Old Manor Stables, Letcombe Bassett, Saturday 1st July 2023

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 this weeks blog was written by Eleanor D


This was our second visit to Old Manor Stables in Letcombe Bassett. Our task was to pull up ragwort, which is poisonous to horses. In its fresh form they avoid it but risk eating it when it is withered and dry.

This time we were asked to park further up the hill, which meant negotiating a steep, single track, much potholed road. We were almost at the top of the Ridgeway and from that vantage point, we had a magnificent view over Oxfordshire. 

The field we were working in was a steep, sloping valley with two grey horses in it.  We were surprised to find that much of the ragwort was not in flower and we had to look out for the small rosettes of leaves and dig them out with the specialised digging tools. The weather was mostly cloudy with only occasional, sunny intervals and we could see the rain moving along the far horizon but fortunately, apart from a few minutes drizzle, it missed us.

At tea break time, we climbed wearily back up the hill to our encampment. Roger had recently celebrated his 60th birthday so we presented him with a card. Then we got back to work, knowing that there was much more to do. There were many meadow brown butterflies as well as  some marbled whites, which you can see in the photo. In one part of the field there were beautiful pink common centaury flowers and we also saw some orchids. 

Just as time was running out, we came across quite a large number of flowering ragwort plants and wondered how we had missed them earlier, but we did our best to uproot as many as we could, before packing up and making our perilous way down the hill.


the view

ragwort

ragwort tool


Helen pulling up a big ragwort









tea time

a special birthday!


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