Orchards - the main management activity here is keeping the ground layer free of encroaching scrub such as brambles, thistles, nettles etc by using brush cutters and hand tools.
We pay particular attention to the annual clearing the areas in the small orchard where the dwarf daffodils grow.
Also in the small orchard we coppice the Hazel about once every eight years.
Coppicing is the process of removing all the multi-stems of the tree that grow up from ground level.
New shoots are encouraged to grow from the base and thicken with time and the process enables the tree to rejuvenate. Mature coppices can be extremely ancient features.
When coppicing takes place extra light can reach the ground layer and the lower growing herbaceous plants benefit from this extra light.
Hedgerows- the existing hedges are also managed in a similar way to keep the scrub from encroaching into
the meadows and against the wire sheep fencing.
Since the early 1990s we have been replanting and rejuvenating the hedges around the reserve that have been neglected in the past (in some places the hedgerow had completely disappeared!)
The species we use are Field Maple, Ash, Elm, Crab Apple, Hawthorn, Dogwood, etc.
Where the hedge has grown thin but is still holding on we use a combination of coppicing - also hedge-laying has been used to great effect in some places.
Meadows - the meadows are cut annually for hay.
The time of the cut - mid July - is extremely important to ensure that the seeds of the wildflowers
have had time to ripen and be dispersed prior to the cut.
The Meadow Saffron leaves are also quite poisonous in the green but by the time of the cut they have died off and are harmless.
The cut is carried out by contractors and after several days of drying the hay is baled and taken off the meadows.
This is important as it means there is an annual net loss of any nutrients from the meadows
(any additional nutrition enables the grass species to grow more vigorously - at the expense of the more delicate wildflowers).
By September the flowers of the Meadow Saffron come into bloom together with other late-flowering species such as Knapweed and Pepper Saxifrage
and once these have blossomed and set seed then the SWT flocks of sheep are allowed to graze into the early winter.
The sheep have a beneficial effect on the meadows in that they crop away any turf 'thatch' that has
built up and their small hooves allow an optimum amount of bare soil to develop -
thus aiding the germination of wildflower seeds.
