Newbury and Thatcham Green Gym
Monday, 24th March 2014
Snelsmore Common, Newbury ~ Scrub clearance

Volunteers with Newbury & Thatcham Green Gym take a welcome break while clearing scrub and birch from the heathland at Snelsmore Common.

Volunteers for the day (in alphabetic order): Anita, Barry, Barry, Brian, Helena, Julie, Judith, Nadia, Toby and Yvonne plus Denise hiding behind the camera. We were also assisted by the Common's ponies but unfortunately were unable to obtain their consent to appear in the group photo.

Start of day. The birch scrub would if allowed to grow, eventual shade and kill the heather and the open common would become a birch woodland.

Cleared scrub stacked for burning.

The ponies join in. At this point it's probably mainly out of curiosity but their grazing should minimise any regrowth of the birch, helping maintain the character of the Common in the way it would have been managed historically.

Thanks to everyone who joined us to help with this task.

Created: Tuesday, 25th March 2014
Photographs: Denise Howarth