In The Trenches - thanks to Mark McManus, one of our wardening interns, for his update on the habitat management work that's been undertaken over the past month.
Over the last few weeks the reserve wardens have been busy completing a number of varied tasks. First up was the job of moving the herd of eleven remaining highland cattle on to the heath, which will be their home for a few more weeks until the new year. This gives them a chance to enjoy a more varied habitat and diet and also helps us to keep some of the invasive birch saplings and vegetation under control. The disturbance that the cattle cause on the heath can benefit heather growth and improve open sandy patches for heathland invertebrate species such as the green tiger beetle and the recently reintroduced english field cricket. It can also help in creating extra potential nesting areas for birds such as nightjar and woodlark. Moving such large animals from one side of the reserve to another involved preparing the route through a series of fields and a lot of friendly shouting, arm waving and a great deal of patience. Despite a few false starts and 'highland sit-ins' they did finally move into their new abode and seem happy, especially when we provide the supplementary food of hay and molasses pellets for them. Molasses pellets are a by-product from the production of sugar rich crops and are often used to provide additional nutrients to cattle.
Across the road from the main heath is the area known as the 'triangle'. Within this area are two long trenches which were originally dug and used for training purposes by Canadian troops, stationed at Parham Park during the second world war. We have a duty of care to maintain these trenches which had become virtually invisible due to many years growth of invasive bramble and birch saplings. It took us quite a few days to clear this area and the trenches can now be clearly seen again. We also felled some of the larger birch trees which will allow more light into this special habitat. Without this type of management heaths can rapidly be colonised by bracken, bramble or birch/pine woodland, or become so uniform in age that many species lose their niche. Whilst working here we had regular sightings of ravens overhead. One day we saw a group of eight crossbills and there was also a regular daily flock of vocal siskins which grew in size to about forty birds in total.
Before & After
The remaining work that we undertook was to finish off clearing the small copse at the top area of the Zig-Zag path, which was completely overgrown with bramble and contained some old wire fencing which we removed. We also felled some small trees along the footpath here which were impeding the growth of stronger oaks nearby. Some of this work can initially look quite destructive but it will allow the remaining trees extra space to grow unhindered. Whilst working here we heard bullfinches calling nearby on most days.
Other jobs involved completely clearing the ditch that runs alongside West Mead hide. The flow in this ditch had been reduced to a trickle due to excessive vegetation. It carries water from Pipe Pond and ultimately feeds into the small lake in front of West Mead hide. The water is now flowing nicely and the water level of the lake is looking much higher which will attract more birds such as snipe and lapwing over the winter months. We also completely cleared the bramble from one of the blackthorn hedges that runs between Redstart Corner and Little Hanger hide. This hedgerow will be laid in January by a group of visiting hedge layers, as part of a hedge laying competition, which will encourage new growth and structure and is an ideal way of rejuvenating an old hedge without the need to replace it. Hopefully, once laid, this blackthorn hedge should provide extra habitat next year for our brown hairstreak butterflies, which lay the majority of their eggs on new blackthorn growth.