The Great Gamlingay Rake-off 2025
Following the great work done by the Cambridge Scything Group, a group will be meeting tomorrow afternoon – 9th September from 3.30 to 5.30pm for a Rake, Move and Mulch afternoon.
The plan is to complete raking the cutting grass into stacks. Then, to move hay to the main meadow, and use it to mulch the main meadow willows. This was done as a trial for two of the willow copses last season, and seems to have benefited them by helped to retain moisture through dry weather.
We would be delighted to see you if you wish to join in. Bring gloves and a rake if you have one. Wheelbarrows welcome too!
MBM Apple Harvest 2025
Apples are now ready for picking from the Lower Meadow orchard. They have not been sprayed or otherwise treated, so feel free to pick one or three to enjoy.
The hot summer affected the two orchards in different ways.
The main meadow orchard is on free draining sandy soil. Mulching helped the trees through the dry conditions, but some emergency watering was done late in the season when trees started to show drought stress. The crop of apples on the new trees was generally poor.
The Lower Meadow orchard, on heavier clay soils, seems to have thrived, and many of the trees have produced a good crop of decent sized apples – again helped by mulching done in past seasons.
There are three trees of Russet apples – green with brown skin markings – which mature later and are not yet ready for picking until into October. Please leave these for now.
January 18 2025: Hedge Laying Day (by Gwyn Williams)
Fortunately, the weather on Millbridge Brook Meadows was kind – our target, to renovate the 50m length of hedge along the Station Road boundary of the Lower Field. Planted in 2013, the hedge of hazel, hawthorn and rose had grown well – a bigger challenge that the main meadow hedge done last year.
Katherine and Ian from The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) joined us again to guide twelve volunteers to deliver a Midland style ‘conservation hedge’, with the intention of retaining as much of the existing hedge as possible to keep, for example, habitat for nesting birds. First, the hedge was ‘faced-up’ by removing branches facing towards us to give access. Then left facing branches were removed, this being the side where the stems, once cut, would be laid down towards the ground. Then every stem of the hedge was cut about 80% through using saw and billhook and laid towards the ground. The remaining stem, in effect a hinge of bark and cambium – is enough to keep it alive. Next was the process of inserting hazel stakes along the length of the hedge, and binding them together, by plaiting long whippy hazel stems long the top.
This year, the stakes and binders were sourced from Gamlingay Wood, ‘our’ volunteers joining with the regular Wildlife Trust volunteers, led by wardens Barbara Saunders and James Bonfield. The ancient method of coppicing is used to maintain the shaded hazel ‘understory’ trees that over the centuries produced the materials needed to help build the cottages and other buildings of Gamlingay. In the process, it helps sustain the wildlife of the wood, and it was brilliant to restore that link again. We were given a warm welcome and guidance to do the coppicing well, creating chunky stakes about 2m long and whippy binders 3-4m long. If you are interested in learning how to coppice, the Wildlife Trust team meet fortnightly on Sunday mornings through the winter and would be delighted to see you. Conservation Work Parties – Cambridgeshire | Wildlife Trust for Beds Cambs & Northants
The larger hedge meant that this years’ hedge laying required more effort than last year, but as Katherine reminded us, keeping tools sharp through the day made the task much easier! As dusk started to fall, we had completed laying the whole hedge, hammered stakes along most of its length and bound about half. We will return to complete the binding over the next few weeks. We generated several impressive piles of left-over ‘arisings’, which will be processed and removed too.
None of this would have been possible without financial support from the Gamlingay Turbine Tithe Fund and Gamlingay Parish Council, for which many thanks. The result looks stark, but will soften as new shoots emerge in spring.
October 4: Great Gamlingay Rake-Off
The heavy rain that forced a week’s delay to the 2025 Rake-Off gave way to dry weather and sunny spells, allowing volunteers plenty of time to collect cut grass. This is designed to stop nutrients from the mown hay fertilising the soil, which would otherwise help the grass get the better of the types of wildflower species that we instead want to encourage, like meadow sweet, cowslips and ladies bedstraw.
September 11: New information board
Regular visitors may have noticed a striking new information display board close to the Station Road entrance to Lower Field. This provides information about the pocket forest planted in 2022, the water and land habitat in this part of the meadows, and the community orchards there and in the main meadow.
September 11: Outdoor performance in 2025