Spring 2002 edition of the Blackwater Valley Volunteer
Contents
Introduction
By Steve Bailey
It seems a long time since our last newsletter, last year saw many changes at the Blackwater Valley Countryside Service. The newsletter was not the only project to suffer from the staff changes, but we are now back to full strength and raring to go.
In 2001 we were without a ranger for a long period and so Caty Woolley stepped forward to organise and lead the conservation volunteer tasks. In fact during this year we have had more volunteers out on task than ever before, contributing an estimated £30,000 of work to improving the Valley. So a great big thank you to everyone who has helped continue the work of improving the Valley and especially large thanks to Caty. She has now stopped leading the conservation tasks and has now started on another project and all of us here wish her the best for the future. Despite the difficulties we achieved a lot last year to be proud of; footpaths surfaced, ponds dug, hedges planted, meadows mown, wildlife surveyed. These surveys confirm all our work is of benefit to wildlife with orchid numbers at Lakeside increasing, bats taking up residence in bat boxes, and wildfowl numbers at Moor Green Lakes on the up.
The new team has now been together for just 3 months and already I have been impressed by the way everyone has settled in and are working together. By the time you read this the 2002 activities will be well under way with a winter lecture series and training courses. I am now looking forward to 2002 with the hope of achieving great things.
Many of you will have met the new faces already, but do you know what they do? Inside this issue is an introduction to all the team members.
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Work Parties and Volunteers
The Blackwater Valley Conservation Volunteers are a dedicated group who help to maintain sites within the Blackwater Valley. Since I began work as the Countryside Ranger in September 2001 we have carried out work on the majority of sites we manage in order to improve them for wildlife and recreation.
Lakeside Park
We have cleared scrub to ensure the continued survival of two areas of heathland that add to the varied mosaic of habitats within this rather exceptional Local Nature Reserve. We have cleared paths and removed branches that may have posed a threat to cyclists and walkers.
The volunteers have also cleared scrub and small trees from a large portion of the reedbed that would otherwise have continued to damage this habitat as the natural process of succession progressed. The reedbed will remain a home to reed buntings, reed warblers and other reedbed species.
Hawley Meadows
Hawley Meadows has also benefited from the hard work of the volunteers in recent months. The hedges and scrub around the car park area has been thinned and cleared to open up the car park and make it more visible from the main A331. This hopefully will discourage some of those who use it for more than just parking their car.
Most importantly the site was grazed by 31 cattle, maintaining a grazing regime that will ensure the wildflower populations on the site are not out competed by rank grasses and check the development of scrub and woodland.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who have helped to check on the cattle while they were on site.
Hollybush Hill
This former land fill site has been restored to an area of meadow and scrub adjacent to the Blackwater River. On two Tuesday Tasks the volunteers cut and raked off the tall grass from a large portion of the site. Again, this management helps to preserve flower species within the grass sward. By cutting areas of grassland on a three year rotation some tall grass is left each year as habitat for invertebrates and small mammals etc.
Moor Green Lakes
The nature reserve is an exceptional wildlife site that attracts a wide variety of birds, and bird watchers, to its lakes and bird hides. The Blackwater Valley volunteers have assisted the Moor Green Lakes Group with island clearance and the erection of a mink-proof fence on Tern Island to protect breeding common terns from predation by mink.
Amanda Simpson Atkins has carried on leading the monthly Sunday tasks with large numbers of hard working volunteers from the Moor Green Lakes Group, cutting scallops, removing scrub and invasive trees.
The Blackwater Valley Volunteers have also erected a post and rail fence, raised the height of a dead hedge and most recently attempted to tackle the problem of Crassula helmsii on Grove Lake by covering the plant with carpet to prevent it from photosynthesising and hopefully, kill it.
Gerry's Copse and the Blackwater Valley Path
Gerry's Copse is a small area of woodland south of Coleford Bridge, adjacent to the Blackwater Valley Path. The area has recently undergone a selective thinning of non-native poplars and the removal of dangerous trees and branches adjacent to the path.
Much of the timber and brash was placed near the pond within Gerry's copse to form a large habitat pile. The site has recently had a snake hibernaculum put in to provide a safe site for snakes to overwinter.
The path has also been cleared of encroaching vegetation and the worst of the mud and leaves removed. The new toy of a leaf blower is proving very helpful in keeping the path clear of debris and hopefully stopping vegetation covering the path.
The work on the footpath is part of the regular maintenance that the Blackwater Valley do to ensure that the path remains a valued recreational resource for walkers, families, cyclists and wheelchair users.
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Wandering and Wondering
By Arthur Taylor
Wandering Hawley Meadows is something I do fairly regularly. Sunday 13th January was not a bad day, quite mild, rather muddy underfoot. I had been across to the A30 as usual; everything was as it normally is in Winter. A couple of Herons, a small flock of LongTails, Green Woodpecker in the wood at Blackwater Park, Mallard on the River.
On the way back and approaching the wooden bridge over the river I saw what I thought was a white plastic bag hooked up on bankside vegetation. However on getting closer to this plastic bag it sprouted wings and flew away up stream. It turned out to be a fairly large white bird, larger than a Gull, smaller than a Heron. I had never seen its like before; long black legs trailing out behind, head hunched down in its shoulders Heron style. I thought to myself ‘that’s an egret, I’ll look it up in the book when I get home to make sure’.
The following Tuesday I mentioned it to Steve at the office who agreed that was what it sounded like. It was there again the following Sunday and verified a few days later by Sue and Adrian.
So there you have it an Egret in Hawley Meadows. I wonder if this could be a possible breeding site in the future.
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Arrivals and Departures
Congratulations to Caty Woolley on the safe arrival of her baby girl, Anna-Lynn and best wishes for her move to the South-West.
Many thanks to Denise Roffey for all the hard work she put in whilst working as Countryside Assistant at Ash Lock during staff shortages last year. Denise has gone travelling for a few months before returning to this country to complete her M.Sc.
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Can you help?
If anyone has any information on or is interested in getting involved in monitoring reptiles and amphibians in the Valley, please let Sue Dent know.
Steve Bailey is interested to hear from anyone who knows of a bat roost.
To contact either Sue or Steve call 01252 331353.
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Focus on - Rowhill Nature Reserve
Rowhill Copse, Aldershot, is a Local Nature Reserve owned by Rushmoor Borough Council but actively managed by the Rowhill Nature Reserve Society which was founded in 1968. Roy Champion, explains more about the site, the variety of habitats to be found and the management of the Reserve.
Rowhill Nature Reserve gained LNR status in 1985. Within the fifty seven acre Reserve there is an area of heathland, three ponds, an area of alder carr and a large field, 65% of which is managed for meadow land and the rest is cut for playing on.
The small area of heathland has both dry grass heath and heather heath. Both areas support differing species of plants and invertebrates. The Reserve even has some sphagnum bog, which is the seepage point at the start of the River Blackwater. The largest habitat by far is secondary ancient woodland.
All of the wooded area was coppiced in the past. At the end of the last war the Canadians felled all the big trees. The one large oak on the Reserve is a park oak (characterised by a very low crown) and this occurred because it did not have to compete for light.
The woodland was all coppiced until 1952, Rowhill Nature Reserve Society reinstated a coppice cycle in 1968. All the hard work put in by volunteers over the years means that the material we now cut is of a quality which can be sold. This is a welcome source of income as until recently the Society was reliant solely on donations and fund raising events with some help given from Rushmoor Borough Council.
The coppiced areas are really beautiful in spring with an impressive showing of flowers. Blue carpets of bluebells are followed by white carpets of wood anemone, whilst along the sides of the paths violets, wood spurge, speedwell and wood sorrel can be found. Deer can be seen in the coppice areas grazing or lying up for the day.
Wildlife has benefited from the diverse range of habitats and the practical management that has taken place. Species such as the Oak Bush Cricket, Purple Hairstreak and Holly Blue can all be found at Rowhill. All three species of woodpecker breed in the unmanaged areas of woodland.
On the meadow, meadow ants are starting to produce quite large mounds and this area is also good for grasshoppers and bush crickets. Herons and kingfishers are regularly seen around the ponds, along with mallard, ducks and moorhens.
One of the ongoing volunteer tasks undertaken over the years has been the laying of large lengths of deadhedge. These sheltered areas have become wildlife corridors for small mammals travelling between coppice compartments.
Over time brambles have grown up over the dead wood. If you are very lucky, in the autumn you can find mice and voles sitting in the brambles at eye level eating blackberries. Foxes have also been known to lie up on the tops of these hedges and can be seen walking about the reserve in the day.
We are always happy for more people to discover and enjoy Rowhill. If you want to take some time out from the hectic pace of life and relax then a visit to Rowhill would not go amiss. Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how big the Reserve is once you get past the carpark!
The Reserve also has a field centre (adjacent to the car park) which is open on Sunday afternoons. This is where a map of the Reserve outlining the paths can be picked up and refreshments are served.
If you have a taste for conservation work or want to help put something back into the management of the Reserve, please ask at the centre or phone Roy on 01252 319749. Work parties are held on the 1st and 3rd Sunday in each month (10am - 1pm and 2 pm - 4.30pm), or bring a packed lunch and stay all day. Tea and humour supplied!
Rowhill Location: In either direction from Farnham or Farnborough along the A325 towards Aldershot, until you come to a mini- roundabout which will be the junction with Cranmore Lane. Turn down Cranmore Lane and take the first right turn after the central bollards and you are in the carpark. (Grid Ref: 848498)
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Wildlife Detectives Needed
Join a band of volunteers searching for noisy frogs in Surrey.
As part of an Earthwatch Millennium Award, records are being compiled of European Green Frogs in Surrey. This is done by listening for them calling, LOUDLY, along the waterways of Surrey during May and June. Tapes will be given to detectives willing to make sound recordings and record sheets must be completed with the grid reference of where they were seen.
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Training Required? Let us know
Are you running any training courses for your volunteers? Does your group need any training?
Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership recently organised a Strimmer training course and a Tree Felling course at which volunteers from Rowhill Nature Reserve Society, Moor Green Lakes and Blackwater Valley Conservation Volunteers attended.
These courses taught safe working practice and were a good opportunity to learn new skills and refresh old ones. If you are organising a training course which may benefit other groups and there are spaces available please let us know.
If you feel you or members of your group can benefit from further training – this could be anything from surveying skills, tool maintenance, to hedge laying or first aid, let us know and we will see what we can do to help. Contact Adrian on 01252 331353.
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River News
A Little Egret has been spotted alongside the River Blackwater at Hawley Meadows. The first reported sighting was by Arthur Taylor, a regular volunteer with the Blackwater Valley Countryside Service, who is also a registered ‘Water Walker’.
‘Water Walkers’ keep an eye out for pollution incidences that may occur along the river and provide a valuable early warning system. Membership cards for 2002 are currently being renewed. If you are a registered ‘Water Walker’ contact Kate on 01252 334225 to renew your membership.
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Blackwater Valley Wanderers
Organise regular walks to which all are welcome. Come along, meet like minded people who enjoy being out in the countryside, appreciate a good pub meal and a hearty walk. Forthcoming walks include:
Alice Holt,Forest Circular Walk (Bentley)
Saturday 13th April, 10am. Start point: Bentley Railway Station (GR: 792431)
A walk in the western part of the forest where there is an arboretum and Butterfly Conservation Trust meadow. In the afternoon across fields and back into the forest again. Lunch at the Jolly Farmer. Distance 8.5 miles.
Waverley Abbey and Crooksbury Hill
Saturday 25th May, 10am. Start point: Car Park of Waverley Abbey (GR: 870455)
Explore the ruins of Waverley Abbey before setting out on this walk where you can admire the views from Crooksbury Hill as you catch your breath. Lunch at the Princess Royal, Runfold. Distance 5.5 miles.
Stockbridge to Broughton and Back
Saturday 22nd June, 10am. Start point: Car park adjacent to National Trust land at Common Marsh (GR: 357347)
A walk along the Test Way and Clarendon Way stopping for lunch at the ‘Tally Ho’ pub in Broughton. After lunch walk across the Downs to Stockbridge High Street and the water meadows at Common Marsh. Distance 10.5 miles.
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