A tour along our very own local Jurassic Coast at Aust with our expert guide Mr Chris Townson. As we are by the coast we might even see some of the descendants of dinosaurs themselves – wading birds! Bring a magnifying glass if you have one, and please wear stout footwear. Meet for a car share at the Clock Tower, High Street, Chipping Sodbury, 1.30pm (Parking available in the Wickwar Road car park)

Part of the group looking at the flora in the Top Meadow

An enthusiastic group of walkers met yesterday afternoon for a tour of the Nature Reserve. The meadows were full of wild flowers and butterflies – if you haven’t visited them lately, catch them now before the flowers set seed and the meadows are mown shortly. There are over 70 wildflower and grass species present in the rich Lower Meadow including many species that are beneficial for insects, including black knapweed, devil’s bit scabious and betony. We saw one species of orchid on the day, te common spotted orchid, but we know that there are others which have already gone over. The Top Meadow also had a great collection of grasshoppers and crickets – as we walked through the grass they would explode away from where we were about to tread.

The main Wapley Wood has just been declared an Ancient Woodland by English Nature, meaning that it’s over 400 years old, so we talked about the traditional woodland management techniques that we still use today, such as hedgelaying, coppicing and dead-hedging. We also explored the importance of drainage – our ditches and the underground stream – and historic concepts such as the bank and ditch system, and people being able to take wood “by hook or by crook”.

We showed off our big projects from the past year, as mentioned previously on this blog – the new path up the Ride, the hedgelaying in the Lower Meadow, and the Orchard for the Future on the Common. We also mentioned our long-term planning and some ideas we have for improving habitat to attract owls.

Thanks to everybody who came. Please follow the links above to find out more about what we’ve been doing on the Reserve.

Burnet moths doing what comes naturally on the Common

Natural England has recently declared that Wapley Bushes is an Ancient Woodland – that means it’s more than 400 years old.

To celebrate, there’s a guided walk through the woods and meadows on Sunday. The meadows are currently full of wild flowers and butterflies. The walk will also showcase some of the major projects that the Wapley Bushes Conservation Group has undertalken over the past year.

Everyone welcome – meeting at the Shire Way gate, next to the zebra crossing. Please wear suitable footwear.

A big thank you to everyone who helped maintain the ancient tradition of duck herding on the River Frome this afternoon, at the Chipping Sodbury Festival Duck Races in aid of the Wildlife Trust.

A long overdue report from our last workday (pressure of work!)

Building up the dead-hedge

We carried out a variety of tasks. The big job was clearing up a quantity of branches that local vandals had chopped down in the Centenary Wood ready for setting fires, and tidying up the butchered trees. We then took the branches down to the edge of the main woodland facing the Lower Meadow, and used them to build up the dead-hedge.

Dead-hedging, in other words weaving branches between stakes driven into the ground, is a traditional way of creating a natural-looking barrier that also acts as a habitat for small creatures. In time ground plants may grow up over the dead-hedge.

We also cut back some vegetation on the paths, gathered up some litter and cut back the grass around the new fruit trees on the Common.

Please join us on Sunday 19 June for the annual Chipping Sodbury Festival Duck Race on the River Frome, in aid of the Wildlife Trust.

Why not come along, have a flutter, and join us for an afternoon of races, a cup of tea and a doughnut? Great fun for all the family!

You are very welcome to come along and bring a picnic to enjoy in the park.

The races start from 2.00pm in Jubilee Park, Quarry Road, Chipping Sodbury.

Check this out on Chirbit

This workday will be a general checking of the state of the woodland, meadows and paths before the summer. We will also be doing a litter pick round the reserve as well. You are welcome to come along on what we hope will be a warm and pleasant walk and please do wear walking or wellington boots
and bring some gloves.

Meet at the Shire Way entrance to the reserve at 10.00am.