Thatcham Online

A project to restore and enhance heathland on Greenham and Crookham Common

By Katty Baird, August 2010

From the colourful heather of late summer to the icy chill of mid-winter, Greenham and Crookham Common is an exhilarating place to visit in all seasons. It is an important ‘green space’ for many people, who come to exercise their dogs and enjoy outdoor recreation. As well as a significant part of Newbury’s historical heritage, the Common is also the largest remaining fragment of lowland heathland in Berkshire and home to some of Britain’s most vulnerable wildlife, including rarities such as nightjar, woodlark and adder.

The Heathland and Beyond Project

The Common is owned by West Berkshire Council (WBC), and managed in partnership with Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) as part of the Wildlife Trust’s Living Landscape initiative. Over the next three years, key areas of heathland, woodland and reedbeds within the West Berkshire Living Landscape area will be conserved and enhanced as part of BBOWT’s ‘Heathland and Beyond’ project. The first phase of this project starts later this year, concentrating on the restoration of heathland at Crookham Common. This article explains a bit more about how and why this restoration work will be undertaken.

A riot of colour - Greenham Common in late summer. Photo: Rob Appleby

Management of the Common

Heathland cannot exist without some human intervention to prevent bracken and scrubby woodland from taking over. On Greenham and Crookham Common, grazing cattle and ponies help keep scrub growth in check and WBC operates a programme of vegetation cutting and surface scraping which helps maintain the heathland plants. However, over the last few decades in areas that have been less intensively managed or grazed, scrubby birch woodland has come to dominate. Not only are these areas less attractive to wildlife, they also form a natural barrier to movement of heathland animals from one area of Common to another. Removing some of the trees in these areas will allow dormant heather seeds present in the soil to germinate, providing additional habitat for some of the Common’s more vulnerable wildlife species and linking isolated heathland patches together.

Restoring areas of heathland

Work is planned to start in November 2010. About 65% of the trees will be removed at Crookham Common East where the heathland has become very overgrown with scrub and trees since the American airbase became inactive about 30 years ago.

Once the trees have been removed, the top-soil will be scraped off in a few carefully selected areas to expose the heather seed and speed up the regeneration of heather. These areas will look quite barren initially, but the seeds will germinate quickly and within 5 years heather will be well established and other heathland plants and animals starting to colonise.

How the new heathland should look within 5 years after selective tree removal. Photo: BBOWT

Individual mature trees and small copses of birch and oak will be kept, providing important feeding and nesting areas for wildlife, screening local houses and retaining some of the woodland feel. A number of shallow ponds will also be created. These will be dry for part of the year, but provide excellent early spring habitat for frogs, lizards, dragonflies and many other species.

Maintaining the new heathland

To ensure heathland continues to flourish in the cleared areas a maintenance plan will be put in place. Vegetation will be managed to produce a gradual transition from the tall trees of wooded areas to low-growing heather. Initially mechanical cutting and some herbicide treatment will be needed to keep scrub regeneration in check. In the longer-term the area will need to be fenced, allowing grazing cattle and ponies to have a significant role in reducing the regeneration of scrub.

After a few more years the new heathland will be a wildlife haven with a mix of trees, scrub and heather. Photo: BBOWT

Throughout the project BBOWT and WBC will carry out surveys of key species (including butterflies, bats, reptiles, ground-nesting birds, beetles and the plants). Results will be used to inform the management of the habitat, to ensure it is attractive to as wide a range of wildlife as possible.

Why are heathlands so important?

Lowland heath once covered large areas of southern Britain. However, since the 1700s more than four-fifths of this habitat has been lost (98% has been lost in Berkshire). This has resulted in a severe decline of some of the wildlife that thrived here, including nightjar, adder and grayling.

In recognition of its recent national decline and high importance for wildlife, lowland heath has been included by the government on a list of the most important habitats to protect and restore. In addition, the Forestry Commission has recently developed an ‘Open Habitats Policy’ for England, aimed at converting some wooded areas to open habitat in combination with planting and properly managing woodlands in other areas. This is in keeping with a general move by nature conservationists to look after our natural landscape as a whole, rather than focussing on individual sites in isolation.

The superbly camouflaged Nightjar is one of the rare birds that breed on Greenham and Crookham Common. Photo: Neil Aldridge

A landscape for all to enjoy

Although changes to familiar landscapes can be worrying, the Heathland and Beyond project will result in a far more wildlife-rich area. Opening up patches of dense scrubby woodland at Crookham Common will allow people easier access to encounter and enjoy a greater variety of plants and animals. These benefits will start to become apparent in just a few years. The work will also contribute to a number of government-led initiatives aimed at enhancing the nation’s biodiversity and should ensure that Greenham and Crookham Common remains a special place for people and wildlife, protected for future generations to enjoy.

To find out more

You can find out more about the ‘Heathland and Beyond’ project, and the West Berkshire Living Landscape at www.bbowt.org.uk - click on ‘Biodiversity’ and then ‘Living Landscapes’. Or contact BBOWT West Berkshire Living Landscape Manager, Jacky Akam: jackyakam@bbowt.org.uk, tel. 01635 500886. There is also a public meeting on Saturday 25th September. Meet at the Crookham Common car park at 10.30am.

This Heathland and Beyond project has been made possible by three significant grants from Grantscape, SITA Trust and Biffaward (distributors of Landfill Communities Fund grants), as well as a number of local grants and donations.