Designation as a
Local Nature Reserve This meant that this area
of Holtspur Bank was eligible for a grant from MAFF/Defra under their
Countryside Stewardship scheme and with the help of a County Council
Conservation officer Beaconsfield Town Council obtained a grant of £1000 per
year for ten years towards the financial costs of reserve management. Management aims - grassland and scrub The site is small and so there is often a conflict of
interest between the needs of the flora and fauna present on the reserve. Therefore
it is very necessary to have expert guidance. Over the twenty years since the site
was designated as a reserve much work, e.g. scrub clearance, has been done on
the chalk bank and more recently in the wood. Therefore, in the winter of 2003 some sheep were grazed on the bank for a few weeks. This solved the problems of cutting and gathering up of unwanted grass at a stroke. Subsequently the reserve has had the benefit of The National Trust flock each winter for two years and then, when they sold their flock the services of 40 Romney sheep (see picture) owned by shepherd Penny Roote. Joe Hope now supplies the sheep for grazing on the reserve. Management aims - wooded area. As for the wooded area, the main thrust of work parties has
been the construction and erection of nesting/resting boxes for dormice, the
construction of brushwood stockades to prevent deer from eating the early
purple orchids, boundary hedge planting and some coppicing of hazel. It is
hoped that progressive coppicing of selected areas in Cut-throat Wood will,
over the years, see the return of ground flora advantageous to butterflies and
the spread of rare species such as coral root, which prefer the shelter that
the woodland provides, as well as the restoration of the hazel coppice. Right: Hazel Coppicing in the woodland 2008 onwards There is obviously much to be done in the future if the
diversity of the reserve is to be maintained and hopefully increased. Defra continues to give financial support to the Beaconsfield Town Council as laid out in the Management Plan for the Reserve. 2014 onwards The other significant event this summer has been the arrival of two British White cattle on loan from Burnham Beeches. Owing to all sorts of administrative and logistic details such as TB testing they could not be moved until the middle of August. They have to be checked every day and Ian has organised a
rota of stalwart ”Lookers” who have volunteered to come in every day and report
on the condition of Verity and Icarus to the warden in Burnham
Beeches. At the end of October the cows came again from Burnham Beeches. There are three this time (Verity, Icarus and Adelaide) who are doing a good job poaching the chalk bank – this gives more surface area for flower seeds to germinate - as well as eating the grass. The next time the cows came Adelaide was replaced by a new cow, Heather. Management on the reserve continues with path widening in Cut Throat Wood by the removal of some of the overpowering holly and laurel there and also path widening and scrub clearance on the chalk bank. |