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NEW for 2018 - Vale Blossom Trail
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Another single-variety Cider from our Stocken OrchardThe Dabinett single-variety cider from Stocken Orchard, produced by AvonBank at Pershore College has proven so popular that they are now producing Somerset Redstreak single-variety (2017). This is great news as it is using our fruit literally on our doorstep, reducing 'food-miles' and giving the Trust more local publicity.
Find it at local farm shops or contact Pershore College. |
Stocken Orchard Cider
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ALL ABOUT APPLES
Worcestershire's first Pomona has been published. The little book packed with interesting information about Worcestershire's apples (and pears) has been written by Wade Muggleton and published by Aspect Design in 2017 for The Marcher Apple Network. If you have an interest in local apples, it's a book worth having.
A well deserved award for
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2016 a bumper year for apples
Our Stocken Orchard has produced a bumper crop of cider apples this year which is great news. Unfortunately for us, so has everyone else's so finding buyers for our apples and transport has proven very difficult. This has resulted in a large amount of wasted fruit. Pershore College have taken some again to produce another batch of their excellent single variety cider which we are looking forward to sampling! |
Stocken Orchard sunrise
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New Dawn for North Littleton Community Orchard and Nature Reserve
Our site at North Littleton has been the focus of attention during January 2016. Contractors and volunteers have planted 70 new fruit trees as phase 1 of the orchard planting. Internal fencing has been erected to allow management of the site as an orchard, meadow and wildlife area. Contractors planted 300 metres of native hedging and volunteers planted a further 100 metres.
Farmland birds have been seen in good numbers including Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Corn Buntings. These have in turn attracted birds of prey including Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, and even a Merlin.
Farmland birds have been seen in good numbers including Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings and Corn Buntings. These have in turn attracted birds of prey including Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, and even a Merlin.
Dawn at North Littleton Community Orchard
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Volunteers hedge planting
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Raise a glass to another success
Stocken Orchard cider - On sale NOW!
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in 2015 Pershore College launched a new brand of cider produced from Dabinett apples harvested from our orchard at Stocken. We hope that this partnership will continue and that Stcken Orchard Cider will become a regular sight on the shelves of local suppliers.
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A new old orchard for Vale Landscape Heritage Trust
In the summer 2015 VLHT were able to purchase a lovely old traditional orchard, standing on ridge and furrow. The site is located near Naunton Beauchamp and is 3.7 hectares in size. The trees in the orchard are very old pear and apple trees of various varieties so we will be identifying what is there and planting up the gaps with local varieties.
The purchase of the orchard was made possible by the generous support of Severn Waste Services through a Landfill Communities Fund grant.
The purchase of the orchard was made possible by the generous support of Severn Waste Services through a Landfill Communities Fund grant.
Naunton Court orchard June 2015
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Naunton Court orchard June 2015
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Orchids galore in 2015
June is a good month to see orchids in flower and this year has been as good as ever. Thousands of orchids were in flower for our guided walk earlier in the month and should still be looking good for our next planned walk (see Events page). In fact there were so many orchids in flower, I managed to get a photos of four different species together. Stocken Orchard near Pershore is also having a good year for orchids following the pruning and clearing work undertaken in the autumn/winter 2014/15.
It's worth keeping an eye open for orchids on road verges during June/July as they often occur in the Vale.
It's worth keeping an eye open for orchids on road verges during June/July as they often occur in the Vale.
Can you see four different species of orchid in the picture above?
Tiddesley Wood open day 2015
Our stall in the wood
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Tiddesley Wood open day 2015 was a great success and we had a stand in the new Wildlife Discovery Zone. We met lots of new and interested people on the day and our fruit tree competition was very successful. The two winners have been notified and the trees (donated by Walcot Organic Nursery) will be delivered soon. We also took guided walks around our adjacent orchard and went hunting bugs in the wood.
Congratulations to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and their volunteers on another very successful event. |
We're going on a bug hunt
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Spring has sprung at Hipton Hill
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Spring finally arrived at Hipton Hill in late March with the early-flowering Cherry Plum being the first blossom to bring a welcome supply of nectar to the local Honeybees. Bumblebees such as Bombus terrestris also take advantage of this to supply nectar and pollen to their new nests. On the 30th March Pershore Plum Festival's Prunella Plum paid us a visit and brought with her a Plum Charmer to play tunes in the orchard to awaken the blossom and help ensure we have a bumper harvest in the summer. |
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Work under-way at Stocken Orchard
In March 2015 we enlisted the help of horse-loggers to divide Stocken into four sections. This will make it easier for us to manage the fruit and also allow us to enhance the wildlife value of the site.
The trees have all been pruned and the cut branches will be chipped to be used in the adjacent woodland, on paths. The trunks will be sorted; some with rot-holes will be left on site for the bugs; others will be taken as fire wood; the best bits will be taken to be used in furniture making; some will be sold to a company to make pellets for smoking food poducts. So nothing will be wasted.
Horses are being used to reduce damage to the soil in the orchard and they can get into tight areas without damaging other trees. So this spring the grassland will have a lot more light which will encourage wildflowers to bloom and the fruit trees will produce a fresh crop of cider apples. These will be harvested and sold to help pay for the management work.
We will be taking guided walks around the orchard in spring at the Tiddesley Wood open day. See events page for more details.
The trees have all been pruned and the cut branches will be chipped to be used in the adjacent woodland, on paths. The trunks will be sorted; some with rot-holes will be left on site for the bugs; others will be taken as fire wood; the best bits will be taken to be used in furniture making; some will be sold to a company to make pellets for smoking food poducts. So nothing will be wasted.
Horses are being used to reduce damage to the soil in the orchard and they can get into tight areas without damaging other trees. So this spring the grassland will have a lot more light which will encourage wildflowers to bloom and the fruit trees will produce a fresh crop of cider apples. These will be harvested and sold to help pay for the management work.
We will be taking guided walks around the orchard in spring at the Tiddesley Wood open day. See events page for more details.
Winter work
There's still lots to do at the Trust in winter. Volunteers are busy managing scrub and planting fruit trees in the orchards and we are planning for the year ahead. We are always looking for more volunteers to help manage our sites and carry our survey work so if you can spare some time please contact us.
Tea up ! There's always time for a cuppa at our work parties
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Adding guards to the young fruit trees to protect them from hungry deer and sheep.
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Most brash is used in habitat piles but sometimes we have so much that a fire is required.
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Work under-way at our sites - Autumn 2014
We have several projects planned for the autumn and winter 2014/2015. Some work has already started at Stocken and North Littleton Community Orchard:
Stocken - The grass has been cut ready for harvesting our first apple crop.
Clearing is underway for the new fences and drainage improvements at Stocken. This work will allow visitors to walk between the woodland and orchard along an improved grass path.
North Littleton Community Orchard - The boundaries are being surveyed to establish the correct line for fencing.
The site is also being prepared for meadow seeding.
This work has been made possible thanks to the the generous support of Severn Waste Services through the Landfill Communities Fund.
Stocken - The grass has been cut ready for harvesting our first apple crop.
Clearing is underway for the new fences and drainage improvements at Stocken. This work will allow visitors to walk between the woodland and orchard along an improved grass path.
North Littleton Community Orchard - The boundaries are being surveyed to establish the correct line for fencing.
The site is also being prepared for meadow seeding.
This work has been made possible thanks to the the generous support of Severn Waste Services through the Landfill Communities Fund.
Mowing at Stocken getting ready for our first apple harvest.
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Preparing the ground at North Littleton Community Orchard ready for meadow seeding.
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Plum Festival 2014
 Setting up to sell plums at Pershore Abbey
Congratulations to the Plum Festival team.
Another very successful year; despite the rain on Bank Holiday Monday the event was very well supported. VLHT were able to supply plums and promote the Trust and traditional orchards every Saturday in August, as well as at Pershore Abbey on Sunday 24th and the main event on Monday 25th. We also had several visits from the 'Plum Tours' to our Hipton Hill Orchard where people were able to pick and purchase plums as part of their day trip. Any money raised from our sales goes directly to support the work of VLHT and the maintainence of our sites. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to pick and sell plums. |
Victoria Plums & Damsons
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Gloucestershire Orchard Trust's visit to Hipton
On Sunday 3rd August 2014 we welcomed members of Gloucestershire Orchard Trust (GOT) to our orchard at Hipton Hill. GOT was originally formed as an independent association in 2001. Its aims are to conserve, promote and celebrate traditional orchards in the county of Gloucestershire in the west of England so we have a lot in common. The visit gave us the opportunity to exchange information as well as to show off our wonderful orchard. We also visited our site at Lower Moor to see a different habitat. This beautiful reserve lies adjacent to the river Avon and is an important site for birds and other wildlife.
For more information about the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust visit their web site -http://gloucestershireorchardtrust.org.uk/
For more information about the Gloucestershire Orchard Trust visit their web site -http://gloucestershireorchardtrust.org.uk/
Plums at the Races
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The Angel Hotel Pershore Plum Festival Evening 29th July 2014. Marking the beginning of the award winning Pershore Plum Festival, we attended an evening of jump racing at the picturesque, tree-lined Worcester racecourse, nestling on the banks of the river Severn. The feature race of the evening was the historic Land O’Plums Chase, previously hosted at the Pershore Racecourse in the early 1900′s. Racegoers were encouraged to get in the Pershore Plum Festival spirit by sporting the colour purple and all racegoers were greeted by Queen Victoria, the Plum Princess and the Plum Festival mascot, with plums offered on arrival to all. Vale Landscape Heritage Trust were there to promote the festival and sell some of our early plums; Czars and Opals. A good evening was had by all, but unfortunately we didn't back Panache the 100/1 winner of the 8:20pm race! The Pershore Plum Festival events run through August with the main event on bank holiday Monday 25th August 2014. |
Make hay while the sun shines
Collecting hay from Gore Meadows
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 Field margins full of wildflowers at Littleton Meadows
It was literally the case of making hay while the sun shines in July 2014 with occasional but very heavy storms. Our meadows at Fladbury and Littleton were cut for hay and grazing started during the middle of July; traditional hay meadow management prevents tussock grasses and scrub from taking over and allows meadow flowers to set seed before cutting. The hay meadows are important places for wildflowers and butterflies, so we aim to leave a margin uncut to allow the flowers to set seed and a place for the bees and butterflies to feed. These margins will eventually be grazed back to keep the coarse grasses down.
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Thatchers Orchard Day
As part of our ongoing information gathering to help with the future management of Stocken Orchard, on 17th July 2014 we visited a commercial orchard owned by the cider makers Thatchers. It was fascinating to see a new orchard managed on an industrial scale; 140 acres of hedgerow grown apple trees in the beautiful Somerset countryside. The first 40 acres of orchard was planted in 2010 and the remaining 100 acres in 2012, in tight rows forming 'hedgerows' in a trial to see how efficiently they could be pruned and managed to give the maximum crop. This method of growing is ideally suited to 'shake & catch' harvesting so no apples come into contact with the ground. It is also ideal for tunnel spraying which greatly reduces the drift given off by conventional crop spraying methods. Although this is a completely different approach to the traditional orchard at Stocken there was lots of discussion about orchards in general and there was machinery on show. It was also interesting to hear about the increase of wildflower margins to help the pollinating insects which are needed to pollinate the fruit blossom.
It is hoped that 60 varieties of apples will be planted in the orchard trials.
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140 acres of neat 'hedgerow' cider-apple orchard
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Wildflower margins benefit pollinating insects and other wildlife
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Noble Chafer weekend, Stocken Orchard visit 29th June 2014
Duirng the weekend of 28th and 29th June 2014, Worcestershire Orchards organised a Noble Chafer research workshop. There were two parts to the workshop; the first was an indoor session giving an update of the work in Noble Chafer conservation. Information included orchard management, the advances in Noble Chafer pheromone lures and some fascinating details of genetics; the second session was held at Tiddesley Wood orchard near Pershore to look at a site where Noble Chafers are being studied as part of the Leverhulme Noble Chafer Project, wher we looked at the habitat requrements and searched for signs of the chafers. This was followed by a visit to VLHT's Stocken Orchard to discuss possible management to benefit local wildlife including the Noble Chafer. This orchard stands adjacent to Tiddesley Wood and is ideally located to encourage the spread of the Noble Chafers as the habitat becomes suitable. The site visit was attended by about 25 people including members of the Peoples Trust For Endangered Species, Worcestershire Biological Records Centre, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Vale Landscape Heritage Trust. This was a really useful workshop and has given us a lot to think about regarding the future management of Stocken Orchard.
Adam Bates (Leverhulme Noble Chafer Research Project), Steve Oren (Peoples Trust for Endangered Species) & Harry Green (Worcestershire Wildlife Trust) at Stocken Orchard
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Attendees of the Noble Chafer research weekend in Stocken Orchard.
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A walk in the beautiful Vale
Our evening walks have been very successful, with lots to see. Our walk around Hipton Hill Orchard on 10th June 2014 attracted a good turn out and the weather was kind after the heavy rain earlier in the day. Four species of orchid were flowering; Bee, Greater Butterfly, Common Spotted and Pyramidal. Sadly there was no Turtle Dove this year; this species (our only migratory pigeon) is in serious decline and has disappeared from much of the countryside. On a brighter note, birds were singing well during the evening with the most notable being Willow Warbler, Yellowhammer and Song Thrush. All of these species are also declining nationally so it's encouraging to know that they are all still present at Hipton. Despite the rain earlier, a few Meadow Brown and Small Heath butterflies were noted and we finished the evening with a spooky-named Ghost Moth. This gets its name from the male which is a pale ghostly colour and performs a slow swaying display flight at dusk.
Bee Orchid and admirers at Hipton Hill Orchard (photo N.J. Farmer)
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Enjoying an evening walk at Hipton (photo N.J. Farmer)
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Ghost Moth at Hipton Hill Orchard (photo N.J. Farmer)
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Giving an old orchard a new lease of life.
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In 2014 we purchased 10 acres of Stocken Orchard near Pershore. This is a cider apple orchard adjacent to an ancient woodland and other smaller, old orchards. It is a real opportunity for us to show that orchards can be good for wildlife while still producing fruit on a commercial scale. The challenge will be getting the timing of management operations right to suit the apples and the wildlife that the orchard supports. The fencing around the orchard will be improved to allow livestock to graze at an appropriate time. The public footpath will be reinstated and fenced between the orchard and woodland so the site can be viewed without disturbing the wildlife or the livestock. We have already found a few Common Spotted Orchids and Greater Butterfly Orchids in the grassland around the trees so who knows what else might spread in over time. |