Cothill Fen, 21st July 2012

By Andrew -
Finally the summer presented some fine and sunny weather for today's session at Cothill Fen!  

As usual, site warden, Graham from Natural England was present to oversee the tasks.  This time they included re-instating an overgrown path encircling the fen and also reed-bending.  The latter involved bending the upright reeds over to create more space and light for the other local plants to thrive, while ensuring the reeds themselves survive and crucially don't re-shoot upwards.  At the same time, new tree shoots within the fen area, mainly Alder, were trimmed and kept in check.

A fairly large group of around a dozen green gym volunteers turned out this time thus ensuring that good progress was made.

Following the mid-morning break, Graham gave a quick talk about the local plants and showed us some examples of the typical species found at Cothill.  These included Hemp Agrimony, St John's Wort, Lousewort, Common-Spotted Orchid, Black Bog Rush, some sedges along with various others whose names escape me already!
-Andrew

Graham outlines the morning's tasks

Cothill Fen in the warm July weather
Graham talking about the local flora


an area of reed-bending

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