La Société Members – Conservation Volunteer Event – Nature Reserve Work

La Société Members – Conservation Volunteer Event- Practical Work on our Nature Reserves –  Hemlock Water-dropwort Removal  🌱

Thursday 1st May | 10:00am – 12:00pm, Bridget Ozanne Orchid Fields at Les Vicheries.

We invite our Conservation Volunteers (any La Société member!) to join us to help us remove Hemlock Water-dropwort from our Orchid Fields. 

This network of 15 meadows has been managed by traditional methods for many years; no artificial fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides have been used, very little cultivation has taken place and the fields have not been ploughed since WWII. As a result, they have maintained their original flora and are very colourful in spring, when paths are cut around the fields so that visitors can take a closer look at the wild orchids.  That’s where we and our volunteers come in, cutting the hemlock water dropwort which encroaches onto the meadows, ensuring that the meadows remain clear whilst continuing to use traditional methods of land management. 

• Meeting location is here – https://maps.app.goo.gl/gDAPxdWWcuteUnaU8

• Parking – There is a car park alongside the sea wall on Route de Rocquaine – here – https://maps.app.goo.gl/6CW9VPDqTtRZ4x6k7  as well as several spaces for car parking beside bunkers along the coast road in the sand/grassy areas – here – https://maps.app.goo.gl/689nq8BLDFHRgjpaA or here – https://maps.app.goo.gl/j7nb8HHKXRbR1CibA, and from there it’s a short walk inland to the orchid fields at Les Vicheries.

• Clothing: Please wear practical appropriate clothing you don’t mind potentially getting dirty and sturdy shoes. If you have a pair of gardening gloves and appropriate tools (i.e. loppers, secateurs etc) please bring them along, if not some will be provided. 

—————