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 Root of the day.
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 5/8ths of the OCV team, plus tree-poppers
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 Secluded hillside of unimproved chalk grassland.
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 Volunteers and some of the other scrub bashers on the site.
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 Tree poppers can remove the tap root, preventing regrowth. Even a small hawthorne can have a long root system.
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 Beautiful Grays Lane Bank, Ibstone SSSI
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 Digging up hawthorne and dogwood.
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 The root of the problem
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 End of the day - less invasive scrub
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 "Gator aid"
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 Return to Ibstone to dig more Hawthorns and pull Ragwort
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 Tool talk
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 Orchids now over but still many flowers, like Wild Parsnip ...
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 ... Marjoram ...
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 ... Clustered Bellflower ...
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 ... Yellow-wort ...
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 ... Dwarf Thistle ...
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 ... and Small Scabious, here with a 6 Spot Burnet Moth.
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 End of the day ...
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 ... time to pack up ...
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 ... and admire the view one last time, before the journey home
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 The view ...
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 ... and the chalk grassland meadow we are helping to conserve ...
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 ... with common spotted orchid ...
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 ... pyramidal orchid ...
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 ... fragrant orchid ...
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 ... mouse-ear hawkweed, and many others, including ...
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 ... common centaury.
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 At the end of the day, a big pile of little hawthorns, all dug up.
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 Beautiful Gray's Lane Bank SSSI
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 Mad dogs and OCV go out in the mid-day sun
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