The Hurst meadows are a much loved village asset but they don’t run themselves. 10 trustees oversee their maintenance and ensure the Trust which owns them delivers its three charitable aims of conservation and protection, education, and public recreation.

After very long service, John Metcalfe, Gillian Johnson, Chris Hill and Shammy Puri are retiring as trustees. We will badly miss their expertise and wise counsel, particularly on ecological and/or water management matters. More broadly, we need trustees who are in touch with the users of all ages of our facilities and have the perspective to keep us firmly grounded while being open to change, recognising that we rely on volunteers. Our work to conserve the meadows depends on the generosity of our private donors supplemented by various grants, so experience in money matters and fund raising is always helpful.

The role is rewarding rather than burdensome – we routinely have only two formal meetings per year in the evening, but much more informal communication and activity between those meetings.

This is your chance to influence how we run this community treasure and experience the pleasure of feeling you are adding value to Dorchester. If you are interested do please contact us. If you are not certain you have the time or relevant experience, talk it over with us. Contact Richard Farrant (Chair) or Gillian Johnson (Hon. Secretary), or any other trustee whom you know (Louise Aukland, Graham Beland, John Metcalfe, Shammy Puri, Chris Hill, Roger Seabrook, Chris Smith, Mike Southon).

We need people like you!

• Richard Farrant richardfarrant@waitrose.com
• Gillian Johnson johnson.gs@btinternet.com

We are delighted to have received a grant of just under £10,000 to carry out work to improve some of the water retaining features in the Hurst meadow.

For several years the water table and the sub-soil movement of ground water, as well as the historical management of Hurst wetland, has been of particular interest to trustee Shammy Puri, who is a hydro-geologist. A hydrological study by a graduate for an MSc thesis in 2016 indicated that if the present scrapes and ditches were to be extended, so that they retained water for longer in summer, there would be benefits to the biodiversity of flora and fauna, especially of invertebrates.

This has been a long-term vision of the Trust but was brought forward when, unexpectedly, we were invited to apply for grant aid by FCC Community Action Fund. FCC Communities Foundation awards grants to community projects from funds donated through the Landfill Communities Fund. This all sounds a bit complicated but, essentially, we were invited to apply because the Trust is a charity managing an environmental facility on behalf of the community, open to all and situated within 10 miles of a landfill site. Our proposal and costing estimates were submitted on 14 February and we were informed in March that we had been successful.

There is much work ahead to obtain all necessary permissions for the project, which we were anticipating could proceed during the summer. However, the present Covid19 situation may result in inevitable delays.

Our plan is to excavate two more scrapes: a new scrape in the meadow where there is a natural damp depression, close to the existing scrape where the wildflowers proliferate (see photo) and a further, elongated scrape, within the head of the main tree-lined ditch that runs parallel to the river Thame. This latter scrape would be linked to the river by an underground culvert and would allow us to build up the footpath where it often becomes flooded and inaccessible in winter. Sections of the main ditch would also be deepened and bunds created to improve water retention.

We will publish further information as we proceed with this project.

In the meantime, preparations for the excavation of the two River of Life wetland sites in Old Bridge Meadow and Overy Mead Piece continue. Now that the floods have receded you can see that many of the willows on these sites have been hard pollarded. They will rapidly regenerate and no longer look so naked. Where heavy machinery will be working, when work starts later in the summer, we are having to keep vegetation very short to deter small mammals and invertebrates from nesting there

Gillian Johnson, Hon. Secretary Richard Farrant, Chairman
www.hurst-water-meadow.org.uk

The Trust is very fortunate that survey work on birds, the aquatic habitats and archaeology is proceeding on schedule at Old Bridge Meadow and Overy Mead Piece.

As residents may have seen, a team of archaeologists spent three days in late July excavating exploratory trenches in Old Bridge Meadow preparatory to compiling information for the proposed wetland enhancement. They had previously dug trial trenches in the other meadows, on the Wittenham side of the Thames, which also form part of the Earth Trust River of Life II proposal.

Four excavations were made on the periphery of the future work area. Detailed survey was carried out and some fragments of clay pottery and other pieces were found. All the soil profiles were logged and photographed. The excavations have all been backfilled and the soils have been restored.

The full reports of the findings are awaited. These, together with other information, will be presented in a series of local public exhibitions towards the end of October.

Shammy Puri (Trustee, Hydro-geologist)
Gillian Johnson (Hon.Secretary)
Richard Farrant (Chairman)
hurstwatermt@gmail.com
www.hurst-water-meadow.org.uk

See www.earthtrust.org.uk for further information on River of Life II

Earth Trust is delighted to announce it is to receive a Water Environment Grant, through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, for an exciting new partnership project to revive and create natural riverside wetland systems and increase biodiversity. Building on the success of the first wetland creation project, River of Life, near Shillingford, Earth Trust is partnering with local landowners, Church Farm Partnership and The Hurst Water Meadow Trust, to improve water ecosystems along the River Thames and River Thame.

Land next to rivers and streams can provide healthy life support systems for all life through biodiverse, functioning, natural freshwater ecosystems. To do this, land needs to be able to slow down and filter water and this can be done through the addition of wetland features such as ponds and water channels that are within the floodplain, some of which are connected to the river. The creation of these features alongside mosaics of other natural habitats such as woodland improve the quality of the landscape. These features also provide havens for spawning fish and wildlife essential to a thriving living system, from dragonflies to kingfishers and otters.

“Our first River of Life landscape scale project was hugely successful and pioneering. It created an incredible new wetland ecosystem on the Thames, demonstrating the management of water and wetlands in the landscape, and the benefits and value of water to society. We’re delighted to receive this funding enabling us to work with other local landowners to build on this success, and re-wild more of Oxfordshire’s riverside,” said Jayne Manley, Chief Executive of Earth Trust.

River of Life II will create these vital wetland habitats at three locations within the Parishes of Long Wittenham, Little Wittenham and Dorchester-on-Thames: at Earth Trust’s Clifton Meadow on the south bank of the River Thames; at Church Farm north of Days Lock, owned by the Church Farm Partnership; and at Overy Mead on the banks of the River Thame, managed by The Hurst Water Meadow Trust. Once completed, the new habitats will include 16 ponds and seven backwater channels, plus wet woodland at each of the three locations, all of which will connect to the main river to provide a refuge habitat for fish.

The project will also fund the creation of several new ponds in Little Wittenham Wood, home to one of the country’s most significant populations of great crested newts. Nationally, populations have dramatically declined due to loss of habitat and these new ponds will help strengthen the population of newts and other amphibians as our climate changes in the future. Little Wittenham Wood is managed by Earth Trust and is a designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) due to its importance as a habitat for great crested newts

The funding will enable Earth Trust to put in place boardwalks amongst the features and way marking so that people can access and explore the wetland ecosystems.

Pre-construction work will begin this year and include discussions with local communities and other interested stakeholders, negotiating access agreements, archaeological and ecological surveys, and refining designs. The main earth works construction period will take place in summer 2020, followed by the final physical elements of the project relating to access and interpretation.

Jayne added: “River of Life has significant impact beyond these works: rewilding the River Thames and creating a functioning ecosystem is a demonstration of the creative thinking and action needed as we face up to the climate change challenges ahead. We need to radically rethink our approach to managing the Earth’s resources, such as water and soil, and accelerate projects that are going to sustain life on Earth.”

As I write this in April the rain continues to fall and the meadows are largely under water. This is frustrating for walkers, joggers and dog owners but, if nothing else, we will appreciate the meadows all the more when we can return to using them. I hope that by the time this May issue of Dorchester News is published the water will have drained and new grasses and wild flowers will be growing.

The polo ponies grazed the Hurst efficiently, without escaping too often, and went home on 1^st March. Their owner sent his thanks saying: “People were very nice to them and it’s great to have the support of those who use the meadow regularly.”

In Old Bridge Meadow the next section of hedge on the boundary with the car park was laid by three experts: Will, Max and Peter, who live locally and who very kindly offered to do this work for us so that they could practise their skills. They have done a beautiful job and taught us that a laid hedge has a front and a back. You will be looking at the front as you walk past it in the meadow.

In early March we were joined once again by members of Sonning Common Green Gym who helped us to lay blackthorn and deepen ditches in the Hurst. Meanwhile trustee Chris Smith, who manages our own volunteers, was frustrated by the weather and unable to start the Tuesday morning work sessions on the meadows as soon as he and the volunteers would have wished. They will be playing ‘catch-up’ as the nettles start to grow.

Mystery donation

A cheque, payable to the Hurst Water Meadow Trust, was sent to our treasurer in March but was not accompanied by any other information. The signatory of the cheque is not someone we know so I have been unable to write to thank this kind supporter. If the donor happens to read this please accept the grateful thanks of the trustees for your unexpected and generous gift.

Gillian Johnson (Hon. Secretary) on behalf of the Trustees

01865 340925

admin@hurst-water-meadow.org.uk

www.hurst-water-meadow.org.uk