Nature

Stockbridge Meadows Volunteers

Stockbridge Meadows is a 13-acre site just off Dolphin Lane that is owned by Melbourn Parish Council. This Local Nature reserve provides a mix of habitats, including meadows, ponds, scrub, and orchards. This diverse habitat provides a home to a wide variety of species including birds, lizards, grass snakes, and butterflies.

The River Mel runs through the nature reserve and there is a boardwalk which takes you through the reed beds to the river. The water vole, whose population has declined by 95% over the last few years across the country, can also be seen here if you are very lucky

The River Mel Restoration Group looks after the wetland management on the reserve, while a separate volunteer group meets on an ad hoc basis to support the Parish Council’s staff in the implementation of the remaining tasks identified in the nature reserve’s five year management plan.

Previous work has involved building “houses” for the snakes and lizards in the invertebrate area. These are made from logs and covered with corrugated iron to keep them dry and provide basking areas for the lizards. While contractors carried out the initial tree planting and the erection of the deer and rabbit cages. volunteers were heavily involved with mulching the ground around the young saplings to inhibit weed growth and continue to top this up on an regular basis.

This winter the volunteers have been improving the wildflower meadow habitat by sowing yellow rattle seed. The wildflower meadow is a wonderful sight in the spring and early summer and to ensure that the flowers continue to have the right conditions we need to keep the soil “poor”. Yellow rattle is particularly effective as it weakens the grasses and opens up opportunities for greater wildflower diversity. For the same reason the meadow needs cutting and raking.

The volunteers do not meet on a regular basis, as the bulk of the tasks tend to be undertaken from autumn through spring to minimise the disturbance to wildlife within the nature reserve. Our volunteer sessions are task orientated based on the management plan.

If you would like to know more about volunteering in Stockbridge Meadows contact Maureen Brierley on 01763 262752

Underground overground

It seems as though the Garden is waking from its winter sleep, as bulbs push through the soggy ground to paint it white, gold and blue, with a smattering of mauves, as the snowdrops, early narcissus, scilla and crocus of our spring bulb belt come into rapid flower, to be followed by the rich Venetian colourings of the tulips.

But while above ground the branches have been bare, there has been much underground, unseen activity-taking place over the winter months. The great majority of spring-flowering bulb species require a warm-cold-warm sequence to complete their

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The race is on for narcissus and scilla