The number of people supporting ecology at Great Elm on the Collier’s Way is currently limited as the FML Friday Club is active on path building work. However, a few Wildlife Volunteers are able to maintain and improve ecology at Great Elm plus starting an Away Day Project due to the significant effort put in by the Friday Club in previous periods.
The Away Day Project is to develop a clearing at the next bench, west up the path towards Conduit Bridge. The area could be called ‘Pairmain/Newsbury Hill Clearing’. There are two apple trees named on a boulder called Laxton’s Fortune and Autumn Pairmain, and the object of the project is to thin the trees, lay a hedge on the boundary and remove undergrowth (such as brambles). The view from the bench will then look across a wildflower area to a field boundary with hedge and great vista across the rolling countryside framed by mature trees. This will make a good stopping point for path users, providing a better welcome than the dark overgrown area being replaced.
The work is being Leader by FML Ecology Group with some support from Radstock Rangers and currently has been half completed. A Sustrans ecologist has marked trees on the hedge line to be removed by a subcontractor, and the tree felling should be completed before Christmas.
Pictures of the work in progress are shown below:
