It is several months since my last post and time has flown by. The field is now in full winter mode - the wetland brims with standing water and the ponds are full, the sheep have come off the main field after grazing it most of it down over autumn and, some days I've seen a silvery cloud of Fieldfares rising up from the hedges, hopefully having had a mini feast of berries. Herons have been patrolling the ponds - as many as four at a time on some days.
Grass, grass ... and yet more grass ...
I certainly didn't realise when we acquired the field 3 years ago how much grass one field can grow in just a few months, more especially in those areas where livestock cannot go.
The main field and haymeadow is mown in the summer for hay (July or early August) and sheep go on in September for around 3 months to keep the grass managed. This works well and is simple.
The tumps that cannot be mown are a bit more problematic and we scythed them of their long grass and herbs in September 2021 to take off the bulk of the grass burden post summer as an experiment. Sheep were let on to the tumps in October (it took us a month to do the scything and raking), by which time the grass was already growing back fast. We kept the sheep corralled on to the tumps for about 3-4 weeks (they have a water trough there) and they did a pretty good job though the sward could still definitely do with being shorter still in parts (we did deliberately leave some areas long for insect refuges at the back of the tumps away from the more interesting areas).
In the top field and new wood where livestock are excluded, we asked our local meadows group to come and use their flail mower and cut us some woodland rides and mow the mini damp meadow right at the top of the field (this little 'meadow' had been cut for hay in July but had grown back strongly).
Very naively when asked did we want the grass collected after cutting, I said we would rake it by hand.
Well, we have seem to have been raking wet, heavy, soggy grass ever since - and we still haven't finished! We're using some of it as a mulch for the young trees and some is now in sacrificial piles by the hedgeline. It really makes you appreciate what the sheep do for us naturally on the main field in keeping the sward short. Thank goodness for herbivores.
Next time, I am ordering the flail mower plus grass collector.
A jewel box of winter Waxcaps
In early December once the damper weather set in, it was lovely to see the old meadow Waxcap fungi coming into their own again. It is an end-of-year colour bonus, once the flowers have all gone to have the field brightened with their jewel colours.
Rob Rowe, local fungi and botanist, counted eight species of Waxcap one day and we brought some of them into the house and named them. Waxcap fungi are not that common these days due to the continued loss of old, "unimproved" grassland - they do not tolerate inputs/fertilisers or ploughing. They seem to prefer grazed grassland rather than longer grass and are often found in churchyards that are managed sympathetically. I spent a happy hour lying around in the sunshine one December afternoon with my camera trying to get some close up shots. They really are lovely things.
A gift of Wild Service
We have been very kindly gifted three Wild Service tree (Sorbus torminalis) whips for our new woodland by friend, neighbour and forester, Nick Marsh who made a study of these native trees as part of his PhD. You do not see many of them where we live, although there are some on Wenlock Edge since they like limestone soils or clay. They are not common trees at all now, and are considered ancient woodland indicators where they are found in the wild. They are sadly almost threatened trees in the UK now, due to the decline in woodland management.
In contrast to the UK where the Wild Service tree is one of our more obscure and minor trees, it is a very different picture on the continent, where they are highly regarded both commercially and culturally, surviving in forests and used in silvo-pasture agriculture systems. The berries are used for jams and to flavour honey and chocolate (I also read they are used to flavour whisky). The timber is fine grained and used for veneers and high-quality furniture.
The name torminalis comes from the Latin, tormina, a stomach condition - and the berries were used as an early remedy for colic.
We have planted the trees in the wood in an open and sunny situation which apparently they prefer and will see how they go. Maybe we will start a Redlake Wild Service enclave.
(Thanks to Nick for the fascinating information and the photo).
Grant for the old field barn
We were delighted to have our grant application to the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme (being delivered by the Shropshire Hills AONB) accepted before Christmas for the repair of the small field barn at the bottom of the field.
This structure has been more or less a ruin for some years since it fell down, and we now have a fantastic opportunity to fully repair it and bring it back to life at the heart of our field project!
In late spring, we will use a local builder who specialises in older buildings to create a simple timber frame within the stone walls and rehang all the old corrugated iron sheets (we did have to get some extra sheets from a local scrap dealer). It's going to be something of a jigsaw puzzle! He will make new wooden doors and windows. So the barn should rise up again, yet look immediately 'bedded in' to the wider landscape.
As well as returning a simple vernacular building to the valley, we hope to increase biodiversity/habitat on and around the barn by putting up bat, bird and insect boxes. The repaired barn will provide a field shelter for people (including volunteers and visitors) and animals as well as providing storage space for logs/wood and my slowly growing number of interpretation boards. Overlooking the new wetland, the building may also provide a bit of a vantage point for some wildlife watching once complete, we hope!
More on this project later in the year.
Caught on camera
The trail camera is up and taking many hundreds of photos of moving grasses it seems! But it did manage this nice sequence of a Buzzard hunting in the rough grass, presumably for field voles. A powerful bird! It's also caught Corvids, Rabbits and a Fox so far.
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