Thistle control at Fromebridge

Today’s task at Fromebridge with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust was to try and get on top of the thistle before it sets seed this season. There were two main areas – around the pond which needed to be done by hand in case of nesting birds, and then there was the vast tracts on the main scrapes. The rest of the team took on the pond, while I took the brush cutter to start on the main reserve. There are two types – creeping thistle which spreads like wildfire and spear thistle which doesn’t spread quite as much. Grazing cows on the reserve At this stage in the season, there is way too much to pull by hand. Cutting them now means they won’t go to seed (and make the problem worse), but of course, being perennial plants means they will come back next year. The worst areas were quite distinctive because the spear thistle grows tall (and the creeping thistle seems to keep up with it). So my approach was just to move quickly through those patches, cutting down at the root. We won’t bother…