserve - Work Parties

Updates by Nick Bowles

4th December 2011

Ten members turned out to help today. Our main task proved to be to remove hay that was dumped (in large clumps) all over Upper Field. We cut the hay in the florally diverse Lower Field in the autumn and moved some of the cut material (along with the seeds it contained) to spread over the Upper Field (in line with our HLS funding agreement), so that some of these seeds might germinate into the turf of the relatively poorer Upper Field.

In previous years the cut material has been spread as a fine layer all over the Upper Field and, as a result, it seems to be improving floristically. This year however, the hay was dumped in piles that were so dense that the turf below was dying.

At first 5 members were clearing glass from the Georgian rubbish tip that comprises part of Triangle Bank ahead of the sheep’s arrival (anytime soon) to graze there and over the rest of the reserve. 3 volunteers were working on the hay removal. After an hour we realised that this task was more urgent than we had realised and also far more time consuming, so everyone but Frank Banyard (planting an oak in memory of Rob Larkin) was put on raking and carting hay. Even though we worked until 13.30 and thoroughly exhausted ourselves in the process, we didn’t quite finish the job. Perhaps the sheep will eat the small amount still in situ?

The Horseshoe Vetch planted last time looks to have transplanted successfully but there is a worrying increase in the damage caused by animals digging into the turf in the area where the vetch was planted.

6th November 2011 Work started in excellent weather with a variety of tasks (click pictures for larger image):
Erecting temporary sheep proof fencing	Planting Horseshoe Vetch in the hope of improving conditions for our Chalkhill Blue colony	Raking cut material from the flowery banks
Future work will aim to be similarly varied with something to suit all interests and abilities each time. Thanks to all who attended:
The Work Party

18th November 2010
Our record turn-out of 17 on 7th November has already been beaten. The five members able to come to the midweek work party at Holtspur Bottom on Thursday 18th November were joined by seventeen volunteers and their two leaders, Tony and Chris from Wycombe DC Woodland Service. They were a pleasure to work with and we were impressed with how hard-working, cooperative and safety-conscious they were. We are most grateful to John Shaw for his excellent organisation - thank you John. Most of the huge pile of material from last year's scrub clearance was burnt, debris was raked from Triangle Bank and burnt. Six bags of bits of metal and glass were collected, to make sheep grazing safer, and disposed of. It is now ready for the sheep to do their bit. At last Triangle Bank is beginning to look more like the chalk grassland it is intended to be and in fact was many years ago.
We shall need lots of help in disentangling, raking, cutting and burning the remaining pile of scrub at the next Work Party on Sunday 5th December. We start at 10.00am, but come later if you can't get there by then, and we finish at 1.00pm. It's not heavy work and tools are provided so bring a hot drink and join the fun. It will be the last of our famous Autumn Bonfires and there's a rumour going around about mince-pies as well ..... !

7th November 2010 (Photos: Wendy Wilson)
A total of 17 volunteers turned up from all corners of the branch and worked with great commitment at a variety of tasks, burning cut material, sorting rubbish, trans-locating seedlings and brush cutting the re-growth on Triangle Bank. *Right: 17 volunteers during the biscuit break - thanks Mark!!*
Meanwhile 40 sheep were working equally hard (and have been for several weeks) in the hay meadows of Upper and Lower Fields.
	Paul Huckle took charge of operations to dismantle the huge pile of scrub and trees cut down in the previous season. From his position on top of the pile he worked material loose for others to feed into the fire.
	The huge pile we started with, the difficulty of the dis-entangling and the time we had to allow the fire to cool down before we could safely leave it, means that about half the pile remains for the next work party on Thursday 18th November.

Work to remove a lot of the dogwood re-growth means that it will now be possible to extend the grazing onto Triangle Bank for the first time since the reserve was created.
	*Dogwood re-growth before (left) and after (right) Derek clears with a brush cutter.*

At the same time as Derek and Roger cleared the re-growing scrub, Nicky & Hugh dug up and moved seedling trees and scrub from Triangle Bank to form a hedge along the new fence line with our neighbours. This kills two birds with one stone, we won't need to brush-cut them in another 3 years and they give us a hedge for free!

As if all that wasn't enough for one morning, Stuart and Frank sorted out a problem with our matting (that improves grip for vehicles on the steep access slopes). Sections of the matting had been moving downhill and have now been pegged into the ground.
Very grateful thanks to all who attended and worked so hard and an invitation to both them and everyone else to join in at future events in the wonderful Holtspur Valley.

June 2010
With a deadline for various essential work to be finished in June, Frank Banyard and Nick Bowles met at Holtspur on the 3rd June to check that all was on target. With the reserve shimmering in all its floral beauty, insouciant to the urgency they felt, it was hard to concentrate on any unfinished work. But one last task urgently needs to be completed and then we shall meet the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) requirements and qualify for a grant for years to come. This grant money is crucial to funding the often expensive work needed on the reserve.
	Certainly the reserve seems worth all the expenditure on a day like today, when it is simply resplendent. We hope the images speak more eloquently than we can of the beauty of this valley and its wildlife. There were 11 species of butterfly on the wing, including key species: Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak and Small Blue.
On June 10th we shall remove a section of old fencing so its replacement can be erected by professionals the following week. If you could please lend us a hand for an hour or two, on Thursday 10th June between 6-8 pm to remove this old fencing, we would be grateful. No heavy labour involved. Just snipping some old wire away from posts and rolling it up for disposal. For information about where we will meet (in Riding Lane at SU 918905) and what we are doing, contact Nick Bowles 01442 382276 or Frank Banyard 01494 672310.	Small Blue

21st February 2010
The new clearing seems enormous to most of us who thought of it as a relatively small block of scrub. Now largely cleared it is obvious that it will vastly increase the area of chalk grassland. New fencing and re-arrangements of existing fencelines are to go ahead soon to allow this new area to be grazed next winter. There is still a vast amount of cut scrub in two large piles plus huge amounts of cut material stacked around the edges of the reserve. If anyone wants free firewood or material to form fenceposts, there is plenty and they could come and collect free logs at our last work party of this winter on the 7th March 2010 - please join us if you can as extra hands would be greatly appreciated! The photos show the new clearing as scrubby woodland in Autumn 09 and now. In places you can see the firewood awaiting a new home/fireplace!
Scrub on Triangle Bank before clearance November 2009	John clears scrub on the Triangle Bank February 2010
Triangle Bank scrub largely cleared - workforce in the distance February 2010

15th November 2009
Holtspur Bottom's first work party of the Winter 2009 season took place in wonderful weather (as promised at Member's Day). A group of 6 smiling members installed temporary fencing to keep the sheep (which are expected to arrive in the next few days) from the vetch covered areas, set a mesh in place to make vehicle access up the steep slope on Triangle Bank possible in all weathers and cut a large amount of scrub from the secondary woodland that has become established on the lower slopes of Triangle Bank. Hopefully, others would want to put our next few 'work morning' dates into their diaries and join the fun: 06.12.09, 17.01.10 and 21.02.10. These dates will see a variety of tasks, including bonfires, where we will try to cook potatoes - we would be happy to see you there and share a jacket spud!

Holtspur 'Triangle Bank' before and after scrub clear, November 2009

22nd March 2009
Planning an event for Mothers Day wasn't clever. It reduced the attendance to 2. Even so a great deal was achieved. Much of it was simply finishing off work that our Warden, Rob Larkin, had begun earlier. We treated the bench with hardwood oil to extend its life and cleared some of the glass which has come to the surface of the 'old tip' area. This area needed work to allow the positioning of a new fence and it was decided to clear some of the old heaps of rubbish at the same time. Unfortunately this brought rather a lot of broken glass to the surface. Visitors will need to take care if crossing this area.
	Elsewhere, a mesh track has been fitted to reduce damage to the steep Triangle Bank slope by heavy farm implements (which always seem to need access at the wettest times). However, a visit by John Davis from Butterfly Conservation Head Office has led us to consider its removal. He advises that it could weaken our very important application for HLS funding. Access has also been improved with a new pedestrian gate between the outer footpath and the Upper field, in its uppermost western corner.
We also planted 150 Horseshoe Vetch plants into the newest scrape. Smaller than the first scrape, but also in the Upper field, this will provide bare soil (and its associated warmth) as the first slowly forms a dense, cooler turf. Hopefully the two scrapes will provide enough Horseshoe Vetch that Chalkhill Blue will begin to breed.

22nd February 2009
5 UTB members continued the burning of previously cut scrub (from December). This was cut to prepare a less severe disabled access slope. Paul Huckle, Wendy Wilson and Dave Wilton ensured that virtually all fresh cut material was burnt and older rotting wood stacked into 'habitat piles'. In the process, as the picture shows, they opened up a bright clearing in the scrub. Wendy Wilson also removed the visual eyesore of the orange temporary sheep netting (erected in Nov 08), which was erected to create an exclosure around the 1st scrape. We discovered that the sheep were choosing the scrape as a place to sleep and were both grazing the planted vetches and producing a very unwelcome layer of manure. The sheep have gone having reduced the sward to a low level and greatly improving its appearance.	Scrub burning at Holtspur Bottom
There are now two scrapes. Our Warden (Mr Larkin) has made a second smaller scrape closer to the entry, which will be planted in due course. We already have the plants under attentive care in Frank Banyard's garden. Frank replaced out of date information on the two Visitor Information boards in preparation for the new season. Nick Bowles surveyed the Bottom and Bank reserves for the Higher Level Stewardship entry documents (due to EN by the end of February). We are applying for a large grant that will cover the management of both reserves. He also dug about 45 holes for Peter Hall to plant Dark Mullein into, in the hope of rescuing the somewhat beleaguered Striped Lychnis population. This rare moth was very prolific in the Holtspur Valley for some years but intensive clearance and grazing of formerly rough pastures by the adjacent Equestrian centre has put the colony in peril.

8th February 2009

Four Upper Thames Branch members braved the forecast of snow showers and the icy roads with frozen slush in the kerbs to begin the clearance of cut material at Holtspur. This material had been cut earlier as part of the preparations for the disabled access route. It also serves to let more light into the scrubby woodland at the Riding Lane end of the reserve, which is increasingly dark as the scrub becomes ever denser and some self-set ash trees get larger and larger. One result of the increasing gloom at this end of the reserve is that some scrub has died. That was stacked into piles for dead wood specialists to enjoy.

In view of the forecast this was a short exercise and more material is waiting for a similar fate later when various tasks are also planned. This winter’s weather has led to the postponement of several tasks, which will make the last two sessions there this winter busy.

Volunteer help from any members who can give us a little time will be very much appreciated! Dates of the two remaining Work Parties are: Sunday 22nd February and Sunday 22nd March 2009.

Bonfire at Holtspur Bottom

7th December 2008

The workparty at Holtspur extended the path through the scrub for an easier ascent by disabled people. Despite a hard frost, working in the scrub in the sun was very warm. Stage one of the path is now complete. We await a grant to allow its completion.

We checked on the all-weather sheep. They continue to graze contentedly and to good effect, despite the deep frost, and noted that they have penetrated the rather ugly temporary fencing erected to prevent grazing damage to the vetches on the 'scrape'. Luckily incursions to this area have obviously been very few and far between.

The next workparty (on Sunday 25th January 2009) will look to remove some more scrub and burn the large amount already generated. The memorial seat will get some attention and we should be able to view the two new 'scrapes'. Later in 2009 these will be planted up with 400 Horseshoe Vetch and rather fewer Kidney Vetch plants.

Clearing a Path for Disabled Access

All-weather Sheep

9th November 2008 We started on the new path through the entry area woodland to assist disabled access. This path will take a less aggressive approach to tackling the steepest part of the slope, zig-zagging across the slope through the scrub woodland. Following our own struggles with that slope in today's very slippery conditions we think it might become the route of choice for the able-bodied too!	Clearing New Entry Path
Several largish trees removed and much rather sad and dying blackthorn taken out too. Hopefully, we'll get a path and some woodland regeneration as well, as a result of opening up the canopy.	Paul Huckle Fells an Ash Tree
The Fencing Party From left: Chris Dennis, Paul Huckle, Frank Banyard & Wendy Wilson	Then we went on to the scrape area and erected some temporary fencing to keep sheep off the various vetches that are growing there. The sheep are evidently favouring that section so we wanted to protect the vetch plants from over-grazing.
Sheep in the Lower Field	The sheep went to do their special work in the lower field, only half of which has been mown and Frank took cuttings from the Horseshoe Vetch in the existing scrape to augment the 300 plug plants ordered for planting in the spring, into the new 'to be created' scrape.
Grateful thanks to Frank, Wendy and Paul for muscle and cheerfulness and especially to Chris for muscle, extreme organisation skills, common sense and donating the materials. Nick took the pictures (which was his excuse for not doing much else!).