Denby Delf (or Mosley Roughs as it's sometimes referred to locally) is a Site of Scientific Interest designated for its botanical and butterfly interest. Located near the village of Upper Denby, it's well used by local dog walkers and ramblers following several public footpaths around and through the site.
On behalf of the Garganey Trust, we have been undertaking grass cutting on the lower meadow area, which hasn't been in active management for many years. Our task is to cut and remove the course grasses and scrub which left unchecked would dominate and outcompete wildflower species, and eventually succeed to woodland.
We've spent the last 5 days cutting areas of the meadow with our brushcutter followed by copious amounts of raking and barrowing.
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| Our trusty "Rudd's Rake" - don't make hay without one! |
Our new traditional hay rake, made by the last commercial hay rake makers John and Graeme Rudd of Cumbria, is worthy of an entire blog post on its own! Suffice to say it lived up to all expectations, performing brilliantly at the task it was designed to do!
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| Raked into rows and left to dry |
The intention is to return to Denby Delf in the winter to remove most of the scattered scrub in this field leaving a more open meadow area, sheltered in places by adjacent scrub and woodland. Lots of nice niches for the various plant and insect species to hopefully exploit!
If you've got land that you're looking to manage for wildlife then we may be able to help, please do get in touch.
