2005 on Portsdown Hill
2005 dawned - cold and wet.
However, plans and prospects suggest much will be achieved.
Anticipated highlights include:
- Fencing:
- The 10-year plan to completely fence the 10 compartments of the hill we manage is likely to be completed in January. Most years, one 'compartment' (about 2 km of fencing each) has been fenced. In 2004, a drive was made to complete the task, with compartment 6 being completed, and compartment 7 being very very close. Many volunteers commented that they felt that fencing was all they'd done this year. This is a task almost complete.
- Grazing:
- The grazing program will continue, with Highland Cattle and hopefully Aberdeen Angus back on the hill in the first quarter.
- Scrub clearance:
- At the end of 2004, we secured a grant from the MOD, to manage the ground that actually belongs to them - compartments 2 and 3. (These are at the westmost-area that we manage, below Fort Southwick and above the Portsdown Chalk Pit).
This money will be spent employing contractors with "seriously large kit" to clear swathes of scrub, both uprooting it and removing it from the site. We will be left with bare soil, which will either regenerate naturally or may be seeded with seed harvested from other areas of the hill. This work will take place in the first quarter of 2005. A log of the task will be maintained at: MOD land scrub clearance - 10 years:
- On February 13th, Richard will have been ranger of the hill for 10 years.
- Paid staff:
- For the first time, Richard will have not only volunteers working for him, but a full-time paid help. Pete will be taking on many tasks, having been with BTCV - through whose training course I 'discovered' the hill and started as a volunteer (so you can all blame him)