Just another day for our volunteer work group up on Forrabury stitches looking for Weasel’s snout. You may have seen a few weeks ago 6 heads bowed in deep concentration wandering up and down the stitches. This wasn’t a new National Trust initiative to find inner peace, it was just the dedicated souls of our volunteer group looking for Corn Marigolds and Weasel’s Snout or Lesser snapdragon (Misopates orontium).
Prior to the Stitches being in Trust
ownership the stitches were given a liberal dose of herbicides and
artificial fertilisers and arable crops being sown in the autumn,
however now the area is carefully managed under the stewardship of
our tenant farmer at Home farm and numbers of both these species seem
to have increased; this is due mainly to moving to spring sown arable
crops and the area being managed organically.
We returned to the area recently to
carry out a Weasel’s Snout count and to our delight found over 400
specimens, a great return! With that in mind we went to the local and
had a well deserved pint.
If
you would like to come and join us on any future volunteering days
please contact Fred Hutt 01288 331372 or
fred.hutt@nationaltrust.org.uk
PS - I'm also on Twitter @ncntranger
