This week we hosted the Chiltern Conservation Board’s annual Scrub Bash at Whiteleaf Hill Nature Reserve. Over 80 volunteers turned out on a wonderful winter’s day to help restore the important chalk grassland on the steep scarp slope.
Our regular volunteers were joined by others from a whole host of different groups and organisations including students from the Berkshire College of Agriculture, staff from CCB, Chiltern Rangers, Butterfly Conservation, The National Trust, Chiltern Woodlands Project and the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
The focus of the day’s work was to clear encroaching scrub from the chalk grassland to improve the opportunities for wildflowers to flourish and to support species such as the endangered Chalk Hill Blue butterfly. A huge effort was invested by everyone who attended, only stopping to to have a BBQ lunch and admire the stunning views. Over the course of the day the volunteers managed to clear almost half of the slope which will be a huge help to the regular Whiteleaf Hill volunteer team in their on going efforts to restore and manage this habitat in years to come.
