Park protection work completed
Conservation work costing around £15,000 has been completed in Linear Park, Bingham, to help keep a nationally scarce butterfly in the town.
The work, which included cutting back trees, felling trees and taking out shrubs, started in December and was completed on Friday.
It was carried out by Groundwork Greater Nottingham with Friends of Linear Park and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust through a £15,000 grant from Biffawards.
As well as being popular with walkers and runners, Linear Park is home to a specialised collection of plants and animals, and it is particularly important for the Grizzled Skipper butterfly.
The work included reducing the height of some trees to allow more light on to the south facing banks and the removal of the encroaching shrubs from the grass banks.
It is hoped the work will increase species diversity at the park and maintain the open sunny areas butterflies use for basking and feeding in the summer.
People using the park will also have increased light on the footpaths and improved safety.
Angela Ganss, a landscape architect for Groundwork Greater Nottingham, said: “We have had a positive response from all the people that use the park.
“Visitors have been really good about keeping away from the works.”
She said that in the final stages of the work, encroaching shrubs were removed to create more open grasslands for the butterflies and that the work would help to keep the butterflies in the area.
Mr Bill Bacon, the chairman of Friends of Linear Park, said that he was very impressed with the work.
Mr Bacon, of Pinfold, Bingham, said the work was one-off because it was so thorough and heavy duty and now it would be for the Friends Of Linear Park to maintain it.
He said: “There is a big variety of plants, invertebrate and a good variety of birds in the park, all of which will benefit from the work.
“The park is now fully open and people who have not been there before might like to go in to see what is there.”
He said that the plants, including cowslips, would thrive now that the encroaching shrubs had been removed and the open and sunny areas would encourage the undergrowth to grow and create a good habitat for the birds.
People have the chance to join a butterfly field trip in Linear Park in May to see Grizzled Skippers in their natural habitat. Friends Of Linear Park will explain the different creatures.
The 11/2-mile stretch of former railway was designated as a local nature reserve by Rushcliffe Borough Council because of its variety of wildlife. The railway was last used for freight traffic in 1962.
