Species Profile

Hey Everyone I'm Charlotte, currently doing a work experience placement with the Grazing for Wildlife Project.
I thought i'd just write a quick profile on 3 key species that can be found on our sites, and why grazing is important for these species.

Dartford Warbler Sylvia Undata

Small warbler with long tail, often cocked. Female browner above and paler pink below than male.

Where to see them: Lowland heathland with gorse and heather.

When to see them: All year round.

What they eat: Insects.

Number in Britain: 1700 pairs.

Length:12 cm

Wingspan:16 cm

Weight:10 g

First Record:1773

Clutch Size:4 eggs

Incubation:12- 14 days

Number of Broods: 2/3

Positive impacts of grazing:

-Long-term grazing will reduce the regeneration of invasive scrub
species, which could dominate the heathland.
-Low dense gorse will result from grazing, particularly with winter
grazing.

Nightjar Caprimulgus Europaeus

Nocturnal. Wonderful cryptic plumage looking like tree bark, and is difficult to see when roosting during the day.

Where to see them: Lowland heaths, open woodland, commons and young conifer plantations and felled areas of forest.
When to see them: Arrives in the UK between late April to mid-May, they are best looked and listened for at dusk on warm, still, summer evenings. They mainly leave in August and September.

What they eat: Insects - moths and beetles.
Number in Britain: 4600 males.
Length:27cm.
Wingspan:60cm.
Weight:83g.
First Record: 10th Century
Clutch Size: 2 eggs.
Incubation:18 days.
Number of Broods: 1-2.
Positive impacts of grazing:

-Grazing vital to create bare patches that are not part of pathways or
other areas prone to disturbance for nest sites.
-Dunging increases the levels of invertebrate prey within the heathland,
this is even more necessary if the surrounding land is or is likely to
become unsuitable for feeding nightjars.
-Grazing will create a greater diversity of habitat types and therefore
increases the levels of invertebrate fauna needed.

Woodlark Lullula arborea

It is a streaky brown bird, with a buffy-white eye-stripe which meets across the nape. It has a well developed crest on its crown which is not always conspicuous. In flight the peculiarly short tail and broad, rounded wings are noticeable and the deeply undulating flight with closed wing glides is characteristic.

Where to see them:A summer visitor to the heathlands, requires bare ground and a short sward for feeding. Nests close to paths and firebreaks and among tussocks.

When to see them:All year round.

What they eat:Seeds and insects.

Number in Britain: 1500 pairs.

Length:15 cm.

Wingspan:28 cm.

Weight:30 g.

First Record: 15th Century.

Clutch Size:3 - 5 eggs.

Incubation:14 days.

Number of Broods:2-3.

Positive impacts of grazing:

-Increases the area of short sward and bare ground needed for
foraging.
-Produces a mosaic of short and long swards needed for breeding.
-Dunging increases the levels of invertebrate prey.

Fires on Heathlands

Hello everyone,

On Wednesday last week I planned to email you all today to let you know that we will soon be entering the heathland fire season any minute now. Unfortunately we had 2 fires on Caesars Camp, 1 on Velmead Common and 2 on Long Valley all within 5 days of each other before i could get chance to warn you all.

Anyway my warning I suppose is still valid especially if the weather stays as it is. Statistically ( and the fire brigade record all incidents that are reported to them) April has the highest number of fires on heathlands throughout the year. the statistics can even pinpoint that the majority of fires occur between the hours of 3pm and 4pm. Obviously this does not mean all fires occur at these times but the majority of them do.

So what does this mean for you?

Firstly take extra care when walking on the heaths at this time of year, especially if it is dry and then is a breeze.

Secondly, ensure that somebody knows where you are, just in case something happens, and more importantly when you expect to be home.

Always try to carry a mobile phone with you. A fire, if reported early, is much much easier to contain and control than if it is left unreported.

Always call 999 if the fire brigade are not present. please do not assume that somebody else must have and more often than not people will not report anything. The fire services will easily be able to tell you with 30 seconds if there are already fire personnel on their way.

Once you have called 999, please give one of the grazing project a ring to let us know there is a fire. We can liaise with the MoD wardens as to how big the fire is and whether the cattle are in danger and so require moving.

Lastly, and most importantly, do not try to tackle the fire yourself. Heathland fires can appear to be very slow and sluggish and seem quite puny but in fact they are stored up energy ready to ignite the next waiting gorse bush and believe you and me gorse goes up like rocket fuel!

So keep your distance, call 999 and then call us.

I hop[e this helps and hope even more that you never need to take any of these actions.

Elliott

Signs of spring

What a wonderful feeling, the days lengthening, the warmth of the sun on my back. At this time of year one can look deep into the landscape, before the blossom flowers and the plants leaf up.

There is a plant sustaining our livestock with green forage and giving walkers a tropical experience as they pass its aroma of coconut and vanilla. I remember walking the Isle of Man coast almost drunk on the heady scent. It is gorse.

Also known as furze and whin, this plant was once very valuable, especially as fuel, it reaches high temperatures when burnt, perfect for baking bread. Many commons placed resrictions on its cutting, limiting commoners to only what they could carry on their backs, I wonder if that included the spines? Today, land managers are keen to cut it down as it can invade the heath and shade out rarer plants and grazing. Also, due to its high heat on combustion it is cut down in fire breaks especially where it grows close to houses, such as on Sandy Hill at Caesars Camp.
It is extremely valuable to wildlife, as a long flowering nectar source providing food to insects when little else is in flower. You can get a taste by neatly plucking the pea like flowers.

In sheltered locations such as valley sides it provides nesting habitat for birds such as the dartdord warbler, yellow hammer, stonechat and linnet. It is a vital winter refuge for the dartford warbler.

On our sites you will find common gorse Ulex europaeus as an upright shrub and dwarf gorse Ulex minor growing close to the ground. There is a third species in Britain, Western gorse Ulex gallii, which as its name suggests, is found in the western regions. Gorse is not restricted to acidic soils, you will also find it on free draining limestone and chalk soils.

On the grazing front it works well as a stock proof hedge and fodder, especially at this time of year when much of the heather has been eaten and the purple moor grass tussocks are brown and low in nutrition.

In the summer listen out for the seed poods as they crackle, bursting open in succession, spreading their seed.

Snow

Hello

The snow has had a number of impacts on our work. For starters, like everbody else in this part of the world, it made it difficult to get into work last Monday.

When we did get in on Tuesday we needed to check the sites as livestock often find it difficult to find food when the ground is covered with snow. Because of the 'heathy' nature of our sites the snow is easily shaken off small trees and heather bushes so the cattle seem to be able to find plenty to eat - although they often have to tuck into unusual plants like pine trees and laurel.

Because of the lower availability of food, it is likely that the cattle split up more and move further distances, makling them harder to locate and check. They are also more likely to escape as they go on a hunt for more food. This was the case, and on the Tuesday we had 3 cattle escape from Caesar's Camp. One of these was through a cut fence. I had the pleasure of the company of the local police force, the MOD police and a couple of members of the public as we chased it back in along the Bourley Road. This made the local news.

Unfortunately the other 2 were less lucky. It is likely that they escaped through a gate that had been propped open. They were out all night and one of them got hit by a car and killed in the early hours of Wednesday. We will be replacing the gate with a kissing gate that cannot be left open.

In more cheery news, it did make for some good photos!

Danny Allen About Me

My name is Danny Allen im 17 years old and currently studying a national diploma in Countryside Management at Sparsholt agricultural college (Winchester) I will be working with the project for 3 weeks for my work experience. Im in my second year there and the course is going very well my favourite subjects are Livestock management, Deer Management and Archaeology. Having grown up in an urban area (Portsmouth) I was tempted into conservation and land management by a colleague where I work at Butser Ancient Farm. After applying to the college I was soon accepted to my delight. My interests include Shooting, Beating, Bushcraft, Gundog training and the general outdoors. At school I spent most of my time staring out of the window at a pigeon or some other outside attraction rather than getting on with work. Such is my pull to the outdoors than I volunteer often and enjoy it when I do so. Being at Sparsholt and volunteering for various organisations has given me an even more enhanced view of nature, now I can’t help myself identifying trees or flora when out for a walk with family much to their annoyance at times. Im looking forward to working with the project and hope I enjoy my time with the team!!! - Danny

Christmas is approaching

Happy Christmas to you all!

Thank you to everybody who reads and contributes to this blog, I hope that you find it interesting.

We have had a good, and interesting, year. The cattle dying at Caesar's Camp was obviously a bit of a low, but hopefully that is all sorted out and we can get on with looking after the cattle again. All the other sites seem to be doing just fine, and we have already had lots of positive comments from wildlife experts who say these areas are benefiting greatly from that work that we are doing.

The Wildlife Trust's Grazing Project is contantly looking to expand. We are taking on the 'habitat management' (mostly scrub and grass management) from the MOD on many of the areas around Aldershot and Fleet from next year, and we have a couple more sites lined up to introduce cattle in the coming months.

Thanks again to everybody who has assisted us over the past year, and I look forward to working with you in 2009 and beyond.

Best Wishes for Christmas from all the Grazing Project Team

Grazing Project on BBC website

Hello
We had a BBC reporter out on Longmoor last week. He has written an article about our work on this Army Training Area. You can read it (an listen to it!) here:
Longmoor Article