Old Varieties

Celebrating and remembering old fruit and vegetable varieties

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Dorking Chickens

The Dorking is thought to be one of the oldest British chicken breeds descended from original birds brought to Britain by the Romans.

They get their name from the market town of Dorking in Surrey which became one of the main areas of production in the nineteenth century when they were popular as a table bird.

Dorking Chicken
Dorking Chicken

The Dorking is a docile breed making good brooding hens. They like to range freely and lays white shelled eggs in moderate numbers.

Body of the Dorking is rectangular with very short, white five-toed legs. Standardised colours are Silver Grey, Dark, Red White and Cuckoo

A silver grey bantam version exists which is one quarter the size of the standard birds.

Dorkings take about two years to mature to an average adult male weight of 4.55-6.35kg (10-14lb) and female around 3.60-4.55kg (8-10lb).

There are currently over 100 members of the breed club and surveys are taken every three years in order to conserve this ancient breed.

Records suggest that Dorkings appeared in the first British poultry show in 1845.

It is thought that the Sussex breed of chicken is derived from the Dorking.

Visit the Poultry Club website to find out more about this endearing little chicken http://www.poultryclub.org/dorkingclub/

Image of Dorking Chicken from Wikimedia. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorking_Henne.JPG

 

Grey Partridge Re-introduction Course

If you are keen on keeping native game birds why not attend the Grey Partridge Re-introduction day run by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Picture of male Grey Partridge
Grey Partridge

Grey Partridge used to be a common sight in the British Isles but sadly declined over the years and is now on the RSPB endangered list, existing in small populations on the UK mainland and in Ireland but is considered largely absent from Northern Ireland.

The orange face and chestnut flash to the breast and tail make the male a very handsome bird.

A Grey Partridge Re-introduction day will be held on 7th November 2013 At Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Headquarters near Fordingbridge, Hampshire.

Based on sound science and practical experience, the course will benefit anyone interested in looking to re-introduce or increase numbers of grey partridges on their farm.  It will include a combination of presentations and practical sessions involving a visit to a local estate.

The course will cover habitat management, predation control and rearing and releasing methods and is designed  to help ensure your partridge re-introduction project is a success.

To find out more about the course visit the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s website
Early booking is recommended as places are limited.

Further information

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s website

RSPB – Grep Partridge profile

New apple orchard for Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is creating a new fruit orchard using 60 local variety apple, pear and plum trees at the Trust’s Vell Mill nature reserve near Newent.

Over the last 30 years traditional orchards have declined by 67% in the county , and the Trust is calling upon the help of the local community and it’s supporters to take part.

[pullquote]The idea is to make this a living legacy so that when I am no longer here my son will have something to remember me by.
Mrs Jeffries, of Cheltenham[/pullquote]

60 different fruit tree varieties will be planted, including the traditional Gloucestershire varieties, Jackets and Waistcoats, Lemon Pippin and Jacob Plum.

Jan Ryder, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s Community Fundraiser said: “Not only do orchards provide mouthwatering fruits for us to relish, but they are an ideal place for lesser spotted woodpecker and mistletoe to thrive, and we are overjoyed to be creating a new orchard for all to enjoy.”

Many of the trees are being dedicated to individual people, 12 will be planted in recognition of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s past Chairmen, and a number will be planted for the local community.

Mrs Jeffries, of Cheltenham, has dedicated a tree for her son, said: “I am pleased to be able to support this orchard as I feel passionately about preserving old local trees and customs. The idea is to make this a living legacy so that when I am no longer here my son will have something to remember me by.”

All the trees will be given special treatment by being blessed using the old custom of balancing cider-soaked toast on the branches, and adding a trickle of local cider to water the roots.

Meadow clary secure in Gloucestershire

Once common across southern England, meadow clary, a rare blue wild flower, had almost disappeared from the Gloucestershire countryside.

However, following a rescue attempt by a conservation partnership including site-owners Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and farmer Bill Powell, the future of meadow clary is more secure and can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Box Farm Meadows, known locally as Stuart Fawkes Nature Reserve, near Nailsworth is one of the most important sites in Britain for meadow clary and is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI).

Meadow clary was first recorded in Gloucestershire in 1796.

Plantlife expert Tim Wilkins said: “I’ve been working on conserving meadow clary with Plantlife for over ten years and I can truly say this is an unprecedented result’

“Gloucestershire is a vital part of the plant’s distribution which is almost entirely confined to the Cotswolds.”

“When we started this project four years ago, meadow clary was facing extinction at the site but, thanks to this conservation partnership, the proportion of young plants at Box Farm Meadows has increased from 2% to 30%.

“With nearly a third of the population now consisting of young plants, the future of the wild flower is much rosier.”

Nerve-wracking decision

Previously, cattle had been removed from the nature reserve over summer when meadow clary was in flower.

Unfortunately, over time, this had led to coarse grass dominating and the dense vegetation was preventing the meadow clary from dropping its seed onto the ground and germinating.

In a radically counter-intuitive move, the conservationists asked farmer Bill Powell to keep his livestock on the site over the summer.

This flower is highly adapted to withstand grazing and appears to spread sideways via underground shoots when continuously grazed.

It was a nerve-wracking decision to make as meadow clary had been categorised as in 100% decline at the site, the worst possible condition of assessment, and the wrong decision could have ended its place in the Gloucestershire flora.

Four years later, the coarse grasses have receded, there are many more wild flowers, and pockets of bare ground have allowed meadow clary seed to germinate.

Meadow clary fact file

  • Meadow clary has striking violet-blue flowers, aromatic leaves and can grow up to 80cm tall.
  • The name ‘clary’ is derived from ‘clear-eye’ and refers to the traditional use of meadow clary seeds to treat sore and inflamed eyes.
  • Sometimes known as meadow sage, the plant’s botanical name Salvia pratensis hints at its historical use – salvia comes from the Latin for salvation, and the plant was said to be sown on graves in medieval times.

Juniper seedlings preserve plant in England

A conservation project to save the juniper bush in lowland England appears to be working, according to the charity Plantlife.

Three hundred juniper seedlings are now growing at nine sites, where existing juniper bushes were old and incapable of reproducing.

The project has involved trialling new techniques on the chalk and limestone of lowland southern England.

[pullquote]The loss of juniper would have represented more than the loss of a single species: it supports more than 40 species of insect and fungus that cannot survive without it
Tim Wilkins, Plantlife[/pullquote]

The aromatic berries are used in the production of gin.

Tim Wilkins, Plantlife’s Species Recovery Coordinator who led the project, said: “Plantlife’s Great Juniper Hunt survey in 2010-11 showed that many populations of juniper were shrinking as bushes died of old age, with nearly a quarter of sites supporting just one bush.

“85% of sites surveyed contained no seedlings up to five years old.

“To get the next generation of juniper, you need good numbers of both male and female juniper bushes at each site, plenty of viable seed and the right conditions for germination and growth of seedlings, free of hungry rabbits and grazing stock.’

“The loss of juniper would have represented more than the loss of a single species: it supports more than 40 species of insect and fungus that cannot survive without it.”

Period of decline

Juniper is an important part of our ancient landscape and culture and, according to Plantlife, one of the first trees to colonise Britain after the last Ice Age.

Juniper populations have fluctuated but on the whole declined over a long period, with many southern English counties having lost 60-70% of their populations.

Without action, juniper was facing extinction here in the next 50 years, so in early 2010,

“There is no single cause for juniper decline” added Mr Wilkins, “but loss of seedling habitat through under-grazing and the development of dense grassland and scrub, seems to be the most widespread.”

Preventing infection

The word ‘gin’ derives from either genièvre or jenever – the French and Dutch words for ‘juniper’.

The berries are also used in cooking, particularly to flavour game dishes. In the 19th century, when a law was introduced outlawing unlicensed whisky stills, juniper was harvested for fuel for this illicit trade as it burns with an almost invisible smoke.

Juniper has also long been used for its medicinal qualities.

During the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, hospitals experimented with spraying vapourised oils into the atmosphere of flu wards in an attempt to prevent air-borne infection spreading and juniper was one of those found to be particularly effective.

Breaking new ground for juniper

The techniques used throughout the project are detailed in a new Plantlife guide – Breaking new ground for juniper – a lowland management handbook.

The Lowland England Juniper Project was funded by Natural England, Biffaward and Buckinghamshire County Council, with additional funding from the HDH Wills Charitable Trust.