The annual summer walk with Glorious Grasslands where we return to a site worked on over the winter habitat management season. The location today was a stunning SSSI site where we did a huge amount of gorse and scrub removal back in February.

It was nice to meet up with the team again – we are not used to seeing each other without winter clothing. Today was scorching weather, and no work involved, just a pleasant walk down to the bank to take a look at what’s growing.

I always find it satisfying to go back to sites in the summer and see what a difference the work makes. This one in particular was hard work as we had to remove a large amount of encroaching gorse from a steep bank.

Most of the areas were starting to see grass return, although, of course, gorse shoots are still coming through. But hopefully with grazing those young shoots don’t develop.

There were several areas of bare earth though where the grass hadn’t returned. Anna thought maybe we could do a green hay cut onto those areas to encourage growth next year (but this needs to be checked as it’s a SSSI).

We also managed to identify a plant that was spotted in February but couldn’t be sure what it was.

A tall green leaved plant with small seed heads
Houndstongue, the mystery plant from last winter

It turned out to be Houndstongue which is a reasonably rare plant. Very large too and doesn’t look like a typical calcareous grassland herb.

Cerian was keeping tally of all the species, and although we haven’t done the final tally yet, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it’s over 100. Indicator species alone was pretty extensive.

In the afternoon, I attended my first meeting of the Cam & Dursley Creatives. This group has been going since 2019 apparently, but I only heard of them last week. It’s a six weekly gathering of various creative projects in the area, where they try and collaborate on getting projects delivered.

There’s a pot of money they call the “community chest” which anyone can make a bid for small amounts from, and if it’s approved by the group, it gets awarded and the results reported back. So I made a pitch for some AI funding for the Dursley Code Club which was received well enough for me to make an application for consideration next time.

In the evening, we held the Dursley Green Drinks at Kingshill House. Very well attended tonight, possibly due to the fabulous evening weather. But new people as well which is always nice to see. A good opportunity to catch up with others on various strands of projects I’ve been doing.