Great Bardfield Parish Council
RUNNER-UP FOR ESSEX 2008
BEST KEPT VILLAGE MERIT AWARD 2008
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Great Bardfield Parish Council
RUNNER-UP FOR ESSEX 2008
BEST KEPT VILLAGE MERIT AWARD 2008
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The Bardfield Oxlip Recovery Programme History of the Oxlip in Bardfield The oxlip is a nationally scarce plant with a very limited distribution that encompasses only that area where Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire meet. The plant is listed in the county’s Biodiversity Action Plan, with which Essex Wildlife Trust is heavily involved, and this means that measures must be taken to protect and expand existing populations wherever possible. This project could not fit better with EWT’s objective – ‘Protecting wildlife for the future and for the people of Essex’. The idea for this project resulted from a county-wide survey of the status of the oxlip carried out by the Essex Wildlife Trust in 2001 / 2002 (see: Tabor 2002 The distribution of the Oxlip Primula elatior (L.) Hill in Essex – Essex Naturalist No 19). This report revealed a significant decline in the number of plants since the last survey was published in the 1974 Flora of Essex, and in particular it described the situation at Great Bardfield. This was particularly important since Bardfield has played a key role in the history of this fascinating plant. For many years it was thought by botanists that oxlips were simply hybrids resulting from cross pollination between cowslips and primroses. It was Henry Doubleday, who, in 1842 confirmed that this was not the case having carried out breeding tests with material he collected from Bardfield. He also sent samples of Bardfield oxlip seed to Charles Darwin who carried out his own tests and wrote a paper confirming Doubleday’s work. For years afterwards the plant was known both locally and in many publications as the’ Bardfield Oxlip’, one of the very few plants in our flora to carry the name of an English village. The oxlip is closely woven into the fabric of Bardfield’s village life. A carving of the plant appears over the village hall entrance, it appears on the pupil’s sweatshirts in the village school, and is in the village’s coat of arms. The villagers are understandably dismayed at this current position.
Great Bardfield Town Hall
How to recognize an Oxlip? If you look at the picture showing four different flowers and leaves you can see why some botanists were confused, The true oxlip has a cluster of pale yellow flowers all hanging to one side of a long stalk or ‘scape’. The flowers are midway between a primrose and a cowslip in size, but the smaller cowslip flowers are deeper in colour. Primroses, which have only one flower per stalk, have a leaf blade that comes a long way down the stalk, whereas those of oxlips and cowslips are more cut off giving the shape of a tennis racket. You can see from the picture why the hybrid between the primrose and the cowslip caused confusion for 19th century botanists – and still does today at times!
False Oxlip
True Oxlip
We know from Doubleday’s papers that in the middle of the 19th century meadows and woods in and around Bardfield contained large numbers of oxlips - a very mass of yellow bloom; ‘growing by the thousands’ and ‘in one instance a meadow of about two acres is entirely covered by them’. was how he described them. Edward Foster in 1844 describes them as ‘in the meadow by the bridge over the Pant at Great Bardfield’. Indeed there were so many, that within living memory (1920’s) the people of Bardfield collected arms full of oxlips with which to decorate their church at Easter. EWT’s survey in 2002 reflected the extent of the oxlip decline: in Bardfield there is no longer a meadow containing oxlips, and they are very scarce in the local woodlands. Less than 20 plants were found within the village. This has resulted in the plant being placed on the EssexBiodiversity Action Plan.
Pipers Meadow and River Pant
So the oxlip is very special to Bardfield. Its possible extinction here will be a tragedy both for conservation in Essex and for the village’s heritage. The Bardfield Oxlip Recovery Program will reverse this decline. It will give back to the villagers an understanding of the needs of the plant, particularly the vanishing skills of meadow management. It will interpret for them why the oxlip is important for Bardfield (many already know!) and why it must not be lost. Sites for the re-introduction As a result of the survey, Mr Alan Jordan, owner of the Bardfield Lodge Estate (www.thegreatlodgeexperience.com) asked the EWT to prepare a visitor trail on his land and to focus it on a small oxlip woodland called Purples Spinney. This was prepared in November 2003, and Mr Jordan has subsequently agreed to the introduction of oxlips to a meadow adjacent to ’Purples Spinney’. An open day was held for this site in June 2004, organised by the Braintree District local group of the EWT. This group covers the whole of the Braintree district, providing this project with a much larger catchment area than just Bardfield parish. It is hoped open days will become an annual event. Further advertising of the work of the project will occur through EWT’s journal which is mailed to members throughout the county, and through EWT’s website (www.essexwt.org.uk) Mr Jordan is also very supportive of educational visits to his estate where both adults and children can learn about processes that are enhancing biodiversity in an agricultural environment as well as the story of the oxlip.
Meadow at Great Lodge
In March 2004 the EWT local group held a public meeting in Bardfield, a part of which was a talk by the EWT’s chairman on the oxlip and its local predicament. A number of the audience offered to help if a recovery programme could be initiated. As a result of this the subject was further discussed at the Annual Parish meeting on 24th April 2004. There was a strong feeling at the meeting that action was needed, and that the people of Bardfield would support an oxlip recovery project. This support was strengthened by the fact that the parish council are responsible for the management of Pipers Meadow, an area of amenity grassland beside the bridge over the river Pant, and which could possibly be one of Doubleday’s original meadows. The parish Council are prepared to modify the management of this site to suit the oxlip, and volunteers from the village have offered to carry out the management required. Doug Joyce, a plantsman who lives in the village, has undertaken to collect seed and grow some plants for the re-introduction process, (although the majority will need to be grown by a nursery). He has already helped in identifying sites within the village where remaining plants exist, and it is these levels of local interest that will make this project really work.
Massed Oxlips A Partnership project This project relies on the support and enthusiasm of a team of partners, all of whom are committed to its success. They are:
Practical management: Local volunteers, a number of whom have already expressed an interest, will be involved in some of the practical work needed after they nave been trained. This will include cutting back rank vegetation on an annual basis, helping with the hay cut that will be needed (on a small scale!) every summer, preparing ground and planting out young plants.
Recording: To carry out the annual recording, both photographic and numeric, that will be needed to monitor the success of the project.
Open Days: An open day was held at the Great Lodge estate on 20th June 2004. This was advertised across the whole of the district and amongst the programmed events was a demonstration of the oxlip work. Permission is required to visit this site, which is a part of a working farm Pipers meadow has open access to the public at all times for the enjoyment of all.
History: The local history society will be asked to see what further background history they can find from both University Libraries and organisations such as the Henry Doubleday Research Association. It will be appropriate for the history society to retain the archive of work that will result from this program. (Copies will also be retained by EWT).
Steering group: It will be appropriate to have a management team under the chairmanship of EWT. This should involve the village volunteers; plantsman; history society; parish council; district council; education team; appropriate landowners; EWT.
Publicity: The parish newsletter is being used to inform people of the first stages of the project. As the momentum increases a decision will be made as to whether to continue this way, or to consider a separate newsletter. Talks are regularly given around the county, and these will be used for advertising events that people can attend, requesting help, and updating people on progress. EWT has a regular weekly spot on local radio, and the Bardfield project will be featured as appropriate. EWT issues press releases to local papers radio and television as and when appropriate, and again the Bardfield project will be featured at key stages – we believe this project has a very strong story and will be picked up by the media. This section of the Trust’s website will be kept up to date so people can follow the progress of the project.
Schools and Education: It is proposed that E W T’s education team target local schools during the project. where local history and the importance of biodiversity are emphasized within the National Curriculum. Interpretation: EWT will consider both on-site and off-site interpretation for the project. This will include:
The end result of this project will be to see a scarce plant restored to some of its original habitat within the parish of Great Bardfield, a site of enormous significance for the plant. The historical and cultural links between the plant and the parish, forged over nearly 200 years, will be secured for the future through the efforts of the people of Bardfield, their county Wildlife Trust and their generous funders.
Further Reading: Jermyn S. - 1974 Flora of Essex Rackham O. - 1975 Hayley Wood – its history and ecology Tabor R. - 2002 The status of the Oxlip in Essex. In Essex Naturalist No 19 Tabor R. - 1998 The Oxlip in Britain is its future in doubt? British Wildlife, Vol 10 No2
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Send mail to
clerk@greatbardfield-pc.gov.uk
questions or comments about this web site.
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