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09 February 2012 10:31
Local news
Orchard planted to celebrate Queen's Diamond Jubilee
Lincolnshire County Council and volunteers from the Friends of Mareham Pastures will be planting a new traditional orchard at Mareham Pastures Local Nature Reserve.
The orchard will be named Jubilee Orchard in commemoration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The idea to plant the orchard came from members of the Friends’ group. They’ll be planting a mixture of old varieties of apple, pear and plum trees.
Most of these originally came from Lincolnshire and include types of apple with wonderful names such as Grimoldby Golden, Peasgood nonsuch, Allington Pippin and Broadholme Beauty. Pears including Laxton’s Superb and plums like Ingall’s Grimoldby Green Gage will also be planted.
Executive Member for Economic Development, Eddy Poll said, “It’s great that people are bringing back a traditional part of Lincolnshire countryside. Planting a new orchard to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is a lovely idea. Traditional orchards are special places both for wildlife and people, and I look forward to trying one of these unusual varieties of fruit in a few years’ time.”
Mareham Pastures was designated a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) in 2004. It is owned by Lincolnshire County Council, who manage the site in conjunction with The Friends of Mareham Pastures. It was used by the county council as a landfill site between 1976 and 1998, and was transformed into a nature reserve following a community consultation to identify what could be done with the area.
The number of traditional orchards in the UK has declined by 57 per cent since the 1950s. Just a handful of old orchards are left in Lincolnshire as larger trees are less economic to pick, traditional varieties have fallen out of favour, and many orchards have been grubbed up and replaced with cereal crops or housing.
Traditional orchards consist of large standard fruit trees, planted at wide intervals. They usually contain old, non commercial varieties of fruit tree, which are often quite rare. They form an attractive part of the local landscape and are important for wildlife. A recent study by the Central Science Laboratory found that more than twice as many bird species can be found in traditional orchards compared to modern, intensively farmed orchards. The old trees also support unusual mosses, lichens and fungi.
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