On Saturday morning a team of 25 volunteers took on the restoration of the wildflower bank at Dymock at the very centre of the Golden Triangle. The Friends of Beauchamps Arms (FoBA), a pub owned by the parish council, removed all the hybrid garden daffodils from the bank and cleared the brash along its fence line with RoseHill farm land, in preparation for a year of grassland restoration. The work team revealed a heritage Estate fence dating back to the C19th then under the ownership of the 6th Earl Beauchamp. The family owned most of the tenancies of Dymock, Redmarley and the Leadon Vale and Dymock Forest hamlets until they were all auctioned off in July 1919.
Actively assisted and encouraged by landowners Mark & Annie Bennion at RoseHill Farm the objective is to sustain managed biodiversity buffer strips of spring/ summer wildflowers, starting, obviously, with revitalising the habitat for Dymock daffodils which have survived in the ancient hedgerows since the last ice age, 10,000 years ago.
Forest of Dean councillor Gill Kilmurray, who managed the integrated task between NGOs, authority and landowner cooperation, engaged volunteers from the Dymock biodiversity programme, all the way through to the conscription of parish council chairman Tony Eagle. The dynamic photo of a tug of war to re-erect the fence demonstrates the coordinated team effort. Matt at the pub supplied welcome coffee, bacon butties, chips and waffles at half time.
The next phase will be to mow the grass verge alongside the tarmac footpath, plug plant the steep bank with native annuals and later seed with hay to encourage native meadow species to serve as food plants for butterflies and bees. The wider biodiversity role will be promoted to integrate the Beauchamps Bank with the Daffodil Way footpath going south to the canal at Boyce Court in the Dymock ward. Meanwhile the SevernTreescapes progamme with partners including Forestry England will continue with join-up thinking across the catchment area of the River Leadon - just 200m under this road from the Beauchamps Bank. Volunteers are welcome to register their interest to be involved with the project progress ([email protected]. www.dyfra.org)