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| Windrush on the right, waterbeds on left |
On the face of it today with the Wildlife Trust, at the Brassey reserve and nearby Windrush watercress beds, removing Monkey Flower wasn't the most exciting of prospects on yet another scorching day. Its clearly important to deal with invasive plants so no problem with motivation and given the picturesque waterside environment, we were to work in, a pleasure. As usual the 7 of us volunteers were ably led by Will and John. Although removing the Monkey Flower was the day's priority the journey down to and along both banks of the Windrush, followed by a walk round the Brassey reserve was a real bonus & full of surprises, especially for me as a first timer in this lovely valley.
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| 5 Spot Burnet moth, 'Brassey' meadow |
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| Southern Marsh orchid, Brassey/Windrush |
We started by walking down a steep meadow with plenty of butterflies {ringlets, meadow browns, marble whites}/ moths {day flying 5 Spot Burnet}and flora {especially a good showing of pyramid and common orchids}. We reached the bottom of the valley by a cattle watering hole and disturbed another colourful day flying moth the Cinnabar {a very fetching & noticeable bright 'pink'?}. It was apparent we needed to cross the river Windrush but it was a a little too deep to wade across in wellingtons so we followed the river downstream for a drier crossing place. After the usual climb over a barbed wire fence , then an exciting traverse across a fallen tree and a 'get me out of here' scramble through marshy, thick woodland we arrived at the previously cleared 'waterbed' area where the offending Monkey Flower lay in wait. Most of us in 'wellies' paddled up and down the shallow water whilst those with waders were able to walk along the adjacent but deeper river Windrush. Just the job on such a hot day and we soon vanquished the invasive plant life. The next task was to move upstream to the Brassey 'mire' reserve to complete the days task. More interesting flora { Southern Marsh Orchid, Flag iris} and fauna ;a Heron, a frog and yet another moth { Scarlet Tiger}, plus marshy woodland trail were 'enjoyed'. Not a day to be missed and there can't be too many better habitats to help 'fly the flag' of Conservation in.
On a less positive note, the State of Nature report summed up by Mark Avery, provides more depressing Conservation progress, although not unexpected, especially considering the state of the CAP 'greening' position. I too like the fact a lot of NGOs {sadly not the NT ?} contributed to it although I agree that habitat isn't stressed enough.
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| Start of Monkey Flower removal |
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| Nearly cleared |
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| Downstream from cleared area |
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| Downstream Windrush side |
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