A South Hams landowner has turned to an unusual method to encourage a greater range
of bees, butterflies and birds onto his land.
Dave Halsall is the owner of Singing Paddles, a canoe and kayak adventures company
based near Kingsbridge. Now 2 acres of land at Green Park Farm, Aveton Gifford is
being used as a 'receptor site' for a technique known as 'green haying.'
Devon Wildlife Trust's Lynne Kenderdine helped coordinate the innovative operation
and explained how it works: 'Green haying involves taking newly cut hay from a site
which is rich in wildflower seeds and transporting it to another local site where
there are fewer wildflowers. The green hay is then spread on the 'receptor' site and
left to set seed. It's a technique which Devon Wildlife Trust has used successfully
in the north of the county and now we want to use it here. If we get similar good
results here we'll try other sites next year.'
The green haying day took place in good weather on Wednesday 11 September.
Wildflower rich hay full of flowers like black knapweed and birdsfoot trefoil was
transported from a 'donor site' at Longmarsh, Totnes to Aveton Gifford. Staff from
Devon Wildlife Trust and the South Devon Nature Trust, along with volunteers, then
spent an energetic afternoon spreading the hay by fork.
Devon Wildlife Trust's Lynne Kenderdine looked back on a successful day, 'We need to
thank South Hams District Council, as the owners of Longmarsh they've been a willing
source for the green hay and helped us get volunteers from The Conservation
Volunteers who did a fantastic job in raking up. The seed we've spread will now lay
dormant for the winter months, but we hope that next spring and summer we'll see the
fruits of our labour. We should find a wider range of wildflowers establishing
themselves here, and with them should come a wider range of insect, mammal and
birdlife. This place should be buzzing with life in the future.'
Lynne Kenderdine and Devon Wildilfe Trust staff get to work green haying
No comments:
Post a Comment