Bath Voice Magazine: Bees, birds and volunteering as the work continues on Lyncombe Hill Fields
By Harry Mottram. Volunteers have mowed the last of the five fields on Lyncombe Hill to complete the first phase of restoring the pastures to become wild flower meadows.
Organiser Anita Breeze said: “The volunteers have been mowing the North Field with three shifts a day.“Two in the daytime and one in the evening and another one on Sunday with a fantastic turnout with lots of young people.”
“We always think will there be enough work for everyone but there’s so much to do and they seem to love it.”
Using a mower plus traditional scythes to cut the long grass the team have laboured away in sunshine and rain.Back in 1938 the Council bought the land as an open space and it had been leased to owners of horses as grazing land. When the lease ran out the Friends of Lyncombe Hill Fields were formed to manage the green space below Alexandra Park with the idea to conserve and enhance the biodiversity of the land and maintain its wild nature whilst safeguarding public access.
As a not-for-profit Community Interest Company the Friends of the fields have appealed for volunteers – and they have attracted many including William Chadwick, 14, who attends Beaching Cliff school and is volunteering as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award project.
Then there is Izzy Scalway of Lyncombe Hill who is a university graduate and has worked in hospitality but studied modern languages and business.
“It’s been really great, I’ve seen lots of voles, goldfinches and butterflies and even in the rain it’s enjoyable,” she said, “and they are a really nice crowd so you get to meet lots of people.
”Finally there’s Nathalie Hurlstowen who is a Bath University architecture masters student. “My course is online so I was craving some physical work and this is good. It’s cool to meet local people and it’s very social and in September there’s a meet up party so I’ll get to meet everyone else.”
Those interested should email lyncombehillfields@gmail.com or visit the website at https://friendsoflyncombehillfields.co.uk/
To read the magazine online visit: https://issuu.com/…/docs/2021_09_september_bath_voice…
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