Hirst Meadow

Sustainable Bourne Valley (SBV) is transforming an unused plot of land into a haven for wildlife to boost biodiversity and create much needed habitat for many threatened indigenous species such as bees, butterflies, moths and birds.

Our vision is that this 'haven' will become an attractive, environmentally-friendly, colourful and, eventually, self-sustaining area that can be appreciated by the whole community and which will provide an example of the sort of planting that can be done in any garden to create good habitat for threatened species.

St Mary Bourne Parish Council has kindly granted us permission to use a plot of land it owns next to Hirst Copse that we're unofficially calling Hirst Meadow. This plot can be accessed from Hirst Copse and has a natural path across it that leads towards the Woodland Burial Ground.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to Jonathan Rau of Wessex Woodland for his advice and support and for donating the trees that were planted, and to Lorraine Cousins for kindly donating the wildflower seeds."

To the left of the site, as you come up from Hirst Copse, we have planted some small trees, like crab apple, rowan and hazel. In amongst the trees, on which bird and bat boxes will be mounted, we have planted some woodland flowers such as bluebells and snowdrops. To the right of the path, on the slope closest to the houses, we have created a wildflower meadow, building on the wildflowers already established there. This side of the path will remain uncut during the summer months.

Please note that there will be no change in access to the site.

Sadly, the large ash tree at Hirst Meadow had dieback so we were forced to remove its two branches but left the main trunk to provide habitat for a range of wildlife. 

St Mary Bourne school children help with planting

Children from St Mary Bourne Primary School have visited on many occasions to plant trees, and wildflowers and to sow wildflower seeds.

On one occasion, they planted 10 hazel and spindle trees and sowed a variety of wildflower seeds around the site. They particularly enjoyed stamping on the soil to make sure the seeds were well planted!

Charlotte Reid, of SBV, said: "It was great to see the children at Hirst Meadow getting hands-on with the tree planting. We were very impressed with how much they knew about the importance of trees in our ecosystem and the need to create good habitats for wildlife.

On another occasion, the children helped to unveil the Hirst Meadow Information Board, placed some recycled roof tiles around the edges of the meadow, in the undergrowth, as shelters for hedgehogs and made wildflower seed bombs.

In 2023, the new year 6's in Sycamore class, visited Hirst Meadow to witness firsthand all the wildlife features the previous Sycamore class (2022) had implemented, and to plant four Juniper trees. They were very keen and asked lots of questions about our wildlife residents and their needs. 

If you have any queries about this project, please email us at sustainablebournevalley@gmail.com

Spring and Autumn Tidy Ups

Every year we have two tidy-up sessions, one in the Spring and one in the Autumn, where volunteers from the community come together to give the meadow a little tender loving care and maintenance. We may do a little planting, pruning, digging, trimming, seed collecting, cutting and raking. 

We would like to say a massive thank you to all our volunteers, and if you would like to get involved, please email us at sustainablebournevalley@gmail.com