Tuesday 19th November in the Pavilion, Pontesbury

All Welcome

When Pontesford Hill was gifted to Shropshire Wildlife Trust in 2016 their ecologists assessed the habitat and made a ‘management prescription’ to improve it. You can view the plan on this site by clicking the News tab then Plans.

For the past eight years, SWT and the Friends of Pontesford Hill have been organized weekly work parties trying to protect species, improve the habitat mix and keep the paths clear.

Over that time there have been some unwelcome extra challenges: ash die-back disease, Storm Arwen and a changing climate. The Friends have broadened their interest to include the whole Reserve, including Earls Hill and the meadows. We have experimented with various innovations: using scythes to control invasive scrub, leaving more dead timber as habitat, and grazing with goats rather than sheep.

It seems timely to discuss how we are doing, and where we go from here. Should we be felling more tress, planting more, or both? Should we be grazing more with goats or cattle? Do we want to take the hill back to how it was in our memories, or let the habitat evolve into something else?

We’d like to hear your views on where we go from here. We will never have enough time and money to do everything, but what are the priorities?

Come and join the discussion.