SOMER VALLEY REDISCOVERED

WORKING FOR WILDLIFE AT HAYDON BATCH

Last year Somer Valley Rediscovered ran a bioblitz at Haydon Batch and with the help of local botanists, including Cam Valley Wildlife Group, we recorded over 200 different species of plant on the site, including green winged orchid, vipers bugloss and birds foot trefoil. Regular surveys over the past few summers have also recorded over 20 species of butterflies present at Haydon.

All this data shows what a fantastic area Haydon Batch is for species rich grassland; in fact, it is one of our most important sites in the Somer Valley. However, over the years, scrub species such as hawthorn and dogrose has gradually been taking up larger areas of the Batch, and if left unchecked, would shade out the grassland and reduce the number of plant species found.

Therefore, Somer Valley Rediscovered and Radstock Town Council have been working with both volunteers and contractors to remove some selected areas of scrub. The work is carried out over the winter months to avoid disturbing nesting birds and not all the scrub is being removed as it too is an important habitat for wildlife. Our contractors have removed areas of scrub on the eastern and southern slopes, along with a small section along the path towards Linden Close. The volunteers have been working on the top of the Batch. The work is funded through the WECA Green Recovery Fund.

We will be running another bioblitz at Haydon Batch in April which is free to attend – please check out the Somer Valley Rediscovered website for further details-

https://somervalleyrediscovered. co.uk/events-calendar/

If you are interested in volunteering at Haydon Batch, we would love to hear from you.

Please visit https:// somervalleyrediscovered.co.uk/ somer-valley/get-involved/