Two Pines Fen, Frilford Heath Golf Course SSSI - Tuesday, 9 and Thursday, 25 April 2024
Blog and photos by Sally With prior agreement with Frilford Heath Golf Course, we returned for two mid-week "specials" in order to carry out the spring cut and rake of Two Pines Fen, which is bordered by the red and green courses and can only safely be achieved mid-week, when there are fewer golfers thus reducing the possibility of being hit by a flying golf ball! This little calcareous fen is home to about a dozen types of orchid, Grass of Parnassus and both common and broad-leaved cotton grass as well as some rare mosses and sedges. Without the spring and autumn cuts, reed and hard and soft rush would take over and the rare plants cannot compete with them and eventually, the fen would turn to scrub. Part of our task was also to remove birch, willow, hawthorn and bramble which have begun to encroach in recent years. On 9 April, six volunteers (Adrian, Graham, Jim and Sally from AGG joined by friends Rich and Guy) managed to cut and rake the red course half of the fen, bot