2004 on Portsdown Hill
I myself have worked as a conservation volunteer since June 2002, and since the end of 2003, have seen major changes in the work we're doing.
Better, many 'local folk' who stop while walking their dogs and talk have noticed far reaching changes over the past decade, especially with the increase in the flora. All seem to be impressed, and pleased to see the changes that are happening.
I also add a page of photos for some particularly interesting days, or a more personal 'diary entry'.
These are accessible from the Gallery page.
2003
For the previous decade or so, volunteers have been clearing scrub with hand-tools, and barely kept pace with the scrub encroachment. Without widespread natural control - that of grazing - the scrub was relentless. Thus, the hill is now more scrub than the grassland of the mid-20th Century and before.
Aebi
In the autumn of 2003, we got funding for an Aebi - an all-terrain tractor and flail, that can clear in a few minutes what a team formerly cleared in a day.
This is an astonishing piece of kit to watch - the scrub is shredded and leaves only a thin carpet of mangled vegetation on the ground. I am always surprised at how little material is actually produced from a dense mass of scrub - then again, I always avoid the raking duties.
The shredded vegetation must be collected, else it will compost and enrich the soil, while the chalk grassland we are trying to encourage and restore is dependent on low-nutrient soil.
In 2004, we got a collector unit, which reduced the raking (for those who did it) :-)
Fencing
A new compartment has been fenced each year, so the grazing that was initiated in 1994 has very gradually spread across the whole hill. In 2004, 'compartment 5' was fenced, which leaves only 2 more to do.
Although we didn't get any cattle in the autumn of 2003, the plan for 2004 was cattle-rich, so much of the end of 2003 was spent building fences in anticipation of their arrival.
Digging holes into the solid chalk is no easy task. Ideally we have 3 per hole:
one with a spike to break the chalk
one with over-grown sugar tongs
one to lie down, possibly with soup-ladle, to get the stuff out
(She gets to get the muckiest.)
However, the new kit helped there, too, in the few flat places on the hill :-)
