Habitat management update mid February
Heathland management
Woodlark by Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com). Listen to the Woodlark's song here
A contractor will be working on the heathland next week (w/c Monday 19 February). They will be working in the central fenced area of the heath so there will be no path closures. They will be doing Birch clearance and bare ground creation.
Birch clearance
Birch trees rapidly colonise heathland sites with adult trees seeding profusely and saplings growing quickly. They can soon take over precious heathland habitat creating young Birch scrub which is unsuitable for specialist heathland wildlife. The Birch trees shade out the heather plants which are characteristic of the heathland habitat and create the nesting habitat suitable for Woodlark and Nightjar.
Nightjar by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
Whilst our work party volunteers do a fantastic job ‘tree popping’ on the heathland to remove some of the Birch saplings, once they reach a certain size this is no longer possible. The contractor has the machinery needed to pull out these larger saplings from the roots so we’re not left with stumps that need treating to prevent regrowth. In the process the disturb the ground, which can prompt the germination of dormant heather seed and create some nice spots of bare ground.
Bare ground creation
The contractor will be using a small digger to create some scrapes – re-establishing patches of bare sand, particularly on sunny south-facing slopes. These areas are fantastic for invertebrates such as Green Tiger Beetles, solitary wasps and bees.
Green Tiger Beetle by Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Scrub clearance at Hanger View
Hanger View in winter by Emily Summers
Some of you will have noticed that the trees and scrub on the bank in front of Hanger View is starting to obscure the views over the wetland and is getting rather tall.
As scrub – consisting mainly of Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Bramble - ages it starts to get straggly and shade out any vegetation at the ground and field level and this makes the area less suitable for nesting birds.
We know that there is some good dense scrub for Nightingales and warblers, but getting light back in and creating more edge habitat is vital to the invertebrates that they like to eat and feed to their chicks. Edge habitat has a greater diversity of plant life, especially wildflowers.
Many years ago this area was much more open with a mosaic of scrub and grassland. The latter was peppered with anthills which were regularly raided by Green Woodpeckers.
We’ll be creating a ‘coppice plot’, cutting back the trees and areas of scrub on a rotational basis. This will improve the views across to the wetlands from the Hanger, allow more light in to encourage ground vegetation and will ensure we have trees and scrub of different ages – getting it back to the perfect mosaic habitat.
To protect the re-growth we’ll be putting up a deer fence so it can develop into the perfect nesting habitat for our Nightingales and other breeding birds.
Nightingale by Mike Beck Listen to the song of the Nightingale here
Whilst the work is underway there will be some disturbance in front of the viewpoint. We’ll need to cut a path where the deer fence will be put in – we’ve planned this out so the fence should barely be visible from the viewpoint. We’ll also start on the coppicing of the trees.
We’re going to be starting this off with our Tuesday work party volunteers on the 20 February and it will be noisy work. It’s likely that additional days will also be needed so we’ll post an update on the info board at the welcome hut.