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Mowing meadows and maintaining machines

Photo by Craig Raxster

Catch-up with Chloe's busy few months of mowing, chainsaw training and other learning.

A lot has happened since I last had the chance to update you all.

The mowing season has both officially started and almost ended and I got lots of opportunities to get comfortable using both brush cutters and BCS cutter-bar mowers, the latter of which was completely new to me. Both machines do a great job at mowing down large patches of grass and other scrubby materials (and also have a mild meditative effect!) but it was quite a steep learning curve using the mowers on the steep banks and thick bramble at Upton Warren and The Knapp and Papermill. It felt like the mower was going to tip over at points.

A close up photo of two delicate pink flowers in a grassy area

Photo by Chloe Hilton

Mowing and hay-raking is an incredibly important maintenance technique for floristically rich meadows. It allows a more diverse structure of wildflowers to establish themselves in the next year by mimicking grazing and in managing land which has been used agriculturally in the past, it can help to remove excess nutrients from the soil and restore the habitat to its natural relatively nutrient poor soil required for all kinds of wildflowers and grasses. When we visited an early mown Eades Meadow with the intent of finishing a trickier back section, I spotted meadow saffron. It was lovely to see as it reminded me of my family dog named Saffron who had passed away and was a beautiful example of the importance of this practice.

A photo of two brown and white cows in a dry field next to a truck with an open trailer on the back

Photo by Chloe Hilton

Recently, we visited the Wyre Community Land Trust and were involved with herding some of the cattle used for grazing after the mowing season (a mother and daughter) into an area where they could have no fence collars fitted. On another occasion, we were surrounded by some very curious and hungry cows whilst mowing who were very interested in some overhanging willow branches we removed! It isn’t often I get to spend time with livestock up close like this, so those moments felt very special to me.

However the most time-consuming new learning opportunity has been receiving our chainsaw cross-cut and maintenance tickets and all of the associated training.

For a full month, all the trainees were taught how to maintain our machines. We absorbed a ridiculous amount of information about sharpening, cleaning out all of the crud and sawdust, tensioning the starter mechanism, different chain types, sprockets, clutches, risk assessment, health and safety considerations and the one I found the most challenging to wrap my head around – tension and compression.

Whether due to luck or all the hours of panicked study we put in (who’s to say), we all passed! It was a huge relief to have been judged as competent in safe cutting and maintaining my machine, but there is a lot more practice and learning to be had to feel fully confident tackling all kinds of complicated and crowded jobs. I guess that can only come with time.

Alongside our chainsaw training, we also completed a very relevant course on basic tree surveying and inspection. It was a little intimidating at first taking the course alongside seasoned utility arboriculturists but it proved incredibly useful to be around them as we picked up much more nuance from their valuable experience and insight on the various examples we were shown and how they should be handled.

It also felt great to contribute to the maintenance of our HQ, Lower Smite Farm, as we noticed a couple of trees on their last limbs around the site during the practical segment that will hopefully result in a safer environment for everyone.

A photo of playing cards with the text 'Tree Trumps' written on top, with one turned over showing a European silver fir with different ratings

Photo by Chloe Hilton

Following the general theme of arboriculture, we recently attended the APF exhibition – a showcase for the forestry, woodland, arboricultural, fencing and grounds maintenance sectors. The Forestry Commission tent was a great mix of business and pleasure. I learnt about a research paper by Alexandra Ash on the reasons behind squirrel bark damaging behaviours, which could potentially be utilised to protect future woodland from squirrel damage in a less violent (and potentially ineffective) way. I also received a very fun pack of “Tree Trumps”, a spin on Top Trumps which I hope will make learning about suitability of different trees a little easier and more engaging.

It was incredibly exciting to watch people scale 80ft poles in under 20 seconds using modified football boots and to watch experienced tree climbers compete in a race where they ran across the branches of trees to ring bells. 

Chainsaw carving and green woodworking crafts were also a lovely surprise. It was interesting to see an artform develop surrounded by incredibly large, expensive and looming machinery. I think it speaks to the idea that there is value in art, culture and historical preservation despite its lack of efficiency and economic advancement – an important idea to hold with me for future conservation work.

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