24 Aug 2024
Many hands make light work
Over the space of a week at Grove Farm we managed (with the help of partners) to clear a third of our main field and a section of another ready for next year. This work was undertaken as part our Empowering community conservation project, which we were awarded a grant by the Mayor of London's Rewild London fund, which is run in partnership with the London Wildlife Trust.
The first stage was carried out by Alan Scott & Complete Ecology who mowed the nettles, brambles as well as thinned out trees and shrubs to create and maintain one of Grove Farm's most bio diverse habitats, our meadows. One section was in an area of the site that old maps called Flying Grove and the other was a third of our main field. The remaining two thirds will be completed over the next two years.
If you notice patches of bramble left, this is not a mistake! Bramble is good habitat and gives places for animals to hide, so Alan has left some on purpose to enable animals to move around the meadow with cover in easy reach.
The next step was to remove the cuttings (called arisings) so that we remove nutrients from the soil & allow other plants a chance to grow. It will take years of mowing to get more biodiversity, but this is where it starts. Here we were supported on the first day by David Fineberg from 'The Conservation Volunteers' and employees from NatWest. Then Good gym Ealing (Penny, Sevan & Christos - read there report here) supported on another day while Friends of Grove Farm volunteers worked tirelessly across two days of rain and shine. Thanks to Portia, Livio, Sue, Joe, Cathy, Frederick & Ron.