Volunteer’s Update – 17 January 2023

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT PLAN

The work to conserve the Green’s rich grassland has been completed earlier than usual this year.

Working in Hemmings Corner

One major piece of work that was a little different to the usual grassland management process of
“cut and rake off” was the work we carried out in Area 7, or Hemming’s Corner, up in the top right
hand corner of the Green. The original Trustees intended this area to be a Tree Nursery and isolated
it with a hedge and locked gate. Their plan never became a reality and in early 2018 we planted it
up as a close growing thicket of hawthorn, blackthorn & guelder rose.

We now manage it as a very low intervention area, only carrying out work annually. This entails
cutting the thicket down to around 1.5 metres tall which encourages sideways growth that provides
good cover for small mammals and nesting opportunities & forage for birds and insects. The
cuttings go into a Habitat Pile which is good for many different invertebrates.

TREE WORK – Safety Issues

The work on zoning trees into categories depending on the level of risk they pose has been
completed with all the Green’s major trees being given an identity number. After some discussion
with County Council Green Spaces Staff we have decided to use just two catagories:
Red - High Risk for trees adjacent to Welbeck Road, the Donkey Steps and footpaths across
the Green
Amber – Moderate Risk for trees that are adjacent to other people’s properties, which in
effect cover all the other trees.

We are now in a position to contact the Tree Surveyor with a view to inspecting those trees in the
Red, High Risk category.
MEADOW
The October Saturday Working Party
saw the team scarifying the Meadow
in preparation for sowing it with more
Rattle. Brandon Tool Hire on Ratcliffe
Gate let us use the machine free of
charge once again which made the
job infinitely easier. We then sowed
the seed concentrating on the areas
of bare earth produced by the
scarifier. We put more seed in areas
where there was stronger grass
growth.

Rattle Plug Plant Campaign 2022-23

All 13 sectional seed trays were
sowed with Yellow Rattle seed
between mid-October and mid-
November. The first three trays were
sowed with seed straight from the
packet, the rest were sowed with
seed that had been in a fridge for
between 34 & 64 days at 5OC. Two of
the 10 trays were sowed with seed
that had been in a fridge and also
spent time at -17OC in a freezer.

The process of dry stratification –

subjecting seed to low temperatures Scarifying the Meadow
to aid germination– might not have
been necessary as we had moderate to heavy frosts on ten days in December. It will be interesting
to see the difference between the three trays that had no time in a fridge with the other ten.

The End Result – Ready for Sowing

WORKING PARTIES
Since the last Trustee Meeting in October ’22 we have held a total of 15 working parties with an
average attendance of 3.6 volunteers per event. This represents a reduction in Vols/Event for the
third quarter in a row. This figure has been distorted by the fact that several working parties have
been affected by wet weather and have only been attended by one or two Litter Pickers.

It is also worth noting that despite low numbers we are ahead of the game compared to the last two
years when we were still cutting grass in January.

STORE BUILDING
The measures we took to make it less easy to climb onto the Store roof seem to have worked. On
the last occasion we looked it appeared that the sedum was showing signs of recovery. If we can find
a supplier of the correct seed we plan to re-seed parts of the roof in the spring.

Work to dig out along one side of the

Store to increase the height between
ground and roof will be carried out in
the next three months.

We will also replace some of the Anti-

Climb Paint on particularly vulnerable
areas when weather permits.

We are still experiencing some ingress

of water, but only in one corner and
not in the same volume as previously.
One thing that we have not tried is
removing a 10cm strip of sedum,
growing medium & water retention
layer from around the outside edge of
the roof in the problem area and filling
the gap with gravel to see if that has
any impact. This will speed drainage
and reduces the chance that water-
logged growing medium & sedum is in
close proximity of the parapet walls.

Store Roof in late October

FUND RAISING
We were offered an opportunity by County Councillor Anne Callaghan to join with Beech Court and
Sherwood Seals in a Pop-Up Fund Raiser Event in Mansfield, 16 – 19 January. Having too few
Volunteers available to stand on the stall over the four day period we reluctantly declined the offer.
However, Jane Beachus, of Beech Court and Anne offered to share looking after our stall and sell
items on our behalf. This was too good an offer to turn down and so we accepted.

Future Opportunity
After the AGM our Patron, Alan Meale, donated a wicker picnic basket containing a significant
amount of wine & spirit. His intention was that we should raffle it off before Christmas. However,
not having the usual Christmas Fair we were unable to do this and as we wanted to make the most
of the donation we decided to postpone holding a raffle until 2023.
Cont:
A suggestion is that we start selling £1.00 tickets in the summer, possible starting at the end of May
Plant Sale, then taking advantage of the June Party in The Park. We could then follow this up with
ticket selling sessions in Morrisons and possible ASDA and encourage our volunteers & supporters to
sell to family and friends. We would finish off with a draw at the Christmas Fair. To do this legally
we would have to pay for a licence from the Local Council at a cost of £40.00, but it would possibly
maximise the potential of Alan Meale’s gift.

WILD FLOWERS ON THE GREEN

Following on from the last update we have concentrated on the strip adjacent to the wide grass path
leading to the store and have marked this area’s boundary with a line of posts. In addition to
“green-haying” this area last August we have planted out a few home-grown Red Campion plug
plants as we know that Campion grows well in this part of the Green and heavily sowed with Yellow
Rattle to suppress strong grass growth.

Planting Out Red Campion Plugs

Wild Flower Survey

In 2022 one of the team spent a great deal of effort identifying and recording what wild flowers
were growing on the Green. She recorded over 60 different species & varieties, far more than any of
us imagined. We don’t think that there are any rarities, but the volume of different plants shows
how valuable the Green is for plant diversity. Notts Wildlife are interested in seeing the results.

Bob Thacker
15/01/2023