East Team

Most of our summer tasks have focused around hay meadow management and grazing infrastructure repairs. Over at Elm Farm we have been pulling Ragwort to prepare the hay meadows for their annual cut. We have finished repairing over 750m of fence line and installing a new field gate at Long Plantation near Banstead. This means our own SWT sheep are grazing this site for the very first time! Volunteers have spent over 300hrs on these 2 sites alone and amazing progress has been made at both.

Central Team

We have been focused on carrying out lots of invasive species removal including Canadian Goldenrod at Priest Hill and Howell Hill; and Himalayan Balsam at Wallis Wood and Cucknells wood. We have prepared the ground at The Forest ready for toad fencing to be installed, and carried out fence repairs on sites including Howell Hill and Hackhurst Downs which the cattle are now enjoying!

Speaking of cows, the Norbury cattle will be grazing using no-fence collars for the first time this winter. Because we won’t need to individually fence each compartment, they will be free to roam and graze across Fetcham Downs, Walnut Tree Clump and Keepers Grasses as they wish. We are excited to find out where they choose to spend their time and how this affects the grassland and the species we find there.

West Team

The majority of work consisted of bracken control across different sites. The annual Chobham marsh gentian count took place on the 13th August with volunteers finding a total of 380 plants (averaged-count) across areas near Longcross car park. This is an increase of 76 more plants than last year which is a great result considering the dry & hot weather. Ken - our Voluntary Warden for Chobham Common had been monitoring a few smaller populations of marsh gentian in other areas of the common which are also doing well.

We have also been conducting surveys such as a joint survey day with SBIC on Whitmoor Common - recording 140 species including birds, flora, invertebrates, mammals and fungi. We have surveyed other sites such as Thundry & Seale meadows.

Some of our other work included such tasks as installing fencing for our cattle and wildfire management at Brentmoor heath; clearing Gorse near to residential area. With the threat of wildfires being elevated this year - this work reduces the wildfire risk. As we enter scrub clearance season we look forward to seeing everyone around the fire (when weather conditions allow) to keep warm and have a jacket potato.