Children were invited out onto the reserve at Half Term to see clearance work in progress and to see how the heather is returning.
The children got stuck-in with some recording and measuring for us. They used 0.5m square quadrats and measured how much heather is regrowing in the areas that were cleared of conifer in 2010. The survey plots had to be placed at random, and the children had great fun throwing the quadrats and then racing to see what was inside.
The children found new heather growing in 63% of all plots surveyed. Within each of these plots they found heather growing in 36% of the 25 smaller 10cm squares.
This will provide very useful information about how quickly and effectively different areas of heath are returning. Thank you to all the children and adults that came along on this enjoyable and active morning. Thank you also to Sussex Wildlife Trust for providing the survey tools.