Anyone looking out over Miss Whalley’s field recently may have seen a couple of our volunteers hard at work preparing for next summer by giving nature a helping hand

A scythe is a bit of a deadly weapon in the wrong hands yet the ancient art of scything looks easy in the hands of an expert. Anne Chapman, one of our trained volunteers, has been using her skills to cut down overgrown vegetation in and around the orchard. This is to prevent long grass choking wild flowers and preventing them getting established.

Richard Evans then raked away the cut material and sowed wild flower seeds, many of which he had collected himself. The aim is to establish small colonies of wild flowers at various spots all over the field so that in due course the flowers will spread naturally and make the field more like the meadows some of us are old enough to remember! Richard’s seed mix included yellow rattle which encourages more delicate, traditional species to push their way through. 

Richard is also responsible for the rather fine video,  which you can view on the Wildlife page of this website. It’s only 3 minutes long but it’s very impressive The whole thing was recorded on the field and it’s quite astonishing to see the variety of plants, butterflies and insects that feature in it. Richard’s video is seriously worth 3 minutes of everyone’s time! 

It’s only through the hard work of enthusiastic volunteers like Anne and Richard that we shall further improve the flora and fauna on the field. Why not volunteer yourself? Free training provided if necessary. Simply contact the Secretary (email on the Home page).