THE guest speaker at the April monthly meeting was Gary Farmer, Land and Development Manager of the Vale Landscape Heritage Trust (VLHT). In an illustrated talk which conveyed his love of his work, Gary described the philosophy behind the management of some 300 acres of traditional orchards, flood meadows, woodland and scrub in the Vale.

The charity has a group of willing volunteers and is supported financially by Severn Waste Services, Natural England and EU farming subsidies; additional income is derived from sales of produce such as hay, which is sold locally. The fact that an estimated 95% of wild meadow has been lost since 1945, underlies the importance of the conservation work being carried out in order to protect rare species of both flora and fauna native to the county. Gary’s main interest seems to be not so much for the birds and mammals, but rather for the creepy-crawlies - the insects – some of which are extremely hard to find but which are major contributors to the process of pollination, not least across the wide range of lesser known varieties of apples and plums – for which, of course, the Vale has long been famous.

There are, amongst other species to be seen, otters, harvest mice, grass snakes, egrets, cuckoos, stonechats and even a long-eared owl, and it is hoped that the curlew will re-establish itself now that there is a breeding pair in the Vale. There are a number of orchids, rarer plants such as the (inappropriately named!) Common Knapweed, the Tubular Water-dropwart, and a wide variety of meadow flowers which, in their turn, attract a wide variety of butterflies (including the rare Grizzled Skipper), moths, beetles and bees, to mention but a few. Not all the land managed by the trust is accessible to the public but we were told of sites at Lower Moor, in Hampton, in the Littletons and on Hipton Hill. Meanwhile, youngsters in the Vale are being encouraged to become involved through projects such as tree-planting (e.g. replacing ageing oaks in the Littletons) in the hope that they will come to understand the importance of conservation.

Gary made references too to the history of the area, showing an example of a ridge and furrow site in South Littleton, and how the plant life is different in what must, in the past, have been a trail across the countryside.

All this and much more can be found on VLHT’s colourful and informative website. What most appealed to his audience was Gary’s enthusiasm for, and pride in, the work the trust carries out, the progress that has been made in re-claiming land, the conservation of traditional crop varieties and the re-establishment of native species of flora and fauna. His entertaining presentation shed much light on this valuable work going on in our local area.

GRAHAME PERCIVAL