Sunday 27 July 2014

June

Livestock
Fencing has been completed for now and the larger grazing enclosure (see details on April post) is now in place. June saw the Exmoor ponies returned to this area which now encompasses the main heath, the Peddars Way heath and the linking woodland in between. It's safe to say they were happy to be released onto here, and have settled into a good grazing routine offering good structure to the heathland areas and exploring the woodlands on hotter days.













The Hounds of the Heath group have begun exploring the new trail for dog walkers outside of the grazing enclosure at the South end of the site. This is due to be way marked in the next few months when the site maps will also be updated.




Reserve Management
We have had two fantastic Green Teams from UK Power Networks helping us with summer jobs such as litter picking, creating habitat piles to encourage rabbits onto the heath to graze, and controlling Ragwort in areas with livestock.
UK Power Networks Green Team



Discovering Breckland Flora
At the end of the month we also hosted a brilliant wild learning course on Breckland flora, thank you to the expert Ann Sherwood. It was well attended and we spent a very hot day discovering and identifying plants in the grassland and heathland areas. Species included; mossy stonecrop, sheep's sorrel, heath bedstraw, purple milk vetch, birdsfoot, heath speedwell and dropwort.
Dropwort   Filipendula vulgaris

Participants identifying birds-foot trefoil   Lotus corniculatus