Dean Green Team

Wildlife Conservation Group in the

Forest of Dean

Gloucestershire

26 February 2019

Foxes Bridge Colliery Tip

Grid Ref SO638136

Today, we split into three groups for different tasks. There was litter picking and raking in the area near to an old scrap heap - there was removal of blackthorn branches along the cycle track to be used to build hedging - and there was gorse and birch to be used for hedging up by the colliery tip.

The weather was, again, glorious as it has been the warmest February since records began!

Raking an area with the hope that adders and lizards will use it. We saw a couple of early Comma butterflies and a Yellow Brimstone.

This is the long trek along the cycle track and we dragged all the branches up to the raked area to build the anti-boar fence. On the right of the track there is new fencing as it has been designated as a butterfly site and will have sheep in there to keep the grass low.

This is the old colliery slag heap and, on the left, is a newly created pond (one of nine ponds) but it has drained itself. We built another anti boar hedge around it with the gorse and birch.