Not all of the land at Forsinard is peatbog; we have a large area at Forsinain that is classified as ‘in-bye’ land. The current Scottish Government definition of ‘in-bye’ land is as follows:
To classify as 'in-bye' clauses (1) and (2) must be satisfied and, where the land is managed for grassland production, clauses (3) and (4) must also be satisfied. - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/Options/BrackenManagement/DefinitionsofLandTypes
At Forsinard our fields are leased out for the grazing of sheep and sometimes cattle. This helps keep the majority of the grasses and other vegetation short, However sometimes the rushes (mainly Common Rush/Soft Rush Juncus effusus) can get away from us and being less palatable to sheep and cattle we need to get out and trim the tops off of them ourselves (known as “topping”).
So why do we need to top the rushes at all and why do we want it short? Well, in addition to providing grazing for sheep and cattle, farmland can provide a home for a wide variety of birds, wild plants, insects and other animals. The short vegetation makes it easier for a variety of birds to find food and keep an eye out for predators. So by keeping the grasses and rushes short we can provide a feeding ground for the golden plover and dunlin which nest on the surrounding bogs. These are also joined by other birds such as lapwing, greylag geese, curlew and snipe; with some of these birds going on to nest in and around the farm and the in-bye fields during the breeding season.
In the old days the "topping" would be done manually by the reserve staff, as demonstrated below by our Operations Team Manager, Graham.
However modern equipment now means that we can carry out the same task faster and more efficiently with an ATV and towed mower unit, as demonstrated by Ewan.
Rush that has been topped (left) and rush that is waiting to be topped (right)
hi paul, great post informative as usual