Wortham & Burgate Commons

For many years we have been helping Wortham & Burgate Parish Council manage the commons in the two villages. There are over 250 acres of commonland in the parishes - a vast amount of land to cope with - all of it valuable for wildlife and for local people to enjoy. The commons have remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. Many unusual plants grow here including a good range of orchids such as these Common Twayblades:

A few Bee Orchids appear every summer on Wortham Long Green and the Marsh:

There are many ponds scattered over the commons and these are home to a healthy population of Great Crested Newts. Birdlife is also well-represented with warblers, Turtle Doves and the occasional Nightingale in the summer months.

Each year the commons are either grazed by sheep and horses or cut for hay to prevent brambles and other bushes from spreading onto the open areas. Some bits get missed so a winter task for our volunteers is to remove invasive scrub such as here on the Marsh:

We have restored several ponds to help amphibians and water plants - one pond is home to the rare Lesser Marshwort. One of the more unusual tasks our volunteers completed was to clear the invasive Water Fern from a pond. This plant from tropical America can completely cover a pond and smother our native water plants. Here are our volunteers removing Water Fern:

Well the snow arrived over the weekend with 3 inches on the ground by Sunday afternoon. Small flocks of Whooper and Bewick's Swans have been flying overhead - Heading from the Continent. There has also been an influx of Woodcock from Scandanavia.

More next week.