Last updated 19 May 2016 CHALK/LIMESTONE HEATHLAND WOOD PASTURE COASTAL SLOPES |
It depends on your point of view, but much of the language of conservation professionals and their adherents jars very greatly with those who want to see wild nature have a greater influence in our landscapes. This is a compilation of nonsense-speak that will be added to, as more wince-making and patronising examples crop up. You can play BUZZWORD BINGO as you read the conservationspeak on this page, or you can use any Wildlife Trust, Plantlife or RSPB newsletter. Score points whenever you see the words: exciting......precious.... fragile......rare....... traditional management..... former glory...... invasive.... dense..... neglected.... rank........ over topped..... over stood .... healthy..... tip-top condition.... fantastic opportunity...... nationally scarce habitat......naturalistic grazing ........internationally important...... internally rare......mosaic of habitats....... landscape scale...... living landscape ...... last great wilderness..... moorland wilderness..... currently inaccessible …… open up areas ………..views will be opened up …… swamped ….impenetrable …… original feel …..coherent feel …..holistic landscape …….historic and characterful …..enhanced ……inspiring and innovative ….. exciting and innovative ……. lntegrated and sustainable …… sympathetic signage …... cultural heritage ….. sensitively protected ….. strong sense of understanding …… high quality habitats ……. wild and open nature of landscape ….. feeling of wilderness …… historic character ….. aspirations of the vision Here is one of the recent nonsenses I have come across:
"Sea urchins are the "rabbits" of the marine world. They are the most important
grazer of subtidal rock surfaces and are vital to the maintenance of biodiversity"
"The
reserves are the shop windows of the Trust, and are potentially a very
good way of attracting new members. HLF encourages and allows us to spend
money on some of the more aesthetic considerations, which, in the past,
were not priorities due to scarce funding. The often complex habitat
manipulations and restoration will be lost on many reserve visitors, but
they can understand well-maintained fencing, gates and signs. This is
often the image of Trust reserve management that they will take away with
them"
“dominated by bracken and
species-poor birch…….invasive natives like birch and bracken……blanketed by
species poor birch growth…....a species-poor late stage birch wood”
“All this sudden management
activity may look savage to the untutored eye, but there is a lot of
neglect to remedy”
“For some woodland features of
interest, natural change could be as damaging as direct human
intervention. If a site is important for butterflies associated with open
space, 'natural change' that leads to the glades scrubbing up will put the
butterfly feature in unfavourable condition”
“The lack of
management within our woodlands has led to rapid declines in specialist
woodland wildlife, like the rare and beautiful Pearl-bordered Fritillary”
“The area of scrub/tree cover
should be stable or not increasing as a whole (to be determined using
aerial photographs or from the baseline map). Otherwise it is considered a
negative indicator”
“The majority of the
District’s woodland is made up of oak, hornbeam, ash, birch, hazel, field
maple, cherry and holly. Some of these have been traditionally managed as
coppice with standards to provide wood for the local area. Such management
ceased early last century and many woods have since deteriorated directly
through a lack of intervention”
"Simple woodland management
can make use of this precious resource and let wildlife thrive. Woods
needn't be all dark and oppressive. We need light and we need butterflies"
"In the dune 'slacks' (the
damper hollows) rabbits perform a useful function in keeping the creeping
willow well grazed. This allows many rarer plants to establish"
"In recent years the National, Trust and some of the county wildlife
trusts have made significant contributions to woodland management for
conservation….. Public perception of what is good for woodland wildlife
lags some way behind. At one extreme, people think no trees should be
felled in nature reserves - but this would be disastrous. Our neglected
woods are crying out for thinning and more openness. Regeneration, and
much of woodland wildlife, thrives on sunshine, as every peasant and
forester once knew"
"Tree
felling is unpopular with many people and woodland management, no longer
understood by many members of the public, is often opposed. There is
therefore an urgent need for education and increased communication between
local communities and woodland managers"
"Mr Byatt
refers to pristine woodland, implying, I think, that it is natural. In
fact woodland, by definition, is the result of human activity. It is the
long tradition of coppicing, pollarding, tree felling and often grazing
that has resulted in woodlands as we now see them in Britain. The SWT is
continuing an ancient tradition in its management of this site" "Equally the conservation managers and foresters were
also able to identify the benefits that managing woods with livestock can
bring, such as maintaining a mosaic/diversity of habitats and maximising
biodiversity; controlling rank ground vegetation i.e. bracken, brambles;
creating niches for native woodland regeneration; benefiting particular
species e.g. Butterflies (Marsh Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary,
Chequered Skipper), dragonflies, lower plants (lichens, bryophytes and
fungi), Medicinal Leach, Black Grouse etc; and controlling thicket birch
regen without having to use mechanical means (i.e. a cost saving)"
"Levels of management to
deliver a dynamic, diverse and healthy woodland ecosystem will vary from
intensive, sustainable woodland management (such as traditional coppicing
where appropriate for biodiversity conservation) through to the
restoration and encouragement of natural processes (such as minimal, or
non-intervention). Targeted management is needed to support species and
mosaics of woodland and non-woodland habitats. Mosaics of habitats should
be restored, to support rare and threatened species and create dynamic,
resilient woodland landscapes for the future"
"Grazing is
an important means of maintaining woodland and biodiversity but sustaining
the right levels can be difficult. Too much grazing can decimate the
ground flora, whilst too little results in overgrown and shaded woodlands,
a problem that has developed as formerly grazed woods have been fenced
off"
"Coppicing
is one way of protecting the biodiversity of ancient woodland. Each
winter, an acre or so of the woodland is felled, and in the spring a
glorious carpet of flowers erupts from what seemed to be barren ground.
The next year, too, the flowers may appear, and with them some butterflies
and bumble bees enjoying the nectar and the sunshine. But the sunshine
also brings out the brambles and bracken and, by the following year, these
will have shaded out the flowers. Later in the cycle, the re-grown coppice
also shades out the bracken and bramble and the ground returns to its
apparently barren condition. So, in order to have flowers and encourage
bees and butterflies you need to coppice successive acres each winter,
progressively moving over the ground year by year"
"Part of the plan's policy
for the maintenance and protection of the Heath is the creation of wooded
glades by reducing and controlling undesirable species and scrub,
increasing the biodiversity of flora and fauna and careful management of
native trees to encourage healthy development as well as the proper
maintenance of the heathland"
"Volunteers
are needed for two projects to improve woodlands in East Staffordshire.
Burton Conservation Volunteers will tomorrow be carrying out work in Tower
Woods, Brizlincote Valley, Burton, from 10.30am to 4.00pm. It will include
crown lifting, pruning and habitat creation. No experience is necessary as
guidance and training will be given"
"From
removing tough grasses to allow wildflowers to flourish and even eating
small trees, the crack team of monster-munchers have a busy year-round
diary travelling from site to site across the county"
"The former farmland was untended in the
1990s, and became the home of various breeding and wintering birds. Mr
Brucker set up the volunteer group in 1999 to prevent shrub and tree
growth which would change the area into a damp woodland"
A Cheshire Wildlife Trust spokesman said: “We
completely understand that this work may appear quite dramatic and
destructive. But that is often what must be done to reinstate original
wildlife habitats. The clue, of course, is in the name Knutsford Heath.
The site is not supposed to be a wooded area and without intervention,
that is what will happen within a few years” CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
"It might be tempting to think that the most beneficial approach would be
to stop grazing altogether in these upland areas, but actually that would
be incredibly damaging in terms of conservation. These unique habitats
have evolved as a result of traditional farming practices, and abandoning
such areas would have a huge impact on the international important plants
and animals that live there”
"I am completely unworried
about whether a Russian's going to own it. I think what's going on is two
visions of the Lake District clashing here – an indigenous, farming
vision, which sees it as a landscape that they already have ownership of,
and then you have a modern, urban and industrial one. We have to take as
much as control as we can, to make sure nothing ever changes. The history
of farming people in the Lake District – of which we're very proud – is
that a very long time ago, we won the grazing rights, the commoner rights,
and we never lost them"
"An Old
Breed For a New Situation.
“The contribution of upland
livestock farming still fails to be recognised nationally and
internationally. Ninety-nine per cent of the Yorkshire Dales National Park
is in private ownership, so you don’t need to be a genius to work out the
size of the contribution that farmers and landowners make to the
conservation and enhancement of this Jewel in England’s landscape"
NEW
"The loss of
traditional practices can, over time, have a fundamental impact on the way
a local community perceives the value of heathlands, which, to some people
at least, become viewed as ‘waste land’ of little obvious value. This
change in culture can be difficult to overcome but does have to be tackled
in order for heathlands to be effectively re-integrated into the
socio-economic fabric of the local community"
"Most of what is special, rare and
unique in the wild life of this island (and indeed much of lowland europe)
is the product of thousands of years of agricultural activity"
“Environmental
indicators will not tell us whether we are sustaining the cultural
processes that shape the landscape.
We need indicators to assess the
cultural as well as ecological health of the uplands”
“As the
North West
Farm Tourism Initiative
indicate, farms are custodians of the natural heritage and environment;
the raw material that attracts visitors to the countryside”
“PCNPA believes that continuity of
management by expert graziers passing on accrued knowledge from generation
to generation lies at the heart of maintaining the landscape and nature
conservation quality of the common. Additionally, the graziers' knowledge
and way of life are an important part of the national park's linguistic
and cultural heritage”
“Farming and
forestry of some kind are dominant land uses in most [National Park] areas
in the UK, and have helped to shape much of the landscape which is now so
valued nationally and by visitors. This is most notably the case in upland
areas, whose scenic beauty is partly the creation of centuries of
livestock rearing, as well as management for shooting and other country
sports”
"First, it is important to examine the relationship between agriculture
and the environment in the UK (and Northern Europe) where more than 75% of
the land surface is farmed and where almost all of our valued wildlife
habitats are anthropogenic and plagioclimactic.
The major threats to these are neglect and nutrients. The
intimate relationship between the way land is managed and the resulting
spectrum of wild plants and animals will be illustrated, for pastoral
systems, by work from the CEH Dorset lab on the reintroduction of the
Large Blue butterfly (Maculinea arion) and the restoration of
species-rich chalk grassland at Twyford Down in Hampshire."
“The sheep are very effective at
combating undesirable vegetation and will speed the transition to
fully-fledged heathland. It would take an army of foresters to do the same
job, combating tree and weed growth and trampling bracken…… We want the
sheep to suppress the kinds of plant we don’t want, but to encourage
heathland vegetation like heather and grass. It’s a delicate balancing
act, relying on the age-old skills of traditional sustainable farming”
"Most of our ‘natural’ heritage is, in fact, semi-natural in the sense that
it is made up of collections of native plant and animal species which,
over thousands of years, have adapted to man’s farming activities,
including grazing. These communities are now reliant on man’s continuing
management of their habitats if they are to survive. Activities such as
grazing and mowing are crucial to maintaining the quality of certain types
of habitat"
"Much has been
written about the cultural significance of heathland. Although natural in
appearance and
possessing a 'wilderness quality', heathland is an ancient landscape that
has been influenced by human
activity over thousands of years. It is believed that in some parts of the
country, Surrey included, heathland
was already extensive by the Bronze Age as natural woodlands on acidic
soils were cleared by felling, burning
and grazing
"Surrey's Last Wilderness
is a five -year programme of heathland restoration run by the Surrey
Heathland Project"
"Six Highland Cattle calves
are the newest members of RSPB Pulborough Brooks nature reserve’s
management team!....... The cuddly calves bring the resident herd of
Highland Cattle at the reserve up to 19, and over the coming months they
will all be grazing areas of the north brooks floodplain, and visitors to
Pulborough Brooks will be able to see the herd, including the calves, from
the nature trail………'For centuries, much of the Arun Valley would have been
cattle-grazed flood meadows, and we have successfully recreated these
traditional conditions here at Pulborough to benefit wildlife.'"
"These
fields are being grazed by hardy traditional herds of cattle. They feed on
the rough grasses and rushes that other livestock do not eat. This helps
to keep open areas of ground where rare plants and flowers can grow"
"Since the world began, every time we have taken land to produce food we
have pushed back 'truly' wild nature (other than hunter-gatherer
lifestyles - and this lifestyle will not feed 6 billion or would not have
produced the internet!). Once such nature has been pushed back to a
relatively small geographical extent, then we start zoning - i.e.
designating (SSSIs, Natura, NPs, wildlife reserves, etc.). In other words,
the mainstream approach is to zone the countryside into 'productive bits'
and 'non-productive' bits. I cannot see any other approach working, and
have for a long-time come to the view that, where agriculture and forestry
is possible, then eventually all the land on the planet will be used for
this - apart from the 10%, say, set-aside for non-productive use
(designated areas). In other words, the rest of the world will eventually
catch up with the balance of productive land/non-productive land that is
found in England today"
"So ingrained is the concept of management
that in Britain we do not seem very interested in how the natural world
actually works"
“Modern conservationists are to some extent
stepping into the vacated shoes of farm labourers, shepherds, woodmen and
peasants, who would not have been able to read a conservation manual but
knew more about conservation practice than most of us. The challenge today
is to obtain similar results by different means. Recent advances include
the creative use of bulldozers, JCB diggers and suction dredgers”
“Without grazing animals, the
heath would eventually lose most of its rare wildlife, and become a more
mundane birch, willow and pine woodland”
"The
nature of habitat management is that there will be some casualties,
sometimes "important" organisms. However, government targets are to try
and improve biodiversity as a whole, we will never be able to improve all
numbers of all rare species and habitats all the time"
"Hill farmers are vital
custodians of the upland countryside and play a crucial role in the
delivery of environmental and landscape benefits. Uplands ELS will reward
them for the delivery of these environmental and landscape benefits, by
rewarding existing good practice as well as encouraging positive change.
This allows us to explicitly reward the sustainable extensive hill farming
systems that have helped create our much-loved uplands"
"Heaths are vulnerable to
invasion from seeds from nearby trees and woodland and can quickly become
dense and impenetrable if left unchecked. This would not only mean the
loss of the heathland and the rare wildlife that depends on it, but also
of the fantastic views across the landscape"
“The sheep are going to be
a great addition to the Flat Holm family. As well as being another
exciting part of the incredible wildlife on show there, they’ll also play
a really crucial role in the island’s conservation. What we’re continuing
to do at Flat Holm is important both for environmental and educational
purposes"
"This
is another great opportunity for us to protect Norfolk's biodiversity and
help secure the future of a vulnerable native pony. It is important to
maintain the ponies' wildness, because if they become too tame they can
become overly-friendly to the public on our nature reserves rather than
carry out important conservation grazing”
“The Cambrian Mountains of
Mid Wales are one of Britain’s outstanding landscape areas, the product of
thousands of years of interaction between an upland environment, and the
remarkable and unique communities which have succeeded in creating their
livelihood in these remote hills” "Despite giving the impression of wildness, the Cambrian Mountains are a “living landscape”; their natural beauty is the result of interaction between natural forces and human activity. The landscape and its beauty are maintained by the local communities, landowners, farmers and estate managers who look after them. These people have helped mould the landscape for centuries, and this continues today" ibid
“It’s
completely manmade – in the past, people would have cleared it and farmed
the fields. On these headlands, which are too windy for crops, they'd have
put animals out for grazing. So every inch of Scilly was used in the past
for some kind of farming activity……Grazing – it's very important. In the
past there were even records of grazing animals on Samson and Tean (both
now uninhabited) – so they'd use every bit of available land they
had…..Grazing has always been on our lips. This landscape was created by
grazing – so how do we go about it? In 2003 we were lucky to get a
Heritage Lottery grant which helped us to pay for the infrastructure which
helped us grazing our heathlands. It helped us pay for electric fencing,
the trucks, the tractors, the water bowsers – all the infrastructure to
help us look after our animals….. That project finished last year and we
were really fortunate to get Higher Level Stewardship [under the Natural
England grant scheme] for 10 years and that helps carry on our grazing”
"We have a landscape unlike
that of much of the rest of the world — one that has been actively farmed
for hundreds of years. Our biggest concern is where the beaver would fit
into today's modern, working English countryside”
“A
particular problem at the reserve is the abundance of tor grass (Brachypodium
pinnatum), an extremely aggressive competitor which can quickly swamp out
other species. It is a very difficult species to control because it is
unpalatable to most breeds of livestock. However, Exmoor ponies and
Herdwick sheep have proved successful in controlling this invasive grass
elsewhere; and these native, hardy breeds will also happily graze on other
coarse grasses and scrub. Sarah stresses that while people should come
along to Markham Banks and Clouts Wood to enjoy the wildlife, they should
not feed the ponies”
"But all the work to recreate the landscape as it would have looked before
farming has encouraged a wider variety of birds to the area. 'If you look
at a map of the Yorkshire coast there are only about five similar sites of
grazing marshland,' said Richard "We need a national
strategy and a government that champions wise-use conservation and
recognises that our wildlife must be managed to fit into the rural economy
just as much as we need to protect it from modern farming and forestry
methods"
"Farmers and land managers
are the only people capable of providing the natural habitats that we all
want, and are already doing a great deal in this respect”
"Without upland farmers and their grazing livestock a scrubby wilderness
of tick and bracken would quickly swamp many areas of upland Scotland"
“Heather, although thought
to be an icon of heathland sites, is less important than disturbed ground.
(“We shouldn’t be scared of getting machinery in and making a right mess,”
said Dr Dolman, “physical disturbance isn’t always bad in fact it is
essential for many plants and insects.”)”
"Abraham Wood in Boars
Hill, Heyford Meadows in Sandford-on-Thames and Marston Meadows are just
three of the inspirational wild places where Berks Bucks and Oxon Wildlife
Trust (BBOWT) and the Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT) are re-creating
traditional wildlife habitats. ………you can see the original woodland
pasture with pollard oaks where it is easy to imagine cattle and sheep
grazing……Traditional management of the old willow pollards will extend
their lives and make them ideal homes for bats, birds and insects"
"Mr
Meldrum makes the classic error (common to many commentators in this
field) when he talks of ecosystem “protection”. Land managers will tell
you that what maintains ecosystems is appropriate management, which costs
money. Protection is putting a fence around it. Management is securing
grazing mouths and manures for meadows, and culling or felling invasive
species – the list goes on"
"Natural England’s
Dersingham Bog National Nature Reserve (NNR) has welcomed some new
residents to keep the heathland in top condition. Dersingham Bog is of
international importance for its wildlife and now four pedigree Black
Galloway cattle and their calves have joined the Reserve team to help keep
the heath healthy......Livestock grazing at Dersingham helps to prevent
scrub and grasses from dominating the heath and crowding out more
sensitive species, and the Black Galloways will be perfectly suited to the
rough grazing that Dersingham provides. These handsome animals will remain
at Dersingham for the rest of their lives so they can develop an intimate
knowledge of their surroundings. By being ‘hefted’ to the Reserve in this
way, they will learn where the best grazing is and which areas to avoid.
In turn, they will pass on this information to their young, ensuring a
happy, healthy herd of cattle"
“I think the
important technique is to divide and conquer the opposition - do not let
their campaign get too much momentum, and use every member of the
community who can diminish the opposition to the scheme”
“The most
compelling reason for reintroducing grazing must be that it is a
traditional way of managing heathland, in essence giving the heath back to
nature”
“it has been
demonstrated beyond doubt by many grazing programmes worldwide that
grazing is only ever beneficial to an ecosystem”
“With regard
to the selection of the best pony breeds for equine conservation grazing.
When the grazing scheme is over, have written into the costings,
euthanasia and carcase disposal as a precaution. At least £300 per animal.
Animals won't necessarily be able to enter the food chain or be rehomed
easily”
“Environmentally, there is an
ideological conflict between a strand of environmentalism - called
re-wilding - which believes, wrongly, that the ‘wilderness’ is best left
to be ‘wild’"
“The idea that
habitats should be returned to a wild state often seems linked to people’s
feeling that semi-natural habitats are somehow deficient, because they are
partly manmade. But our treasured wild places in Britain are in fact
ancient cultural landscapes, not wild in the sense of natural or
untouched”
“The potential
social consequences of a policy to create wild land also require
consideration, as it may be regarded by some as land abandonment”
“Replacing management targets for
species and habitats with a vague notion of ‘natural process’ conservation
cannot be the solution, for many reasons. For one, ‘natural process’ is
sadly something of a misnomer: nature reserves will be affected by
pollution, exotic species, falling groundwater levels, and will lose key
species, to name just a few ‘unnatural’ problems”
“Rewilding
itself can be overplayed, in the UK there will always be fences, health
and safety concerns, and grazing management decisions”
“Nor, sadly, is there a
guarantee that re-wilding could provide the conditions needed to help
wildlife adapt to climate change……….The absence of large herbivores in our
environment (other than as livestock) means that the landscape we create
by re-wilding is unlikely to resemble the conditions in which much of our
wildlife evolved. This means that we cannot be certain that such an
approach would actually aid the survival of species in the countryside”
“The
decision to not encourage 'rewilding' is because of the powerful
relationship between people and the land, which goes back so far in the
history of this area”
“Dunwich Forest is
currently undergoing a process of 'rewilding' with a long term plan to
recreate and regenerate the natural landscape that existed prior to the
conifer plantations… The more northern area being managed by SWT and
grazed by a herd of Dartmoor ponies. The heathland habitat to the south is
being managed by the RSPB……The area covered by heathland will increase as
conifer crops are gradually harvested and areas of deciduous trees are
allowed to revert to heather”
"We've been successful in
working with farmers and other agencies to help create the sort of
environments where they thrive - moorland wilderness areas with supplies
of their favourite foods, fresh heather shoots and various small berries" FISHERIES AND MARINE PROTECTION
“Another
conceptualisation of the ecosystem approach amongst some interviewees was
revealed by their arguments that fishing stocks and grounds is necessary
to avoid them ‘stagnating’ and becoming infested by ‘vermin’ like starfish
and anemones”
“Fishermen are
like the farmers of the sea in that they turn the ground over, thin the
stocks and help maintain productivity”
“Areas impacted by
scallop dredgers simply support different communities and are modified
rather than damaged. We accept semi-natural, ie modified, terrestrial
habitats such as meadows, so why not accept the value of modified marine
habitats?”
“Many fishing
industry representatives feel a sense of proprietorship, if not ownership,
over the seas they fish and are very resistant to the extension to the
marine environment of the ‘terrestrial’ protected areas approach and
related biodiversity conservation objectives”
“The Western
Isles is already carrying a heavy burden of environmental designations,
which impact on our day-to-day activities. These designations will further
restrict our ability to make a living from a pristine environment which we
have maintained over millennia” CHALK/LIMESTONE
"St Catherine's
is a site of special scientific interest because it is chalk grassland
created and maintained by sheep grazing on it”
"In order to
maintain a species-rich sward and its associated insects and other
invertebrates, calcareous grassland requires active management. Without
management it rapidly becomes dominated by stands of rank grasses, such as
Tor-grass. These grasses, together with the build up of dead plant matter,
suppress less vigorous species and lower the diversity of the site.
Eventually, the site will scrub over. Traditionally, management is
achieved by grazing.”
“Analysis of
management data from sites where P. coridon was monitored over the 1990s
indicated that successful management for the butterfly was dependent upon
an integrated approach to stock grazing, scrub clearance and Rabbit
control. Proactive management change was a feature at sites where the P.
coridon population increased. At the sites investigated, the single most
important factor influencing management success was the extent to which
grazing levels (of stock and rabbits) were controlled and fine-tuned”
"The third phase
is the manipulation of management techniques to drive the development of
the plant and animal communities towards the desired grassland types. The
most commonly used methods on chalk grassland are mowing or grazing, with
grazing generally considered to give the most desirable grassland
"Join Reserves
Officer Mark Langford at St Catherine’s Hill Wildlife Reserve, as the
Wildlife Trust flock of Shetland Sheep are allowed to free-range graze
this 120 acre chalk grassland Site of Special Scientific Interest. Staff
will be on hand to talk about the valuable work that the sheep do on the
reserve”
”Recently, English Nature together with
Defra RDS and Portsmouth City Council have carefully invested time and
money to set about reversing the habitat decline and establish a stable
positive management regime. In the last few months, English Nature and the
City Council jointly purchased an AEBI scrub clearer which is now making a
big dent in the scrub cover” HEATHLAND
“Hednesford Hills Common
Local Nature Reserve, managed by the Cannock Chase Council Countryside
Service, continues to be the leading light in heathland conservation in
the West Midlands….For over 10 years the Countryside Service has been
restoring this internationally rare habitat with the method used being
adopted by others in the West Midlands and Staffordshire Heathlands
Partnership. Others call our approach the "Cannock Method". As part of
this approach to the management of heathland the Countryside Service
applied to DEFRA to fence part of the common so that grazing could be
introduced. Between April and September you may see the cows grazing if
you are lucky”
“This unit
has been mown in various patches. Where mown there was pioneer and
maturing heather. There was a lack of bare ground and heather too uniform
in age. Bracken was well controlled but common gorse was dominating in
parts. The edges of the unit are blurred into woodland. There is no
fencing to indicate the edges of the unit. Car Park well used, Stone chat
and Kestrel seen. Beautiful views”
“Chainsaws clearing trees in winter
and tractors mowing bracken in summer: this stops them shading rare plants
and keeps the heathand healthy”
“Mr Marrable said that the only
overall outcome is that the Forest’s heathlands are in ‘favourable
condition’; this will have to be achieved whether or not there is an HLS
agreement in place. ‘Favourable condition’ is not negotiable”
"The Ashdown Forest has very little
ancient woodland. Secondary woodland has very little bio-diversity value"
"I am an ornithologist. Secondary
woodland is bad news for birds, however heathland is rich in rare bird
life"
“Q.Why fell oaks and not Scots Pine
as Scots Pine are not indigenous to the area? A. Scots Pine are heathland
trees”
"Q. Why fell oak
and beech and not Scots pine? A. All may invade heathland but the last is
the least ‘threatening’: its leaf fall does not substantially change the
soil and its control is far easier since, once cut, it does not regrow”
"Ashdown
Forest is managed in accordance with the wishes of Natural England, who
fund that management through Higher Level Stewardship. As long as the
Commoners are free to exercise their rights and the public have free
access to enjoy the Forest as ‘an amenity and place of resort’, then the
requirements of the 1974 Ashdown Forest Act are being met. Contrary to
popular opinion, not everything is amenable to a democratic process"
"The trees and shrubs
have the potential to alter the soils by cycling nutrients from deeper
down, and making them unsuitable for heathland, so restoration would then
be difficult, if not impossible"
“The
main concern is that the soil is changing from a nutrient-poor acid soil
(ideal for heathers and bilberry) to a nutrient rich soil (ideal for
woodland and bracken) and cattle grazing is a proven method for reducing
the build up of nutrients and enhancing diversity of plant and animal
species”
"It is widely
recognised that grazing is a proven cost-effective and efficient method of
controlling invasive plant species, when applied alongside other
techniques”
“To restore to
favourable condition the dry dwarf shrub heath/short acid grassland
mosaic: The extent of moorland vegetation and its associated specific
floral and faunal interests will be maintained through extensive stock
grazing by sheep or cattle. The maintenance of adequate grazing may
require the provision of infrastructure such as fencing or water supplies”
"The habitat
structure was not considered to be suitable for lapwing, curlew or golden
plover, but could be suitable for ring ouzel, merlin and twite (although
none have been recorded in the surveys described above)…..It is against
this background that the programme to introduce cattle grazing as an
essential part of the recovery plan has been researched and developed by
the SWT"
“The decision to graze cattle has
been made with the support of Natural England (formerly English Nature),
Peak District National Park Authority, Sheffield City Council, the Rural
Development Service, Campaign for the Protection of Rural England /Friends
of the Peak District and SWT's Nature Reserves Steering Group and
Trustees”
"National Trust officials say the claims about its conduct are inaccurate
and that the tree-felling work, that has now been completed, is supported
by Natural England, the Forestry Commission and Cheshire County Council"
"English
Nature is extremely disappointed with this decision, which has allowed the
management of this internationally important wildlife site to take second
place to misplaced fears about accessibility and appearance. The whole
purpose of a National Nature Reserve is to encourage and promote enjoyment
of wildlife and the countryside. The proposal to introduce grazing to the
Common would not have interfered with this"
"Harpenden Common is no longer grazed and trees and scrub have encroached
over former meadows and heath with a detrimental impact on the natural
wildlife"
"Encourage some of the non-veteran
oaks to develop veteran characteristics. Techniques include pollarding,
breaking branches and making holes to initiate rot"
"I have been walking the Commons
for forty years and have seen the encroachment of the birch trees over
that time. There were no trees on what were the playing fields years ago.
GET THEM OFF they are nothing but weeds and aren't even native to this
country"
"As the notices placed on the
commons describe, the areas felled in the past few seasons are now at the
point where they can be sprayed and/or burned prior to reseeding or
recolonisation. Thereby the plan in those areas enters a more
'creative/constructive' phase"
"The council, the Rangers and the
commoners need to balance the needs of the wildlife, the people who use
the common and and the council tax payer. Some comments on this thread
have been totally ignorant of the role of countryside management"
"The only way to restore the heather
and the views is to fell the birch trees. If felling is not carried out,
the normal alternative is to have the area grazed by a herd of cattle.
While the work is being carried out, it is unavoidable that the Common
will look untidy"
“Six
reptiles are found on heathland, where they can bask on land that is the
closest we have got to a desert. If you don’t graze them back they will
grow scrub and be vulnerable to fire”
"All we need is a long hot
dry spell and an accidental or deliberate fire and we'll have a wall of
flames heading towards people's cottages”
"Tree
felling is a natural part of woodland management"
"It's
a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) and we have to make sure it
is managed properly. We ultimately answer to Natural England and they
wanted us to carry out this work. Everything that's been done has had the
backing of the forestry commission"
"The
Regional Director of Natural England, Ciaran Gannon, has given his full
backing to Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s management of Swineholes Wood,
on Ipstones Edge. The endorsement comes after Charlotte Atkins MP last
week pledged to write to Natural England to question the actions of the
Trust.......the Trust is legally bound to manage the site in this way to
meet strict conservation guidelines aimed at protecting the heathland,
which is classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest" "A major part of heathland management is removing young trees (often referred to as 'scrub') to prevent the heathland being lost to developing poor quality woodland. In Surrey, the main problem tree species are Scots pine and birch, sometimes also oak and sallow. A major part of heathland management is preventing these trees from taking over. Pines, when cut close to the ground do not survive but other species 'coppice', sending up several new shoots. In order to kill this scrub, it is usually necessary to treat the cut stump or the regrowth with a herbicide such as 'Roundup'. Where there is grazing, this might control the regrowth and kill the stump without the need for chemical.
When invading trees have
taken over heathland, this 'secondary woodland '(so called to distinguish
it from 'ancient woodland' which has a much longer history and is much
richer in wildlife) can be restored to heather" WOOD PASTURE
"... cattle grids are
necessary for the achievement of a step change in the levels of grazing
required as a vital part of the future conservation and enhancement of the
Forest’s natural aspect, in accordance with the Epping Forest Act 1878,
and the general duty to protect the site’s special scientific interest"
"....re-establish the
extensive, naturalistic grazing that had been exercised across the Forest
for many centuries"
“Over time, the
Common will become less accessible to local residents. The woodland will
fill up with dense holly and other shrubs making it more difficult to walk
through……….We believe that without grazing management holly bushes and
dense shrubs will form an impenetrable barrier in the woods....We
consider that the re-instatement of grazing management at Odiham Common
would increase the ease of accessibility”
COASTAL SLOPES
"Grazing of the cliffs and slopes keeps these areas in tip-top condition
for choughs which depend on a mosaic of habitats and access to the soil
for their invertebrate food" Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
"We've
introduced Welsh Mountain ponies onto the coast to return the special
heathland habitat to good shape"
"In
the 1980s it was recognised that the coastal belt was beginning to be
dominated by scrub species such as gorse, bracken and bramble. These
species have changed the landscape from a patchwork of habitats to a
monotonous expanse with reduced biodiversity"
"Much of the cliff land has therefore been fenced off from the richer
inland pastures, leaving it effectively abandoned"
"Dramatic results have been seen on even the most neglected and rank
grasslands. Ponies are valuable for winter grazing as they will eat less
palatable grasses left from the previous season"
“Those plant communities not requiring management are mostly restricted to
a very narrow band along the most seaward slopes and to areas where most
types of stock are least likely to venture. Thus most sites require
grazing; the majority of the area of the majority of sites has been found
to require management”
"Ideal management was identified as being summer-grazing with heavier
animals to tackle the rank vegetation, combined with winterburning of the
gorse to create a more balanced habitat mosaic and better access around
the site"
"We have been involved with the coastal slopes scheme for several years
now, and in that time much of our cliff land, which had been abandoned
over 10 years previously, has once again become an integral part of our
farming system"
"Biological monitoring of the effects of grazing is essential to ensure
that management is delivering and on track. This can range from simply
taking photographs to complex vegetational studies, depending on time
constraints, survey/monitoring skills of staff and the importance of the
species/habitats on the site. There is much debate on the best way to do
this!" url:www.self-willed-land.org.uk/skcollob.htm www.self-willed-land.org.uk mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk |