Dry Sandford Pit - Saturday 9th May 2026

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     Blog by Eleanor, Photos by Sally, Henry and Eleanor                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             This Saturday we returned to Dry Sandford Pit. This is a former sand quarry, and is now a nature reserve managed by BBOWT. In prehistoric times it was a warm, shallow sea, which means the rock strata have many seashell fossils.

Rock strata




 Barbara and Dieuwke were in charge and briefed us on our tasks in the car park.

Briefing in the car park


We went to a different part of the site backing on to the airfield, where we had been asked to remove hawthorn and other emerging scrub from the field and to cut back from the edge of the footpath running along the perimeter fence.

Starting to dig up hawthorn



Dieuwke and Ursula removing scrub




Kevin with a load



We had been asked to build a dead hedge barrier to block off a cut through.

Kevin starting the dead hedge barrier




Meanwhile, Adrian took a big mattock to dig up the larger hawthorn by the roots.

Adrian mattocking



We thought the Green Man had come to visit us, but it was only Kevin.



We stopped for our break in the pleasant sunshine, then it was back to work. A few of us had been cutting back along the footpath running along by the perimeter fence. We had to be careful not to disturb any nesting birds. We could hear them, including a chiffchaff. There were also a lot of ladybirds and butterflies, including orange tips, brimstones and speckled woods.


Working along the footpath







Here are the tasks we had completed when it was time to finish.




The area cleared by Adrian and Sally




The dead hedge barrier



Here are some photos of the flora and fauna:

A ground beetle






Germander speedwell. Cowslip and buttercup above




Hawthorn in full bloom


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