Bluebell Walk

August is a quiet month when it comes to preparations for the Bluebell Walk, so I have made a good start on the detailed notes of ideas and tasks that will be necessary to ensure the 2025 Bluebell Walk goes smoothly, not only for our visitors, but importantly for the various charities who will be involved. But I will leave the details for future nwsletters.

Our Wildflower Meadow

The meadow is nearly 6 acres in size. When I was a child it was called the Pig Field, as my father had built wooden pig arks adjoining Beatons Wood, which were used for farrowing and shelter. The pigs had access to part of the front of Beatons Wood and their evidence persists, as I remember how they ring-barked most of the oak trees, which quickly died! There was a concrete area near the current entrance gate, where they were fed, and as it was the wettest part of the field the pigs used to wallow in the mud!

Some years ago, I entered this field in the Higher Tier of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme run by DEFRA. To qualify for the grant, it cannot be grazed by sheep or cattle from January to the end of July, to allow the many wildflowers that have become established to prosper and generate seed for the following year. Two years ago, we had the field surveyed by the Sussex Botanical Recording Society and they identified 41 grasses and wild flowers, giving us both their English and Latin names!

After July, the meadow can then be cut for hay and once the new grass appears is grazed hard until December. This year there was a period of settled weather, so the field was mowed on 16^th August.

Over the next two days the cut grass was spread to allow the sun and wind to dry it. On the fourth day it was baled into 41 round bales, a text book example of making the best quality hay, as no rain fell on it, making it the cheapest to make!

The field is quite exposed to the wind, so when mown, any laid grass below the cutter blades does not get cut. This means hiring in a specialist mower which cuts all the uncut grass and loose hay not picked up by the bales. Clearing it benefits next year’s wildflowers. This year the amount of laid grass was dense, so this machine was used after the first cut, then cut again in the opposite direction, so we are now pleased with the result!

This is the debris collected by the machine, the equivalent of several more hay bales! All is not wasted as it quickly heats up and turns into compost, to benefit the garden.