Volunteers clear Village Pond

Last Thursday Village Action plus TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) cleared a lot of the rushes from the 'Village Pond' on Park Farm to make more space for the fish and ducks.

The pond was drained and cleared about 2 years ago but not enough soil was removed to get rid of the rush roots and they quickly took over the pond again.

Local Nature Reserve celebrates triple award success

Wapley Bushes Conservation Group is celebrating triple success, having won three environmental awards this year.

The Nature Reserve has been awarded the prestigious Green Flag Community Award under the national award scheme for well-managed, high-quality public and community parks and green spaces, plus a Level 4 “Thriving” award from South West in Bloom. The Conservation Group’s latest project – a community orchard – also won a Level 3 “Developing” certificate. This project aims to restore heritage varieties of fruit in a new public orchard.

The Conservation Group’s volunteers were officially presented with three awards at their November work morning by Cllr Christine Howard, Chairman of Dodington Parish Council, pictured holding the flag in the photo above.

Cllr Paul Hulbert, who has taken an active part in all the Wapley projects, said “We’ve had a busy year, and it’s good to have our volunteers’ efforts so well recognised. We were particularly pleased to get a Level 3 award for the Community Orchard, which only started two years ago. We would like to thank Dodington Parish Council and South Gloucestershire Council for their support and encouragement.”

Wapley Bushes Conservation Group welcomes volunteers at its regular workdays, including accompanied children. Full details and photos of the reserve are on the Wapley Bushes blog www.wapley.blogspot.com.

Wapley Bushes Nature Reserve - evening walk, Tuesday 22 June, 7pm

Come and join an evening walk round Wapley Bushes Local Nature Reserve with Rupert Higgins of Wessex Ecological Consultants, the expert who has just revised the Reserve Management Plan. This will be an opportunity to find out about how the Reserve is looked after and the plans for the next five years. Everyone welcome - meeting at the Shire Way gate. Please wear suitable footwear.

Conservation volunteers work with Europe to defeat elm disease

On Saturday Claire Young (right) joined members of the Wapley Bushes Conservation Group to plant new elm trees on Dodington Parish Council land.

Over the last few decades Dutch Elm Disease, a fungus spread by bark beetles, has devastated the British elm population to the extent that many people have never seen a live mature elm tree.

Now however a multinational project involving Wapley bushes may hold the key to repopulating elms in the UK. Members of the Wapley Bushes Conservation Group discovered a a native Wych Elm on the reserve that has remained unaffected by the disease, and they have have sent seeds from to the French national State Forestry Nursery for analysis to assess the extent of disease resistance.

The aim of the European project is to identify types of elm that are resistant to the disease so that eventually the resistant specimens can be planted out to repopulate the European countryside and help the many species that are dependent upon elms.

Tim Fairhead (also pictured above) of the Conservation Group explains “In return we received seeds from ancient elm trees in a French Nature Reserve, and these were grown on at Portsmouth University. These particular trees contain high levels of unique bark compounds that deter feeding by the beetles so they are less likely to get infected in the first place. We hope these trees will go on to provide a resource and home for threatened and vulnerable species like the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly”

This is the only elm repopulation project of its type in the South West and one of only four sites in the UK.