Thursday saw the estate team volunteers, and assistant warden Dean, work on the Wildflower Walk at the Haverton Hill end of the reserve. Which is where the rakes come in (with apologies to Hogarth).
This area is composed of a layer of clay soil over a mound of cinders and other waste with some parts being quite fertile and it has to be managed. Despite winter grazing by sheep a lot of coarse vegetation has grown and could swamp the more delicate plants - trefoils and knapweed - that are so important for the butterflies and moths. Over the last couple of weeks we have selected parts of the area to cut and a flail mower has been towed behind our ATV. Then the cut grass has to be raked off to leave open stubble and remove some ot the nutrients.
Here the team are near the Haverton viewpoint using traditional hay rakes and bagging the grass to carry it away.
Next the sheep will graze here over winter, the flowers will return in spring with the Skylarks singing.
Peter