Does anyone know of any good reports, articals in journals about arable reversion?
Ex-arable to chalk grassland. Habitat Management News in British Wildlife?
I am doing some research for my BA, about an area of ex-arable land at the foot of the South Downs. The 50 acre field has been bought by local residents to prevent potential development, it was last cultivated in 2005.
Most residents would like to revert it, or at least part of it, to a species rich grassland to act as a buffer to the adjacent ancient chalk grassland SSSI where there is also good range of butterfly species.
Some wish to alow it to natural regeneration/revert, just grazing and topping the field.
Some would like to collect local seed from the downs and buy a native wild flower mix to distribute in the field and graze it.
Some would like to spray out all invasive species, plough it and sow a mixed grass and clover mix and roll it. Then graze it.
There is quite a bit of debate going on!
I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who may have some experience or knowledge about arable reversion.
I am going through various papers and reports as well as doing vegetation surveys.
Crispin
Arable Reversion any ideas
Re: Arable Reversion any ideas
Hi Crispin.
The competing options align themselves with the speed at which people wish to see results.
Ultimately option 1 - 'allow it to natural regeneration/revert, just grazing and topping the field' would be the most natural, but it could take a considerable length of time to manifest the sort of results the locals are looking for. All the while the land would have to be carefully managed to steer the regeneration gently in the direction required for the desired results. This would be a long term project.
I would probably go for the happy medium of option 2 - 'Some would like to collect local seed from the downs and buy a native wild flower mix to distribute in the field and graze it'.
This practise has proved to be successful already in a number of test cases. Of particular interest is the practise of spreading hay cut from local natural floral pasture - that has proved highly successful, sometimes with astonishingly quick results. The practise is as simple as it sounds - the ground is 'chain harrowed' to break up matted vegetation and expose a little soil, and the hay simply spread over the land. Turning the hay with a 'tedder' helps to distribute the seed, and after a few weeks the hay can be gathered.
The land is then rolled with a heavy roller. In some cases exceptional results have been seen the following season. The practise can be repeated during subsequent years in order to help the restoration project along.
Careful monitoring of the vegetation would be needed in order to weed out any initially unwelcome species such as Tor Grass (Brachypodium pinnatum), and an additional sowing of Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) has been also used in certain cases to help temper the growth of some of the more vigorous grass species.
If you must purchase wild flower seed mixes then please be certain to go for locally sourced mixes. This is very important as wild flower mixes can (and very often do) contain seeds from continental stock, often of subspecies that are not native to this country, and almost certainly not to your geographical area. I would urge you to contact someone like the charity Flora Local (http://www.floralocale.org) for advice should you choose to go down the purchased seed mix route. Flora Local also have excellent case studies on their web pages of just what you're attempting...
All that remains would be to implement grazing regimes suitable for the type of habitat that you wish to create. The NCC publication 'Management of Chalk Grassland for Butterflies' would be a good start
Option 4 is rather drastic and I would (in my humble opinion) council against it. All you are left with is a rather large 'garden' with the possibility of a lot of non-native (certainly not local) plants. This would in all likelihood also fail to reflect the species of plants native to your local area. The result could not be described as 'reversion' because you are creating something entirely new.
There's a very good book 'The Handbook of Ecological Restoration' (C.U.P. 2 Volumes) - you may well already be familiar with it, which could be obtained through your local library. It covers all the principles and practises that surround this issue and is well worth dipping into before you take the plunge.
Altogether though it's a worthy project and the locals are to be applauded for their efforts, and it's exciting too - there is still much to be learned about ecological restoration and it really is at the sharp end of habitat conservation in Britain today; especially with the current thinking regarding the creation and conservation of meta habitats.
Keep us all posted!
Felix.
The competing options align themselves with the speed at which people wish to see results.
Ultimately option 1 - 'allow it to natural regeneration/revert, just grazing and topping the field' would be the most natural, but it could take a considerable length of time to manifest the sort of results the locals are looking for. All the while the land would have to be carefully managed to steer the regeneration gently in the direction required for the desired results. This would be a long term project.
I would probably go for the happy medium of option 2 - 'Some would like to collect local seed from the downs and buy a native wild flower mix to distribute in the field and graze it'.
This practise has proved to be successful already in a number of test cases. Of particular interest is the practise of spreading hay cut from local natural floral pasture - that has proved highly successful, sometimes with astonishingly quick results. The practise is as simple as it sounds - the ground is 'chain harrowed' to break up matted vegetation and expose a little soil, and the hay simply spread over the land. Turning the hay with a 'tedder' helps to distribute the seed, and after a few weeks the hay can be gathered.
The land is then rolled with a heavy roller. In some cases exceptional results have been seen the following season. The practise can be repeated during subsequent years in order to help the restoration project along.
Careful monitoring of the vegetation would be needed in order to weed out any initially unwelcome species such as Tor Grass (Brachypodium pinnatum), and an additional sowing of Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor) has been also used in certain cases to help temper the growth of some of the more vigorous grass species.
If you must purchase wild flower seed mixes then please be certain to go for locally sourced mixes. This is very important as wild flower mixes can (and very often do) contain seeds from continental stock, often of subspecies that are not native to this country, and almost certainly not to your geographical area. I would urge you to contact someone like the charity Flora Local (http://www.floralocale.org) for advice should you choose to go down the purchased seed mix route. Flora Local also have excellent case studies on their web pages of just what you're attempting...
All that remains would be to implement grazing regimes suitable for the type of habitat that you wish to create. The NCC publication 'Management of Chalk Grassland for Butterflies' would be a good start
Option 4 is rather drastic and I would (in my humble opinion) council against it. All you are left with is a rather large 'garden' with the possibility of a lot of non-native (certainly not local) plants. This would in all likelihood also fail to reflect the species of plants native to your local area. The result could not be described as 'reversion' because you are creating something entirely new.
There's a very good book 'The Handbook of Ecological Restoration' (C.U.P. 2 Volumes) - you may well already be familiar with it, which could be obtained through your local library. It covers all the principles and practises that surround this issue and is well worth dipping into before you take the plunge.
Altogether though it's a worthy project and the locals are to be applauded for their efforts, and it's exciting too - there is still much to be learned about ecological restoration and it really is at the sharp end of habitat conservation in Britain today; especially with the current thinking regarding the creation and conservation of meta habitats.
Keep us all posted!
Felix.
Re: Arable Reversion any ideas
Hi
Might be able to offer some advice here, For at least 20 the field opposite us had been grassland used for cattle and sheep grazing. (we too are very near the south downs) but In 1997 The farmer suddenly ploughed it and put it down to sweetcorn. in 1999 we purchased 2 acres of it, our neighbours purchased 9 acres. It was cleared and harrowed and reseeded with a mixed grasses in 1999.( NO rye grass!) Well the first year was horrendous, up came the a small bit of grass, but it was swamped as along with it came ragwort, thistle and every weed under the sun, including a number of toxic ones such as deadly nightshade, which made grazing impossible. As we needed it as grassland it was decided to use a broadleaf weed spray over the entire 11 acres, ours and the neighbours. This was done in spring. From then on we have spot weeded with grazon and hand pulled our 2 acre section of the field only. We do this in spring when the thistles start to grow. Whilst the neighbours leave their bit alone but have had it sprayed every couple of years. Both sections have had a couple of silage crops taken off about 3 and 4 years back.
However The neighbours have far more thistles, ragwort and dock etc in their section, whilst ours is mainly mixed grasses, with the addition of vetch and clover. Around the field is a mixed native hedging, with bramble, honeysuckle, some bracken, primroses, bluebells, and mature oaks. a few clumps of Corn marigold are present, as well as a couple of clumps of greater knapweed.
By spot-weeding we only target the plants that are getting out of hand, The few patches of thistles are about to be dead-headed so they don't seed too much. We don't mind a bit but for a hay crop they are a pain.
Both fields are occasionally grazed, there were sheep on it last winter. Horses the year before. The Hay crop is usually taken until around August as that is the only time our local farmer gets around to doing it for us. (he isn't keen on the neighbours bit much)
It is very noticeable that our section of the field is teeming with butterflies. This year we have hundreds of meadow brown, and gatekeepers. We also have mixed types of Skippers, Brown Argus, Common blue, Small copper, Speckled wood (I think we may also have small heath but only if those look like teensy gatekeepers?) And purple hairstreaks have been spotted in the oaks.
Anyway, walk further into the field, into the neighbours section, which was last sprayed against weeds around two years or three years back. The spraying didn't seem to have done much good as it has many large thistles, and a fair bit of ragwort and tons of dock...But the most you find is a couple of meadow browns and the odd bumble bee. It is basically dead insect wise. Yes they have nectering plants there. ----- But the butterflies and bees are all over in OUR bit
They do have more insect life closer to their far hedge, but still no where near as much as we do, so I can only assume the hedge area only compensates to a certain degree. I think the corn marigold and the couple of patches of greater knapweed are the most popular plants with the butterflies, whilst the tufted vetch works for the skippers.
I intend to add some birdfoot treefoil to our grassland soon and at some stage a we are planning on planting a Princetown elm which is the variety resistant to DED so hopefully this might attract some other sorts. This will be to replace a couple of small horse chestnuts that have got blasted by that thing that is killing them all off.
So basically, if you have invasive weeds, get the locals out with a knapsacks and spot weed them, do not do an all out spray. That way you get rid of the unwanted weeds and can leave the grasses unsprayed.
Might be able to offer some advice here, For at least 20 the field opposite us had been grassland used for cattle and sheep grazing. (we too are very near the south downs) but In 1997 The farmer suddenly ploughed it and put it down to sweetcorn. in 1999 we purchased 2 acres of it, our neighbours purchased 9 acres. It was cleared and harrowed and reseeded with a mixed grasses in 1999.( NO rye grass!) Well the first year was horrendous, up came the a small bit of grass, but it was swamped as along with it came ragwort, thistle and every weed under the sun, including a number of toxic ones such as deadly nightshade, which made grazing impossible. As we needed it as grassland it was decided to use a broadleaf weed spray over the entire 11 acres, ours and the neighbours. This was done in spring. From then on we have spot weeded with grazon and hand pulled our 2 acre section of the field only. We do this in spring when the thistles start to grow. Whilst the neighbours leave their bit alone but have had it sprayed every couple of years. Both sections have had a couple of silage crops taken off about 3 and 4 years back.
However The neighbours have far more thistles, ragwort and dock etc in their section, whilst ours is mainly mixed grasses, with the addition of vetch and clover. Around the field is a mixed native hedging, with bramble, honeysuckle, some bracken, primroses, bluebells, and mature oaks. a few clumps of Corn marigold are present, as well as a couple of clumps of greater knapweed.
By spot-weeding we only target the plants that are getting out of hand, The few patches of thistles are about to be dead-headed so they don't seed too much. We don't mind a bit but for a hay crop they are a pain.
Both fields are occasionally grazed, there were sheep on it last winter. Horses the year before. The Hay crop is usually taken until around August as that is the only time our local farmer gets around to doing it for us. (he isn't keen on the neighbours bit much)
It is very noticeable that our section of the field is teeming with butterflies. This year we have hundreds of meadow brown, and gatekeepers. We also have mixed types of Skippers, Brown Argus, Common blue, Small copper, Speckled wood (I think we may also have small heath but only if those look like teensy gatekeepers?) And purple hairstreaks have been spotted in the oaks.
Anyway, walk further into the field, into the neighbours section, which was last sprayed against weeds around two years or three years back. The spraying didn't seem to have done much good as it has many large thistles, and a fair bit of ragwort and tons of dock...But the most you find is a couple of meadow browns and the odd bumble bee. It is basically dead insect wise. Yes they have nectering plants there. ----- But the butterflies and bees are all over in OUR bit
They do have more insect life closer to their far hedge, but still no where near as much as we do, so I can only assume the hedge area only compensates to a certain degree. I think the corn marigold and the couple of patches of greater knapweed are the most popular plants with the butterflies, whilst the tufted vetch works for the skippers.
I intend to add some birdfoot treefoil to our grassland soon and at some stage a we are planning on planting a Princetown elm which is the variety resistant to DED so hopefully this might attract some other sorts. This will be to replace a couple of small horse chestnuts that have got blasted by that thing that is killing them all off.
So basically, if you have invasive weeds, get the locals out with a knapsacks and spot weed them, do not do an all out spray. That way you get rid of the unwanted weeds and can leave the grasses unsprayed.
Re: Arable Reversion any ideas
This IS a very belated reply - sorry!
The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Branch of Butterfly Conservation has two areas of ex arable seeded with wild flowers - one in 1997 one in 2004. The latter was a joint scheme with Hampshire County Councul. I would be hapy to host a visit by those local resients to show them what we have done. Our butterfly numbers truly have escalated!
Also VERY helpful is the new book just published "Where have all the flowers gone? – Restoring Wild Flowers to the Garden and Countryside " by Charles Flower. It is on Amazon.
The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Branch of Butterfly Conservation has two areas of ex arable seeded with wild flowers - one in 1997 one in 2004. The latter was a joint scheme with Hampshire County Councul. I would be hapy to host a visit by those local resients to show them what we have done. Our butterfly numbers truly have escalated!
Also VERY helpful is the new book just published "Where have all the flowers gone? – Restoring Wild Flowers to the Garden and Countryside " by Charles Flower. It is on Amazon.