We’ve been so busy we forgot to update our website, so here is a whizz around the work that Wild Groombridge volunteers have been doing around the village this summer.
Leylands Farm pond and meadow: the pond, which is spring-fed and used to be a regular stop on a cattle drover’s route, was over-shadowed by trees. We cleaned it out, cut back young trees on one side and waited – after a while of looking very murky the water cleared, starwort and other plants began to grow and it looked fabulous. It’s struggling in this dry weather but we hope it’ll recover quickly when rain comes at last.
Beside the pond, we tried something new – could we encourage native wild flowers to grow in a field that has for a long time mostly been covered in just grass and buttercups? We scraped off the top layer and brought in subsoil dug out when creating new foundations elsewhere on the farm – it should be low in nutrients, which is what wildflowers need. We sowed a local meadow mix, and added seeds we’d gathered locally, and waited. And the flowers have come!
The line of oaks: two fields on, heading towards South Farm, a line of oaks had been broken when old trees fell. We planted new trees and protected them from the deer, and throughout this dry weather our volunteers have carried water over the fields to keep them healthy. So far so good!
Sports ground trees: the hedge between the sports ground and the road has been in a sorry state for a long time, and a previous attempt to replant it failed. So we planted a new line of trees, protected them from deer, have been watering them all summer from the river, and they’re growing. We’ve realised that probably the biggest challenge these trees face is the extremely vigorous growth of other plants around them, so we’ve been weeding too.
Wild Verge Trial: You may have seen our volunteers scything and raking the verge a couple of weeks ago – this is important work, removing the uprisings after seeds have set so that they don’t deposit more nutrients into the soil. The verge has proved tricky to establish as a meadow area because it’s so rich in nutrients, dominated by strong grasses, and nibbled by deer, but very slowly we’re seeing the seeds and plants grow. If you’d like to know more about the verge, or about the wildflowers you can find around the village, check out the information boards on the Newton Willows side of the old bus stop.
Wild Groombridge 