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End of Year Haycop Update 2018

The past 6 months on the Haycop Nature Reserve have been a very busy and productive time.

On Saturday 1^stJuly, we held our annual open day, which despite clashing with England’s quarter final World Cup game, was very well attended.  Activities included, pond dipping, Tarot card reading, traction engine rides, backwoods cooking and as always live music. Thank you to everyone who came along and helped to make this important fund raising event such a success.

Also, in early July the Wrekin Forest Volunteers visited The Haycop and have written a fantastic review on their website. They had particular praise for the hard work of our own volunteers:

“A lot of work is done by volunteers maintaining it and I am pleased to say that they maintain it for the wildlife rather than to make it look nice. Long may this continue.”

Photo: David Williams

A Misuena vatia spider, which often lurks on flower heads waiting patiently to ambush anything that passes. In this case it has taken a hoverfly.

Photo: David Williams

A pair of Azure damselflies. The male is "escorting" the female as she laid her eggs.

Photo: Paul Watts

Slowworm

Photo: David Williams

An Essex skipper - a recent arrival in Shropshire, an identifying feature is the black tips to its antennae.

Photo: David Williams

A teneral instar of a shieldbug

Photo: David Williams

Unidentified Fly

At the end of September, a large group of volunteers helped with the annual meadow cut.  This is a very important part of the management of reserve and is essential for encouraging the growth of wild flowers. The cut vegetation has to be removed, so that it does not rot down, putting nutrients back into the soil.  Wild flowers thrive on nutrient poor soil.  Following the meadow cut we planted Yellow Rattle seed in some of the disturbed ground. Yellow Rattle is a food plant for a number of butterfly species, including the Common Blue, Orange Tip and Brimstone. As a hemi-parasitic plant, it also helps to keep unwanted grasses under control.

Raking up the meadow cut

Raking up the meadow cut

Field Vole

It was good to see so many field voles on the meadow. Hopefully they have all resettled after the meadow cut

On Saturday 29^thSeptember the Group held our second fundraising quiz of the year at the Broseley Social Club. This quiz was very well attended and not only manged to raise much need funds for managing the Haycop but also raised £148 for Zac Oliver’s fund

In October we had a visit from the reception class at Broseley CE School.  The children and their teachers helped volunteers to pick crab apples, which will be used to make Haycop crab apple jelly. They also had the opportunity to sit around a fire in the forest school area and enjoy fried apple and warm apple juice.

October closed with another working party, this time aimed at clearing the path to the bird hide in preparation for some renovation and repair work to both the hide and the pond. The final working party of the year will take place on Saturday 1^stDecember when we will clear saplings and young trees from the Ant Hill Glade.

Quiz Night Helps to Boost Haycop Funds

The annual Haycop Quiz Night, held at Willey Village Hall on Saturday 14th April was huge success.  The event attended by over well over one hundred people helped to raise £700 for the charity.  The money raised will help to pay for the work carried out on the Reserve following the damage caused by the bad weather over the winter.

The Haycop Gets New Signs and Information Boards

Using money from the ‘Everybody Active’ grant, the Haycop Conservation Group have now installed two new signpost, one at the entrance to the Reserve on Dark Lane and one at the entrance on Ironbridge Road.  In addition, two new information boards have also been installed one at the Pond and one on the Heathland Area.

The Haycop Recovers After a Winter Battering

While the snow we had over the winter period turned the Haycop into a winter wonderland, it also did considerable damage to a significant number of trees.  In fact, almost 200 trees were affected and many have had to be removed as they had become unsafe.

Work on restoring the damage caused by the snow has been undertaken by a wide range of people including professional tree surgeons, our hard-working band of regular volunteers, the local Scout Troop and children from Broseley CE Primary School.  We are also grateful for the support of lronbridge Rotary Club who donated 80 saplings to the Haycop.  These have recently been planted on the Reserve and will go some way to replacing the trees that were lost.

Since the start of 2018 we have had three full volunteers’ days plus additional visits from individual volunteers, two school visits and one session each from the Scouts and Rotarians. As well as the planting of new trees, much of the brash and fallen timber has been cleared away to open up new rides through sections of the woodland.  We hope this will encourage butterflies to move through the site during the spring, summer and autumn.

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped with the clear up and replanting operation since January.