Dean Green Team

Wildlife Conservation Group in the

Forest of Dean

Gloucestershire

15 November 2011

The Bearse

Grid Ref SO573058

A return to the Bearse to continue making glades for butterflies. First of all, we started a fire to burn off the old wood we had previously cut and then we took down further small trees to clear the south facing banks. Deer were spotted in the wood above us. Some of the team took a walk along the valley to see the travertine sands which accumulate in Slade Brook.

Many small branches and dead wood being burnt on a large fire.

Travertine Sands

These are natural dams formed when spring water, saturated in lime, runs over an
obstruction in the stream bed, resulting in the deposition of travertine, a porous,
crumbly limestone. They are beautiful and mysterious, especially in the
dappled morning light coming through the trees.

At the end of the day, the glade on the bank has been cleared and all the felled wood has been burnt.