Ashridge Volunteers

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We only have two viable bushes at Ashridge!
When juniper bushes were blighted by a fungus, horticulturists feared it could be the end for British gin. Now drinkers of the spirit can breathe a sigh of relief as experts say that it’s future is safe thanks to a seed-collection project that provides an “insurance policy” for the plant. A spirit cannot be classed as gin if it is not flavoured with juniper.
Juniper berries which produce the seeds of the tree take two years to slowly mature and are essential to giving the alcoholic drink its distinctive flavour, but the native UK species is in decline. At the same time sales of gin have boomed, and are predicted to outstrip Scottish whisky sales by 2020.
Now the UK National Tree Seed Project, set up by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, has collected seeds and put them into storage to stop them from vanishing from the countryside.
The storage system at the Millennium Seed Bank will obviously not cure the disease, but it is hoped that it will help conservation, and will protect the juniper from extinction.
The project has “banked” 5.8 million seeds from six thousand five hundred UK trees since May 2013. It aims to collect seeds from all native woody plants, and juniper is the first species to be fully gathered and saved.
Richard Deverell, director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said: “This project is a huge undertaking, but once complete it will provide a fundamental collection of our iconic British trees, helping Kew to lead the way in tackling the many threats facing the UK’s stunning woodlands.”
Seeds have been collected from juniper trees and shrubs across Britain, including Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Cumbria, Conway and the Scottish Highlands

They are taken to the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst, Sussex, where they are cleaned, dried and examined to make sure they are viable, before being stored in underground vaults at minus 20C.
Juniper, which is important not just for gin but for supporting a range of wildlife, is also facing problems with fragmented populations and difficulties regenerating successfully, as old trees and shrubs produce fewer seeds and young plants are eaten by deer and rabbits. Juniper has steadily declined over the last few decades and many counties in southern England have lost over 60% of their juniper populations.
In Scotland, the UK’s stronghold for Juniper, it has been lost from nearly a quarter of the areas it was previously found in.
The fungus-like disease Phytophthora austrocedri has caused particular problems in Scotland since it was first discovered in the plants in 2011.
There is no single cause for juniper decline in the lowlands, but loss of seedling habitat through under-grazing with the development of dense grassland and scrub, is the most widespread problem. Some colonies have also been affected by a shortage of viable seed, or have been overrun with rabbits eating seedlings and damaging adult bushes.
Many juniper populations are shrinking as bushes die of old age with nearly a quarter of sites in southern England supporting just one bush. Here at Ashridge we have just three bushes, one of which is a poor specimen, so Volunteers are now helping with the conservation of the last remaining bushes. The Trust have taken seeds and cuttings for propagation but have not as yet decided on a plan for the restoration of the juniper.
Many of the remaining lowland bushes are over a century old and, not surprisingly they are not producing much viable seed, with 85% of sites containing no seedlings up to five years old.
For the next generation of juniper, good numbers of both male and female juniper bushes are needed at each site, with plenty of viable seed and the right conditions for germination and growth of seedlings, free from predation.

Here’s to that. Cheers!

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Spring is sprung twenty six days earlier than a decade ago, causing problems for the natural cycle of plants and wildlife, according to Climate News Network.
Spring is arriving ever earlier in the northern hemisphere. One sedge species in Greenland is springing to growth twenty six days earlier than it did a decade ago. In the US, spring arrived twenty two days early this year in Washington D C.
The evidence comes from those silent witnesses, the natural things that respond to climate signals. The relatively new science of phenology – the calendar record of first bud, first flower, first nesting behaviour and first migrant arrivals – has over the last three decades repeatedly confirmed meteorological fears of global warming, as a consequence of the combustion of fossil fuels.
Researchers say the evidence from the plant world is consistent with the instrumental records as 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, and it was the third record-breaking year in succession. Sixteen of the hottest years ever recorded have happened in the 21st century.
And of course, an early spring doesn’t mean a sunnier, kinder world for us all. Ticks and flies become more active, pollen seasons last longer, and crops could flourish or be at risk from a sudden late frost or summer drought.
Plants may bloom before the arrival of the birds, bees and butterflies that feed on and pollinate the flowers, with consequences for both the plant and the pollinator.
These earlier springs might not seem such a big deal – and who among us doesn’t appreciate a balmy day or a break in the dreary winter weather. Well anyway..

I saw three dandelions today,
Beside a fence down Frithsden way,
Though until then I had not seen
A coltsfoot, or a celandine,
A mercury, or a violet small,
Or any other flower at all.

Three dandelions, beside a fence!
A thing of little consequence
To many folks who passed, and yet
Those shining disks of gold I met
Told me that winter time is past,
And blessed spring is here at last.

No more cruel days of frost that kill
The starving thrushes on Beacon Hill!
No scourging wind! No drifts of snow!
The dandelions told me so;

Forerunners, these, of countless flowers,
Of sun and song and joyous hours!
No wonder that I’m pleased to say
‘ I saw three dandelions to-day’ !

Thanks to Barclay Wills for his contribution.

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There were one hundred and forty guests at the annual Volunteers’ Party on Friday, held at the splendid Civic Centre in Berkhamsted.

The Trust headed up by Susie, along with Lalenya took the opportunity to highlight their commercial achievements over the past year. All activities at the Visitor Centre improved over the previous year apart from the paid attendance at the Monument. The Trust were very upbeat about their achievements with a fanfare of music from the 1970’s T V Generation Game – Scores on the doors! They were particularly pleased with the recruitment of new Trust members – 335. This will produce some £14,000 of income for Ashridge.

Ashridge have calculated that there are one hundred and seventy four active volunteers who produce the equivalent of £200,000 of work for the Estate each year. No mean achievement.

Lawrence, Ben and Emily outlined their conservation achievements and mentioned their hopes for the coming year. The deer cull was important with the herds now in fine fettle for the coming season. It is hoped that future supplies of venison emanating from the Estate will be badged up and sold throughout the N T properties as “wild” deer from Ashridge. Large scale pond clearance work has taken place for the first time in many years, and the flint wall volunteers have persevered with the endless task of restoring the Victorian carriage drive.

On survey work, all nine hundred veteran trees have been mapped by the volunteers in preparation for halo thinning – a daunting task. The bird survey surprisingly found twenty pairs of skylarks and fifteen pairs of meadow pipits nesting on Northchurch Common.

The Old Deer Park is due for another clean up with the planting of more specimen trees, and hedge-laying is to be introduced for the volunteers to participate in.

There was no mention of progress or plans on any of the capital projects.

Ben Newton the new Ashridge Ranger introduced himself and talked about the responsibilities for the emerging group of volunteer rangers.

There were only three presentations this year, the first to Bob Saintey for his ten years of devotion at the Windmill, to the membership secretary of Friends of Ashridge, and to John Houston of the Thursday group for five years service.

The evening was rounded off with a quiz requiring guests to recognize some obscure parts of the Estate.

The meal of beef bourguigon followed by chocolate brownie was served up by the team from the Visitor Centre Cafe, to their usual high standard. Their reputation precedes them, while the staff supported the meal with ample supplies of liquid refreshment.

It was nice to see staff and volunteers dressing-up for the occasion, making it difficult to recognise people out of uniform! The volunteers were well pleased.

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Doris did not go down a storm. She created havoc across the Country with winds of up to eighty miles per hour in the South. Ashridge had it’s fair share of destruction with large trees being felled to create more work for the foresters and ultimately the volunteers. Fallen trees blocking roads as at Aldbury are removed by the local council and their contractors.
Whilst some people believe that naming storms ‘Doris’ or ‘Barbara’ trivialises the danger posed by adverse weather, the Met Office claims that the new practice has made the public more engaged, informed and better prepared to face the elements. Helen Chives, a meteorologist at the weather forecaster, has said that people are now safer as a result of this naming.“The first thing really is how it has captured the public’s imagination, which was the whole purpose of the project,” she said. “The engagement through social media channels, which  of course is a growing way in which everyone communicates, has been an absolutely phenomenal.”
Inspired by the long-standing US tradition of naming of hurricanes, the Met Office introduced the project of naming storms in 2015, giving members of the public the chance to name major weather systems due to break over the UK and Ireland. Previously, storms were often named randomly and inconsistently, meaning the same storm was often referred to by several different names, depending on where you lived in the country. But with the introduction of the new alphabetic system, the Met Office has found that people are better able to track a storm’s progress enabling them to take better precautions and avoid danger when they arrive.
Storm Doris was not as damaging for Ashridge as with previous ones in October 1987, and the particularly nasty one in January 1990 when Ashridge lost a lot of trees.
The Estate was closed for the day on Thursday because of the potential injury from the high winds, and the volunteers were stood down. However visitors still arrived to experience the high winds and take a walk-on-the-wild-side!

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The Trust have created a new group of workers – the ad hoc volunteers. They will be called upon to undertake specific tasks apart from those carried out by the regular Thursday and Sunday groups.

Last Wednesday the group of seven were tasked with cutting back a blackthorn hedge fronting the meadow to the Old Dairy Farm on the B4506 just down from the Estate Office. The brash was loaded and taken back to the estate yard for burning – an all day job.

The original hawthorn hedge is ancient, being planted as an enclosure for cattle back in Tudor times. It has been added to over the years with blackthorn to fill in the gaps, and supported by post and rail , and a wire fence in places.

Strange as it may seem there is a way to estimate the age of a hedgerow – “Hooper’s Law”. To find the answer to this rule of thumb, count the number of species of trees and shrubs found in a one hundred foot length of hedge (30 metres). The number of species multiplied by one hundred gives the number of centuries, so with our hedge containing hawthorn, blackthorn, oak, rose, and elderberry it is at least five hundred years old!

The Old Dairy Farm was first mentioned in 1543 when Robert Eme stated that he had been granted a lease of the “Dayry” House by Thomas Waterhouse, the last Rector at the Ashridge monastery in 1536. When Ashridge was conveyed to Princess Elizabeth in 1550, Eme still occupied the Dairy lands. In 1575 “Le Deyrey” was a house with an old room adjoining called a “Carte Howse”. The initials on the wall of the Old Dairy farmhouse are R. H. E. The surrounding forty acres of meadow land were carved out of the original forest “woodground lately felled”, and would have been enclosed with thorn hedging. In 1838 the Bridgewaters administered the property as part of their land-grab, with their aim of becoming landed aristocrats, and it was subsequently sold off in the 1920’s. It is in private hands today apart from the large open meadow in the south which is owned by the Trust.

The team members in last weeks ad hoc group were Andrew Reeve, Arthur Whiting, Andy Neil, Mike Keen, Tony Deighan and Tony Smart, supervised by Emily.

Thanks to Tony Smart for his contribution on the post.

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When summer sweetness fills the air,
And butterflies flit everywhere
On tireless wings,
What perfect colour schemes are ours,
In all the painted wings and flowers
That summer brings!

But on this February day,
As up Malting Lane I made my way
To reach Toms Hill,
No petals decked the muddy bank-
Just ivy leaves and herbage rank,
And all was still.

A sombre colour scheme today!-
A hundred shades of brown and grey
And withered green,
And, up among the hazels high,
The ragged, jagged bits of sky
Through branches seen-

Then something flitted past my eye!-
A hibernated butterfly
In coat so gay!-
Against the tints of dusky hue
He filled the lane with colour new,
And danced away.

Though I’ve seen Brimstones by the score,
I never realized before
I met this fellow
How such a wintry, dull-hued spot
Could be transformed by just one dot
Of lemon yellow!