Historic orchard meadow, Denbury

[Philip Brown]

Some of our meadow pictures near Denbury. Joined moormeadows this year . 8 acres owned for over 80 years never ploughed or intensively farmed. Site was formerly an ancient orchard. Diverse hedges ,flora and fauna. Some pics attached.

[Betina Winkler]

Hi Philip
I live in Ogwell. It would be great to visit your meadow sometime in the new year.
Betina

[Philip Brown]

Hi Betina

Glad you like the meadow pictures. It's been my happy place for most of my lifetime. Its suffered benign neglect at times but I'm so inspired now to make it a better haven for plants and wildlife.

Hope to have visitors for national meadows day and you would be very welcome to visit by appointment.

Happy New Year

[Betina Winkler]

I look forward to it.
Best wishes,
Betina

[Philip Brown]

Some random meadow photos since we steeped some hedges and tidied up and seeded our verges and hedgerows - still work in progress. Have left the brash cut from the hedges as an additional wildlife corridor and refuge .

[Philip Brown]

A few more

[Philip Brown]

Some recent pics from the meadows. Pleased to report that barn owls have taken up residence of an indoor barn owl box within 10 days of being put up by Tom Pinches . An outdoor box put up for male to roost. Barn Owl Trust at Ashburton do such important work.

Bird nest boxes going up soon and later some hazel dormice boxes.

Sheep have grazed the meadows till mid March and dandelions and Hazel catkins as well as willow are some of the first to emerge.

Frogspawn appeared after heavy rain filled the pond after a drier spell.

Areas fenced off from livestockshow the habitat enhancement for all forms of meadow inhabitants.

[Philip Brown]

A few more pics which I hope inspire you after a harsh winter for the South West.

[Jane W]

I completely agree about the Barn owl Trust, I just watched their video on this forum and found it fascinating and compelling. It was a comment from Katie Sykes ( topic; South Hams meadows) about two barn owls hunting on her land that inspired me to look it up. Even though I've never seen a barn owl here in 8 years. I ended up watching quite a few of their videos and all were brilliant. It's made me feel very protective of my ( many) voles too, despite them eating all my chard.
A very good tip from one of their videos, is to leave your 'uncut' patches in the centre of the field, rather than around the edge. I've always left the edges previously. Leaving areas in the centre of the field reduces the easy spread of brambles, blackthorn etc out from the hedge. I think I'll changevmy practice to do this in future.
Out of the blue the other day, my husband saw a barn owl flying across the garden in plain daylight, being pursued and harried by a flock of small birds. So, maybe there are some here after all!
Thanks for the photos, its great to see your progress.
Will the patches near the hedges which you've left inside the fenced area be cut at all?...or are you planning to leave them alone completely?