We undertake the conservation of a small but ecologically valuable area called Talbot Field in Hassocks. It includes a small wooded area surrounded by a field which has reverted to meadowland. This year we began our yearly work there in the early months by removing unwanted brush within the woodland and a smaller tree formation at the opposite end of the site, to allow unfettered public access to the footpaths that wind beneath the trees and restrict the bramble growth to a manageable presence. This allows woodland flowers to flourish in the spring.

The trees always produce a large quantity of debris each winter due to gales breaking off branches and occasionally causing a tree to fall, so our first task with the clearance work this year was to collect and cut up all the debris and stack it in piles under the trees to provide habitat for indigenous wildlife.

 

Stacking wood debris for wildlife.

 

Clearing the cuttings from the woodland.

 

 The site provides a home to many species of wildlife like this frog found residing beneath the leaves.

 

Toads are also found in the woodland area.

 

Cuttings were raked up and transported to a bonfire.

 

Once this was done, we began the brush cutting exercise with all resulting cuttings transported to a central position at the rear of the site, for disposal by burning. Due to the location of the surrounding houses, we only undertake this when the wind is blowing away from them to avoid any inconvenience to neighbours.

 

 

Volunteers wheeling barrows full of debris for burning.

 

Getting rid of the brush cuttings was the next step.

 

Some volunteers took a well-earned break before moving on to the next section.

 

When this was completed, we turned our attention to the meadow and removed all the bramble spread from under the trees, other brush emergence and a multitude of unwanted tree seedlings peppering the area. This keeps the meadow in the best condition for the summer wildflowers to flourish each year.

 

 

Clearing up after brush removal.

 

We then undertook the brush clearance adjacent to the perimeter hedgerows and fences to control its spread into the meadow and address the voiced concerns of the owners of neighbouring properties who resent it spreading into their gardens. It also allowed the perimeter bluebells and other wild flowers to grow freely without being smothered.

On completion of this phase, we undertook the removal of emerging ragwort plants whose presence always generates animated requests from neighbours for its removal as it spreads so freely and has reputation of deadliness to grazing animals. The plant tends to alarm people, in many cases unnecessarily where animals are not present. Certainly it is of value for Cinnabar Moths to flourish.  This year was a bumper year for ragwort due to favourable growing conditions and required a later return visit to remove the clearance of a second flush of growth. After this effort the meadow was left undisturbed for the meadow flowers to flourish.

Several years ago, Hassocks Parish Council, who we have always found to be an enthusiastic supporter of the natural environment, purchased some wildflowers for us to plant to enrich the meadow. Last year several packets of wildflower seeds were additionally sown by our group in the spoil heaps of the very vigorous mole population and have grown. A number of foxgloves and other wildflower plugs from our own group nursery garden were also planted last year and watered throughout the summer. The rewarding results of these efforts were seen this year with patches of ox-eye daisies, musk mallow, ribwort plantain, knapweed, vetches, cowslips and several other species providing colour amongst the meadow grass. The increased insect activity witnessed around these species clusters was evident.

 

Results of previous year’s planted plugs adding colour to the meadow.

 

Ox Eye Daisies have been added to the species mix within the meadow.

 

Musk Mallow now grows in many places to add richness to the area.

 

The only planting done this year was a small beech tree donated by a parish resident which has been watered weekly during the recent hot spell. This single planting was perhaps fortunate, as the dry heatwave conditions would have generated considerably more effort with the watering activity if more additions had been included.

The bird nest boxes mounted in the tree formations on the site have provided homes again to the local population of nuthatches, great tits and bluetits. These, together with the many area bat boxes, have been provided by the Parish Council for us to maintain and monitor over several years and for which we are very grateful to them.

The bat boxes have produced a regular colony for bats of various species to a remarkable degree for the size of the woodland area. Each year in the late summer we inspect them and record occupancy and always find that virtually every box has either resident bats in them or evidence from droppings that they are highly used. Last year quite a stir was created amongst bat groups and enthusiasts following our discovery of many ‘restricted and rare’ Bechstein’s bats in a number of the boxes.

 

 

Some of the Bechstein’s bats found in the boxes in Talbot Field woodland.

 

This led to us being requested to write an article describing the discovery for other groups. With the woodland being so continuously attractive to bats for colonisation, we strive to keep it in its current pristine condition to encourage continuation of this high box occupancy. We therefore are nervous when unavoidable external factors force change on the woodland structure and its existing formation, as with the unavoidable removal of several trees that were undermining a neighbouring property to the south last year and the large roadside oak tree detected to be unsafe to the north earlier this year which had to be felled.

Our late summer checks this year should indicate whether these losses have impacted usage by our local bat populations. We are hopeful that they haven’t and that a replacement for the tree to the north, indicated as a possibility by the Parish Council, materialises to restore the woodland.

The area is a valuable oasis for nature in a diminishing natural environment and we are extremely grateful to Hassocks Parish Council for the support they give us in our effort to increase its value still further.

 

Pond Lye SNCI

Having completed the work at Talbot Field for the summer we were then summoned to deal with an uncontrolled spread of ragwort at another of our sites called Pond Lye SNCI. Here the neighbouring property owners were again concerned by the sea of yellow which was advancing towards their property. We quickly attended and began clearing a 20 metre buffer strip away from their boundary by digging the plants out with ragwort forks.

 

 

The hot summer after earlier damp conditions encouraged vigorous meadow growth.

 

So vigorous was the growth here that in places it exceeded 2 metres tall, making it difficult for volunteers to see the person who was working next to them. With the summer temperatures so high and the ground so hard and cracked, it was almost impossible in places to insert the forks into the ground. In the high summer temperature, this task became one for the dedicated volunteer only.

 

In the extremely hot temperatures this summer produced, the volunteers battled on.

 

We found it easier to look back on the ground already cleared than the work which still had to be completed.

 

Slowly the sea of yellow shrank as volunteers progressed.

 

This ragwort invasion certainly pleased the insect populations in the meadow. Due to the exceptional growth of flora this year, the meadow became the home for wildlife of all descriptions.

 

Insect activity could be found everywhere.

 

Few plants were found without a wildlife companion, whether an insect on leaves and flowers or a small mammal scurrying beneath.

 

The grass in the meadow was unusually very tall this year also and baked dry and brown. This prevented any burning to take place as the surrounding terrain was like a ‘tinder box’, ready to spread fire uncontrollably across the site from the slightest spark.

 

All grass became parched in the heat of the exceptionally hot summer.

 

All ragwort removed was therefore transported to an area outside the meadow cut boundaries so that it could be left without impeding the annual late summer hay cut.

The volunteers worked tirelessly on this until a huge strip had been cleared bordering the neighbour’s area. It required three additional almost consecutive days to finish off so that group work could resume elsewhere. Our return will be for the meadow cut later when all all flowers have finished and the wildlife currently flourishing in the meadow will have dispersed.