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2016
Building a dead hedge
16th December
Several of the group spent a morning constructing a hedge made of branches, twigs and lengths of bramble, held together between two rows of stakes. This was to protect some hawthorn saplings that we had planted last year beside the cycle path near the footbridge. This replaced an earlier dead hedge that had lasted a year there and had deterred cyclists from cutting the corner off and running over the saplings.
Trying to keep warm ...
5th December
On a rather cold and frosty morning in the meadow, nine of us were coppicing hazel trees, hedge laying and clearing brambles. I think we were busy enough to keep the circulation going !
Pot washing and hedge laying
6th November
Despite the cold weather the task morning was well attended. We formed two groups of five: the chilliest job was to wash the hundreds of pots and many trays that were used for the plug plants that have been planted out recently into the meadow. The other task kept us slightly warmer, continuing with the hedge laying along the southern edge of the meadow.
Excellent turnout for the AGM
17th October
Most of the group gathered at The Three Crowns on 17th October for our AGM. There was talk about all the activities in the meadow during the year, all the plants that have been put there and the media coverage to inform the public of what we're achieving and to try to find new helpers.
Planting wildflowers after the hay-cut
2nd October
After the hay was cut, baled and removed by the farmer in the first week of September, there was work to do raking up the left-overs. The hundreds of plug plants, which we had grown from seed mostly collected last summer in the meadow, could then start to be planted out on the Sunday task morning. Led, untiringly, by Michael this work continues on the days following. We have added a new species to the planting, namely some Greater Stitchwort nearer the river bank.
Scything, mowing & lopping
4th September
At the meadow this morning we were busy scything grass and nettles from beside the paths, mowing the main paths and lopping overhanging branches, nettles and brambles from the paths.
At the same time a short interview with our chairperson, Julia, was broadcast on BBC Wiltshire radio about the meadow, to attract members of the public to join our group. Baydons Meadow has also been promoted on Chippenham Our Community Matters website, Index Wiltshire website and the Gazette & Herald.
Moth & Bat Evening
26th August
More than two dozen people gathered for the event at the meadow at dusk.
After an introductory chat by Michael about what the group are trying to achieve by planting wild flowers to attract insects which, in turn, attract bats and birds, Paul handed out some bat detectors and talked about the bats and their sounds. Before it became really dark we spotted some bats as they flew low over the river or up at the tops of the trees by the bridge. Using the detectors we could hear the clicks of the various bat species as they flew around, catching insects. Bats that we detected included two species of Pipistrelle and Daubentons.
Meanwhile Michael turned on a powerful lamp on a white sheet under the trees to attract moths and other insects. He also showed us the moth trap complete with egg boxes that he uses to attract them overnight. He showed and identified various species, together with some moths that he had caught the previous night. Some of these were colourful with intricate markings of yellows and browns and included Silver Y and Spectacled moth.
The visitors, and especially the children, appeared to enjoy the event. At the end of the evening all the insects were released unharmed.
Summer tidying
7th August
The vegetation seems to have grown well this year!
A handful of us gathered for the task morning and spent time trimming overhanging and invading vegetation from the paths, mowing the grass paths and admiring the passing butterflies.
WWT visit to the meadow
10th July
The Chippenham branch of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust held an afternoon walk around our meadow and just under a dozen people saw how we are trying to create a hay meadow containing wild flowers to attract butterflies and other insects. We hope that they enjoyed it.
A sunny morning in the meadow
3rd July
Eight of us enjoyed a pleasant sunny morning's work in the meadow - makes a change from the rain, showers, cloud and wind of recent times! There was mowing of grass, clipping of overhanging brambles and nettles, removal of dock heads that were about to set seed in the middle of the meadow, planting of several wild flower plugs and the inevitable litter pick.
We spent some time looking at butterflies that were also enjoying the warm sunshine, for example a newly emerged Small Tortoiseshell, a few Meadow Brown and several Ringlets flitting about. Many of the wild flowers are coming into flower now: there are Bird's-foot Trefoil and Meadow Cranesbill, a few Betony and the Black Knapweed hopefully will be fully out by next weekend when the local Wiltshire Wildlife Trust group visits.
Hogweed battle
5th June
Many of the group came to the meadow this morning and enjoyed the warm sunshine. We waged our annual war against hogweed. Yes, we know it has pretty, white flowers which attract the insects, but if we let all of it go to seed the meadow will be covered in hogweed plants to the detriment of the other wild flowers, so we need to cut off many of the flower heads before they set seed.
Other tasks were taming our native hedge so that people can walk beside it without it attacking them and scything some of the grass beside the brambles where we would like to plant more wild flowers.
Over the last five weeks Katy and Kip have been checking under several pieces of roofing felt for slow worms, which would be warming up in the mornings before moving off to forage. We have seen two individuals, one on nine occasions and another twice. See the Fauna category of the Gallery for a photo.
Also, Michael has been busy during the last few weeks mowing the paths.
Hundreds of wild flower seedlings
1st May
At our May task morning held in Michael and Angela's garden five of us pricked out a total of 465 seedlings! They comprised Bird's-foot Trefoil (135), Black Knapweed (140), Field Scabious (100), Meadow Cranesbill (10) and Yarrow (80). Hope they all grow into colourful plants to go into the meadow later in the year!
Earlier in the week Michael mowed the grass between the cycle path and the trees, and started emphasising the paths across the meadow by mowing narrower tracks of grass, so that wild flowers are not trampled.
Spring flowers
3rd April
The spring flowers are starting to come out in the meadow. See the Gallery for some photos of them. There are many primroses which are spreading in the copse beside the cycle path. The cowslips are just starting to flower and there is a snakeshead fritillary and a solitary bulbous buttercup so far.
Quite a few of us attended the workday this morning: tidying up fallen branches, moving cut branches to form habitat piles, trimming brambles and branches to open up a gap on the river bank, plus the inevitable litter pick.
After that a few of us watched Michael demonstrate using a scythe to cut grass and young nettles and we tried it out. We agreed that it was a quiet, almost relaxing activity, unlike using a brush cutter. However, we won't be using the scythe to cut the whole meadow - that would be too much like hard work! It is useful to control the nettle growth in small areas.
Hedge laying
6th March
The main task on the March workday was to continue with hedge laying: this will be the last time for this winter season as the plants will soon spring into life with the sap rising and would lose moisture if cut. We also did a few other tasks around the meadow including more bramble clearing and trimming dogwood suckers.
New plantings ... and less muddy access
25th February
We took delivery of two native species and planted them amongst the trees adjacent to the cycle path today. They are a Crab Apple and a Spindle; the latter bears unusual coral-pink berries in the autumn.
Earlier in the week half a dozen of us spread a trailer-load of wood chippings onto the Long Close entrance to the meadow so that visitors do not have to walk through quite so much mud!
Coppicing and hedging
7th February
Several of us ventured into the meadow during a lucky gap in the storms this weekend, having been rained off entirely for the January task morning. There was coppicing and trimming of trees done and clearing of brambles. This provided the material to build a 'dead' hedge along the edge of the cycle path near the footbridge to protect some young hawthorns from cyclists cutting the corner into the meadow. A large bag of litter was also collected to keep the area tidy.