Category Archives: Ranger Notes

Babies, Birds & Barossa

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First Kid Of The Year (James Adler)

SPRING HAS DEFINITELY ARRIVED, even though it may not have quite felt like it recently, because we in the grazing team have been busy trying keeping track of the arrival of new calves and kids! At the time of writing we have had 9 kids and 20 calves, we’re still expecting a few more kids and around another 40 calves, so we still have a busy time ahead. Most of the goats and cattle need no help during labour, but we check them regularly so know which ones are close to giving birth and monitor them in detail to ensure they deliver their young with no problems.

The cattle and goats are also due to start heading out onto their summer sites very soon. These will predominantly be heathland sites and rangers very often advertise the arrival of the cattle in advance so the public know when they will be there and where they will be. The cattle are used to help reduce the dominance of purple more grass. This deciduous grass can dominate the heathers and other delicate heathland flora which suppresses its establishment and growth. When the cattle eat this grass down it increases the opportunity for these more delicate, slower growing plants to become established. The goats stay in electrified pens and are used to target woody, scrub species such as silver birch. Not only do they take the leaves from the plant, but they also strip the bark too which further stresses the plant and hopefully kills it.

The other side of my job involves looking after Barossa and Poors Allotment as a ranger. This is a large 600ha heathland site near Camberley. Around Easter, rangers with heathland sites are on edge as this tends to be a period of arson activity. Sadly this was the case on Barossa this year when a large section of the heath was set alight. This obviously sets back the development of the habitat, but will have killed any animals that were unable to escape the flames. Most importantly however, it puts human life at risk. If you are on a site where you suspect there is fire then call the fire service straight away.

This is also a good time to remind anyone using a heathland site that ground nesting birds are well underway now and all site users should stick to the paths. This includes dogs which should be kept on a lead or under close control (on a path and in sight at all times).

James Herd (Assistant Ranger, Grazing Team)

Signs of Spring

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Brimstone (James Adler)

THE FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING are showing on our sites, and it is time for most of the scrub clearance and tree work to come to an end for this season.

On heathlands the first ground nesting birds have been spotted arriving, and are starting to stake out their territories and hopefully picking out their nesting spots. Woodlark can be heard singing on some of the open heaths which, on the rare sunny days we have had, makes it feel very spring like.

Work in the open areas of the heaths usually finishes earlier than that in the woodlands as these birds arrive earlier, but soon the trees will be bursting into leaf and a whole lot of nesting will be going on all over all our sites.

The heathland birds like nightjars, woodlarks, and lapwings chose to make their nests in shallow depressions on the ground, and so are very vulnerable to disturbance. This is why you will see signs up on some of our heaths asking for your help in keeping your dogs on the paths and off the open heath and grass areas. It is only for a few months, and gives these birds the best chance to breed successfully.

While out on a site, as well as listening for the woodlark, keep an eye out for Brimstone butterflies fluttering past. They have been spotted out already, as have a few dusty looking Red Admirals. Hopefully this year there will be enough sun and dry weather to help build up butterfly numbers again after the huge decline last summer. Some lazy lizards have also been seen soaking up the sun on the few warm days, and they will gradually increase as the temperature warms up.

On the woodland edges, lords and ladies has been appearing for a while, and has now been joined by the lovely sunny faces of the lesser celandine and daffodils. If you look closely under the trees the first bluebell leaves can be spotted pushing through the ground. The buds on the trees are starting to swell, and some like the hawthorn and elder have begun bursting (slowly) into leaf. Soon there will be a haze of bright green covering the countryside.

It is a bit early for the heather to think of coming out on the heaths, but a lot of the gorse bushes are blooming and creating bright yellow patches in a still somber landscape. This is an exciting time of year to be out and about – as well as never knowing what weather you will be facing on day to the next – you also never know what you will spot blossoming, blooming or flying past.

Jill Titlestad: Assistant Ranger (North Team)

Behind The Scenes: The Life Of A Volunteer Ranger

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SWT Trainee Volunteer Ranger Andy

BEING A VOLUNTEER TRAINEE RANGER (VTR) has given me a behind the scenes insight into the important work that goes on at SWT. There’s always something different to do and it’s really satisfying to know that you can directly impact some of Surrey’s rarest habitats and creatures. On a typical day I might help to check the grazing animals, patrol the car parks around Chobham, talk with locals, coppice woodland, or remove scrub which is encroaching on the valuable open heathland.

My main interests lie in heathland management and restoration and I’ve had the opportunity to observe several different management techniques. Over the summer I helped to install the grazing fences and it was great to see the whole process from start to finish. Although the cattle weren’t on for long this year, we all enjoyed their presence on the landscape and began to see a reduction in the coarse grasses they were targeting. I’ve also been lucky to help with other management tasks such as removing encroaching scrub, pine and birch along with heather cutting and creating bare ground. The aims of all of these are to prevent succession to woodland and restore the heathland to its former glory and extent.  Other tasks have included shadowing rangers whilst surveying the vivid sapphire Marsh Gentians (Gentiana pneumonanthe) and checking areas for diminutive Harvest Mice (Micromys minutus).

Quite often the Trust works with other organisations in order to share their expertise and gain valuable information about the reserves. An example of this was when I recently had the opportunity to show a student from the University of Surrey around the reserves for her PHD Thesis.  Without giving too much away, the project involved taking soil samples to look at how certain bacteria grow in natural environments. The results of the project may help to improve future experiments studying how bacterial pollution can spread along rivers. Another bonus of this project was that the Trust procured some interesting soil data which will aid future management of the reserves.

In December the Trust kindly funded all the VTR’s to go on a Chainsaw course set in a frosty Beech woodland in West Sussex. We spent 5 days learning various cuts and how to take down trees without them falling on our (or anyone else’s) heads! It was physically exhausting, but really interesting to find out how to approach the myriad of different tree shapes and sizes. It may sound strange that Rangers would be cutting down trees rather than protecting them, but we only usually only do so to restore open landscapes or to remove trees that are dangerous to the public.

Through being a VTR, I’ve had the opportunity to follow my own interests and ask the Rangers lots of questions about the reserves that will be really useful for my future career. I’ve also taken on new responsibilities such as leading my first Volunteer work party and helping out with festive activities such as finding wild Christmas trees and making wreaths from the heath! It’s brilliant spending your time with enthusiastic co-workers and volunteers who have a like-minded appreciation for the outdoors and nature. I’m really looking forward to the spring, when everything will burst into life on the reserves and there’ll be plenty of opportunity to appreciate the fruits of all our hard work over the winter.

Andy Jennings-Giles

Ranger Notes: Chinthurst Hill

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Chinthurst Hill (Jon Hawkins)

CHINTHURST HILL is owned by Surrey County Council and managed for quiet recreation and wildlife conservation by Surrey Wildlife Trust.

This autumn will see the livestock fencing of the hilltop step up a gear. Acknowledging that the 700-odd metres of fencing left to construct was a tall order for volunteers, we have decided to appoint the contractor Philip Juniper Fencing to complete the post and wire fence from late October, whilst Rangers and volunteers will install the various gates and stiles. Using chestnut timber felled on the hill itself, a great deal of expense and “timber mileage” has been saved. Once finished, the fence will be used to contain various domestic livestock to improve and maintain the habitat. A small herd of 3 or 4 pigs will be put out to forage for acorns and beech-mast beneath the trees within smaller, electric-fenced enclosures, and in doing so their snouts will break up the root network (rhizomes) of the native, but invasive, bracken. Their rooting activity will also keep brambles in check and expose dormant seed of less vigorous plants, thereby increasing botanical diversity of the hill.

Trust Cattle

We are also considering using cattle during the growing season in order to chomp bramble and trample bracken in areas where pigs may cause damage to the acid grassland. Your access to the hilltop will be maintained throughout and responsible dog walkers who keep their pets under control and bag and bin mess should have no cause for concern. We kindly ask that all visitors, with or without dogs, respect the need to employ traditional management techniques and refrain from feeding the animals. Join us on 19th January 2013 for a guided walk to find out more about the grazing project on site.

Some other grassland areas have been forage-cut (mown, and the cuttings collected) to avoid nutrient build-up where they were once simply flail-cut in the autumn. It will take several years to reduce nitrate levels, but over time we expect to see a reduction in coarse grasses and an increase in nectar-rich wildflowers and the associated invertebrate fauna.

This winter we will be cutting another coppice coupe alongside the gravel drive, thanks to funding from the English Woodland Grant Scheme. The cut stems will provide stakes and binders for hedgelaying at Shere Woodlands and Silent Pool, leaving sunny, open conditions vital for woodland plants.

SWT Ranger Leo Jennings

Ranger Notes: Shere Woodlands

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SHERE WOODLANDS Local Nature Reserve is a group of three sites owned by Surrey County Council and managed under lease by Surrey Wildlife Trust for informal public access and nature conservation. The three sites collectively form Combe Bottom Site of Special Scientific Interest.

West Hanger, part of Shere Woodland

This wet summer has been a poor one for our butterfly population. Our weekly
transects on West Hanger (April-September) have yielded very disappointing
results, and even the ubiquitous Meadow Browns have been in short supply on the grasslands. It may come as a surpise to learn that we are removing buddleia bushes because despite being a great nectar source and an almost dead-cert for butterfly spotting, this invasive shrub originates from far east, but it is equally at home of crumbling chalk as it is on the scree slopes of the Himalayas. With rapid growth rates and prolific seed production it rapidly shades out the very plants upon which the caterpillars depend to survive. No caterpillars = no butterflies! Carefully targeting sheep grazing this autumn, and herbicide treatment in the spring, will prevent the cut bushes re-sprouting.

Sadly some of last year’s hazel coppice stools are failing, and it is nothing to do with the Olympic cycling spectators on Combe Lane (who were very well-behaved) but instead down to the nibbling of our resident rabbits. The head-high deer netting, laboriously erected by volunteers, has been bypassed by their burrows, and we will now need to fence each stool individually to ensure they survive. We hope to cut another hazel coupe after the frosts arrive.

West Hanger is home to the lemon slug

Shere Woodlands is home to the Lemon Slug, a rare and elusive mollusc
with distinctive yellow colouring and a penchant for lichens and fungi growing on large, rotting beech trunks in undisturbed ancient woodland. The 1987 storm- damaged parts of the reserve are the stronghold of this species and Living Landscapes Officer, Mike Waite, has confirmed two sightings on dark, wet summer afternoons. It is for such species that we leave the steepest, most treacherous slopes as non-intervention areas. This contrasts with the parts where our woodland work provides us with accessible produce. We have already sold 60 tonnes of low-grade softwood thinnings to LC Energy for woodchip, whilst John Sinclair continues a programme of ash thinning to supply his charcoal kilns on Sheepleas, and in doing so, improves the light levels in Combe Bottom for ground flora and associated invertebrates.

SWT Ranger Leo Jennings

Ranger Notes: Silent Pool

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Silent Pool

SILENT POOL IS owned by the Albury Estate and managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust under an access agreement between the Estate and Surrey County Council. We manage this site for informal access and recreation in keeping with the wildlife value of the surroundings.

The summer’s rains meant the effects of the drought were short-lived at Silent Pool, and the brim-full water bodies are testament to a recharged chalk aquifer. Whilst this is no bad thing for the majority of our wildlife, the refilled ponds play havoc with our plans for controlling the extremely invasive Australian Swamp Stonecrop, the bright green, star-like plant which is particularly prolific in the upper pond. We are halfway through a programme of works to improve biodiversity and access on site thanks to funding from Biffa Award. The intended course of action was to apply a herbicide into the water, but the chemical, dichlobenil, was subsequently banned! A change of tactics was required and, coupled with the appropriate licences, the low water levels last winter allowed Amenity Water Management to apply glyphosate (often sold as Roundup) directly to the exposed weed, but with the ponds now at full capacity, the herbicide cannot do its work. They will now resort to using large pumps to drain the ponds down in order to expose the weed once more. Whilst the techniques may appear drastic, such methods of control are vital to ensure the stonecrop cannot take over the pond, or, more seriously, spread to other still water-bodies further down the Tillingbourne and River Wey. Our ecologists are keeping a close eye on the ponds to monitor the success of the treatment work.

Elsewhere around the site Biffa Award’s funding will be evident. New benches have arrived, and new interpretation boards are due to go up this winter. The boardwalk overlooking Sherbourne Pond, whose surface was starting to break up, is being replaced with a chestnut boards which should have double the life span of the old planks. Surrey Hedgelaying Group hope to carry out further work alongside the public footpath once we have removed quick-growing ash saplings, and coppicing of the woodland will begin once the weather is cold enough to send the protected dormice into hibernation.

SWT Ranger Leo Jennings

Grazing Team: James Herd

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AS A RANGER WITH THE GRAZING TEAM my role is pretty diverse. One day I can be leading a guided walk or doing habitat management work, the next I can be moving and vaccinating cattle. I’ve been with Surrey Wildlife Trust for nearly 3 years now and it’s this diversity within my job that makes it so rewarding.

As far as the cattle are concerned things are starting to settle down at this time of year. We’ve had 55 calves this year, taking the herd up to a total of 282 animals. Most of the herd are on sites where they will spend the rest of the summer. In Surrey these predominantly tend to be heathland sites where they are used to control the rank grasses such as Purple Moor Grass, as well as make some impact on silver birch scrub. This allows some of the more delicate native heathland flora to establish and thrive and in turn support other biodiversity.

With my ranger hat on I’ve started doing more survey work. I look after Barossa and Poors Allotment, a 550ha heathland site on the edge of Camberley. Survey work here has included reptiles, birds, invertebrates and orchids. I also recently ran a very successful nightjar walk where we heard the male birds churring as well as good views of cuckoo and woodcock.

We’ll be keeping you updated with goings on within the grazing team on a regular basis so keep checking back here for more information.

James