Volunteers brave the snowy weather at Down
Bank near Chilham
The Kentish Stour Countryside Project Volunteers were
out braving the snowy weather last week. There was a good turn out for the
first task of 2008 with 17 people giving up their time to help. The group
were at Down Bank near Chilham, carrying out scrub clearance work, and
also trying to burn off a few of the extra calories they had eaten over
the festive period. The latter backfired slightly due to some jacket
potatoes cooked in the bonfire and left over mince pies.
Down Bank is home to one of Britain's rarest species,
the Black-veined moth, which is only found in the Stour Valley. The moth
needs rough chalk grassland slopes that need maintaining to stop scrub
species taking over.
The regular volunteers were joined by Fran Thompson, who
recently started as the Denge woods Project Officer for Butterfly
Conservation. A Project that is part of a wider south-east woodlands
Project aimed at promoting sustainable woodland management with a focus on
woodland butterfly and moth species.
Countryside Officer Matt Hayes said " I was pleased
that so many people came along to help, we had a great day cutting back
the scrub. We had a couple of bonfires going, to burn up what we had cut.
A nice bonfire is always good for morale, especially when it starts
snowing."
If you would like to get involved or for
more information please contact us.
