Management and Projects - May 2009
The meadow has seen extremes of weather in the first four months of 2009. On a bitingly cold Saturday in January a group of volunteers carried out the first maintenance task of the year, braving very frosty conditions to help remove the mown foliage left from last season. That afternoon’s 2.00pm demonstration also had a hint of the Arctic about it. The first tiny plants were slow to appear and it seemed as if everything would be late this year, but following a spell of warm sunny weather the cowslips were out in full glory by mid-April and had caught up with the growth of the same week in 2008.
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Other management tasks have already taken place. Around three quarters of the southern hedgerow has now been laid and is already growing vigorously from the angled stems. This will provide an easier approach route for birds coming in to the meadow from that direction during flying demonstrations and generate strong new growth along what had become a rather bushy and untidy hedge line. Random strips have been ploughed in the central area, to allow back plants that thrive on disturbed soil. This increases the diversity of the meadow and helps to reduce the domination of more vigorous species such as grasses and plantains. It will be interesting to see what will come up in these areas.
A bee bank has been created in a fenced area on the back slope of the mound. This area contains plants that will be attractive to bees and will be regularly weeded to leave areas of bare earth between plants, providing space for ground-nesting bee species. Scrub such as bramble elsewhere on the mound will provide a good foraging area.
By late March the first insects were appearing. Queen bumblebees were hunting for nest sites and Brimstone butterflies chasing each other in a mating dance. The two butterflies shown here are the lemon yellow male and the more greenish female.
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In the second half of 2008 we began more systematic monitoring in the meadow. In August we counted the plant species along a linear transect across the width of the meadow and will repeat this count along the same line in August to identify any changes. A butterfly transect was set up in the autumn by two students who will be working with us again this summer. A pre-planned route is walked three times in a day, noting and counting the species seen within five metres of the route. 20 minute spot counts are also taken at eight points around the Hawk Conservancy grounds on the same day.
While carrying out these transect walks and spot counts we are also recording the moth and bumblebee species seen on the route. By these methods we hope to get a more accurate picture of the health of the populations of our meadow insects at a time when there are frequent reports of a decline in their national populations.
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