DEAN GREEN TEAM Wildlife Conservation Group in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire

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29 June 2018

and

3 July 2018

Greathough Brook at Piano Corner

Grid Ref SO621154

 

In preparation for the imminent arrival of the beavers to Greathough Brook we realised that quite a few of the trees needed protection from their tree felling activities! These are mostly trees which are leaning over or very near to the new fencing which is designed to keep the beavers safe and within the area. Therefore, we were using fine mesh wire to guard the lower trunks of these trees. It was a beautiful sunny day and the job went well but we are returning next week to complete it.

3 July

The heat wave continues and, even though some of us turned up in shorts and t-shirts, the height and abundance of nettles soon thwarted our plans!!! We finished doing the tree guards and we also did a monitor of the plants around the marked posts along the stream. It was noted that there is an emerging clump of Himalayan Balsam by the stream to the west.

 

	The wire mesh is being clipped to the trees. This might be a rather large tree and would probably be ignored by the beavers but it is better to be safe than sorry!
	It may be rather difficult to see this but that is actually a wild raspberry bush and it had fresh fruit growing on it. Wild raspberries are much smaller than the cultivated kind but just as sweet!
	3rd July       There was a survey of the vegetation around the marked posts. This was done in a circle of 2 metres diameter from the post. All plants were noted plus their height. Bare soil percentages and plant percentages were estimated. This monitoring will be done again in the future to compare species survival.