There is free transport to work sites on a Wednesday. The pick up point is from in front of the waiting room at Babraham Park and Ride off Babraham Road (A1307) at 9:30am. We aim to drop volunteers off again at 4:00pm. This programme will change every three months so please do check it regularly. Sometimes the Programme can change at short notice, please contact the Project Officer on 01954 713530 to confirm details before coming out.
This list may change at short notice please ring first or meet at the pick up point
Date: 4th
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: Our management at this very important site is essential so we will be continuing to cut grass and clear scrub regrowth.
Date: 11th
Place: Roman Road SSSI
Activity: As with the site above we will continue with grass cutting and scrub clearance to help maintain and expand the important grassland areas.
Date: 18th
Place: Stapleford Pit
Activity: A visit to this special little site will involve clearance of scrub to help expand the small area of species rich chalk grassland.
Date: 25th
Place: Kingston Disused Railway
Activity: At this recently designated Local Nature Reserve we will be undertaking tree conservation work.
Date: 1st
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: We shall be focusing on the area of the dyke north of Mutlow Hill in preparation for the spring.
Date: 8th
Place: Haslingfield Pit
Activity: Expanding the grassland area by clearing back the scrub will help all those species that make the Pit so special, hopefully including Man Orchid.
Date: 15th
Place: Secret Venue
Activity: The Project is hopefully going to be developing closer ties with this organisation so we will be spending a day at this secret venue.
Date: 22rd
Place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Activity: TO BE CONFIRMED
Date: 1st
Place: Old Cambridge Road Verges
Activity: This site has not been visited by the Project so we shall be returning to do some valuable scrub and grassland clearance.
Date: 8th
Place: Reach Disused Railway
Activity: This is one of the few sites in the county for the Small Blue butterfly and we will be cutting and racking the ranker vegetation to encourage the growth of Kidney Vetch, the Small Blue caterpillars food plant.
Date: 15th
Place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Activity: TO BE CONFIRMED
Date: 22nd
Place: Street Way County Wildlife Site
Activity: Like Old Cambridge Road Verges this site hasn't been visited for many years so needs emergency grass cutting and scrub clearance.
Date: 29th
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: As the undesirable vegetation starts to grow with the spring warmth then they need to be cut back to allow the later growing chalk grassland species a head start.
Date: 5th
Place: Roman Road SSSI
Activity: This site will need one last cut before the summer, to help reduce competition on the chalk loving plants.
Date: 12th
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: This site is also having one last trim before the summer.
Date: 19th
Place: East Pit SSSI
Activity: This very impressive site needs help in reducing the effect of the highly invasive plant, Buddleja, on the chalk grassland plants that are found there.
Date: 26th
Place: Meet at the normal pick up point.
Activity: Black Poplar Survey . With the starting of the County Wide survey at the beginning of the month this is an opportunity for the group to join in this valuable project.
Date: 3rd
Place: Foxton Meadow
Activity: This rapidly improving grassland site will benefit from a further cutting of the nettles.
Date: 10th
Place: Great Shelford Pocket Park
Activity: A long neglected site whose grassland and paths are being invaded by scrub and which we will be helping to maintain.
Date: 17th
Place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Activity: TO BE CONFIRMED
Date: 24rd
Place: Stapleford Pit
Activity: We shall be clearing back the coarser vegetation to allow the finer chalk grassland species to flourish.
Date: 31st
Place: Street Way County Wildlife Site
Activity: This rarely visited County Wildlife Site is important for scarce grassland plants. The group will be visiting the site to confirm the presence of several species.
Date: 7th
Place: Haslingfield Pit
Activity: Floral Foray. The annual Foray begins at Haslingfield Pit to count Man Orchids and then to other sites the group has worked on to check up on the results of our efforts over the winter.
Date: 14th
Place: Meet at the normal pick up point.
Activity: Small Blue and Four Spotted Moth Search. The group will spend the day focusing on these two scarce species. We shall be visiting two sites where the Small Blue butterfly has been recorded and where work has been undertaken by the group. The rest of the day will be spent looking for new sites for the Four Spotted Moth. We shall be helping Butterfly Conservation with this task.
Date: 21st
Place: Kingston Disused Railway
Activity: As part of National Insect Week we shall be revisiting this reserve and try to identify as many different sorts of insect that we can. We shall be pond dipping, grass sweeping, kick sampling, branch banging and pit-fall trapping all day! The night before we shall be trapping moths on site to be displayed in the morning. Contact Iain Webb for details: tel. 01954 713531. mobile. 07734 478461. email. iain.webb@wildlifebcnp.org
Date: 28th
Place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Activity: TO BE CONFIRMED
Date: 5th
Place: Barnwell East Local Nature Reserve
Activity: One of the first sites that the Green Belt Project volunteers worked on 13 years ago. The task is to help reduce the spread of invasive species such as Rosebay Willowherb and Michaelmas Daisy.
Date: 12th
Place: Hairstreak Search
Activity: This now annual task of looking for Purple and White-letter Hairstreak sites will focus on the parishes south-west of Cambridge.
Date: 19th
Place: Great Wilbraham Common SSSI
Activity: The summer trip to this very important site to check up on the spread of ragwort across the site.
Date: 26th
Place: Town End Green, Girton
Activity: This special little site needs a hay cut. Also an opportunity to look for White-letter Hairstreak.
Date: 2nd
Place: NO TASK
Activity: NO TASK
Date: 9th
Place: NO TASK
Activity: NO TASK
Date: 16th
Place: TO BE CONFIRMED
Activity: TO BE CONFIRMED
Date: 23rd
Place: Visit to the Great Fen Project
Activity: The group will be visiting this very important and exciting project and be given a guided tour by the project manager Chris Gerrard. The Project wants to link Holme Fen and Woodwalton Fen Nature Reserves, creating a large wetland reserve. We will be looking at the existing sites but also those recently bought areas of farmland that are being returned to 'the wild'.
Date: 30th
Place: Great Wilbraham Pit
Activity: We will be grass cutting at this important parish grassland site.
Date: 6th
Place: Gog Magog Down
Activity: We shall be helping clear scrub from one of the original areas of chalk grassland found on the site.
Date: 13th
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: This is the first visit of the autumn to this site where we will be undertaking some very important grass cutting and clearance to help the chalk grassland species.
Date: 20th
Place: Kingston Disused Railway
Activity: At this very important site we shall cutting and clearing the grassland.
Date: 27th
Place: Foxton Meadow
Activity: This rapidly improving grassland site will benefit from a further cutting of the nettles.
Date: 4th
Place: Kingston Disused Railway Local Nature Reserve
Activity: Its autumnal cut will be complete but the cuttings need to be removed or the plant species of interest will be smothered. There is also some Himalayan Balsam to clear.
Date: 11th
Place: Stapleford Pit/Gog Magog Golf Course SSSI
Activity: These two sites need a bit of a trim to get rid of the courser vegetation. The work on the Golf Course will again concentrate on the Moon Carrot section.
Date: 18th
Place: Toft Allotment
Activity: This important grassland/scrub site needs a bit of a trim to encourage Bee Orchid, Adders Tongue Fern and many other interesting species to spread.
Date: 25th
Place: Northwest of Cambridge
Activity: Fungal Foray - Due to popular request the group will be undertaking another Foray of a Fungal kind. This time we will be visiting two sites to the north west of Cambridge.
Date: 1st
Place: Litlington Pit
Activity: Another visit to this impressive site to continue to remove scrub and cut and clear the grass at this extensive chalk grassland site.
Date: 8th
Place: Fleam Dyke SSSI
Activity: As always this site needs its grassland to be cut. On this visit we will be concentrating on the north of Mutlow Hill.
Date: 15th
Place: Dernford Fen
Activity: We shall be continuing our riverside work by planting 12 willows to help replace those willow pollards that have disappeared over the years.
Date: 22nd
Place: Roman Road SSSI
Activity: Grass cutting and clearing is as important as ever on this nationally important site.
Date: 29th
Place: Harston Orchard
Activity: This very attractive site needs to have some of its apple trees released from the grip of invading scrub and bramble.
Date: 6th
Place: Great Wilbraham Pit
Activity: The main task for this site is to help improve the wooded area. This will be through helping change the structure of the wood by removing some exotic trees, coppicing others and helping remove some of the Sycamore.
Date: 13th
Place: Haslingfield Pit
Activity: After cutting the grassland in September the group is going to concentrate on helping the existing grassland to expand into existing scrubby areas.
Date: 20th
Place: Great Wilbraham Common SSSI
Activity: As Christmas comes round so the annual Christmas work party takes place at Great Wilbraham Common. Mainly scrub clearance work with a liberal sprinkling of mince pies and jacket potatoes.