Meadow species planting on Wapley Common - 4 May and 17 May

We had 13 volunteers at our work morning on Saturday 4 May, when we put in several species of plug plants to enhance the diversity in the Orchard for the Future section of Wapley Common. As well as planting we did a "deep clean" of some of the harder to reach areas of the Reserve and cut back some overgrowth.

Unfortunately one of our chosen species hadn't arrived, so we had another session on Friday 17 May. Six of us started at Dodington Parish hall, and planted all three species on the "Mini Meadow" next to the Hall - our present to the Parish Council.

Then four of us went on to Wapley Common and planted the remaining plug plants. The result is that we now have yellow rattle, oxeye daisy and knapweed (see photo above) in the third of the Orchard nearest to Shire Way - you won't see them until they've grown a bit. These plants will help encourage pollinators and discourage more invasive species. In future years we plan to do the same sort of planting on the other two thirds of the Orchard.

We finished off the session with a walk round the Reserve doing a site inspection. The icing on the cake was that we saw a Red Kite flying over the Common, with its distinctive forked tail.