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Home| About the author | Have your say | Links | Site Map Nature in Charge – a review of UK Wildland projects 14th October 2005 University of Central Lancashire, Penrith Campus, Newton Rigg NOTES FROM THE MEETING: The second meeting of the Wildland Network was a sell-out. Hosted by the Wild Ennerdale project, 50 people turned up near Penrith, Cumbria, to hear speakers talk about a range of wildland projects led by public bodies, NGO's, community groups and private landowners. The day started however with a couple of short presentations on two wildland project gazetteers being compiled by myself on behalf of the Wildland Network, and by Rob McMorran on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage. Rob is taking a systematic approach in characterising the different projects using a matrix that has ecosystem and scale as the two axis. My approach at present is to classify the method of rewilding and where possible visually document the transition. Peter Samson of the North Pennines AONB talked about habitat enhancement through planting of wood pasture and temporary exclusion of livestock, particularly at Geltsdale. He bemoaned the fact that the pictures in his presentation were taken too soon to show any evidence of transition, but we could just pick out a few small sticks in the landscape that hold out future promise! Concern was raised about encroachment of woodland into the blanket bog of the area. Peter said there was some buffering at the interface, but more importantly there was considerably more bog than woodland. They were currently mapping where the best blanket bog was so that measures could be taken to selectively protect that. It was good to finally meet up with Peter who I first came across when I worked in rural affairs. The Forestry Commission is one of the three landowners/partners in the Wild Ennerdale Project. Gareth Browning of the FC explained that timber was a by-product of their management of the woodland in the project area, and not a sole purpose of the woodland. He noted that 40% of the project area was covered by designations of SAC and SSSI. This brought forward a question as to whether the changes in management emphasis were in conflict with the designations. Gareth responded that the designations were quite broad - such as an altitudinal succession - and that they had a good relationship with the local English Nature office. Martin Lester talked about expansion of the East of England's fens around Wicken, explaining that the National Trust saw a role in meeting a public need by creating wildlife recreation areas of the future. Martin supported this by showing an interesting map of England that highlighted a "black hole" representing a paucity of nature sites in the southern midlands, and reaching in to Cambridgeshire. I wondered since this was based on nationally designated sites (i.e. NNR, SSSI etc.) whether the map would look different if it plotted sites of ancient woodland as well. Sadly, as a Woodland Trust map of concentrations of ancient woodland shows, the southern midlands and Cambridgeshire really are a black hole for wild nature. James Fenton of the National Trust for Scotland explained the policy for the Mar Lodge Estate which is regarded as remote rather than wild since ecological processes are not the main determinant for its landscape. James showed pictures of the removal of estate tracks, some being reinstated as paths. Gravel on the tracks is redistributed with rocks randomly scattered. Clumps of rush are dug up and planted as the granite soils have low fertility and do not re-vegetate quickly. In total, 27km of track out of 72km on the estate have been removed since 1997. Presentations on community rewilding projects in Dartmoor and the Moffat Hills came next. Adam Griffin co-founded Moor Trees in 2000, and since then they had planted 8ha on Dartmoor and planned to plant another 15ha. They had supplied 2000 trees for community planting schemes and had sown a total of 20,000 in their tree nursery. Hugh Chalmers of Carrifran Wildwood described how they had ring-fenced their valley to exclude deer before tree-planting. They had also removed the feral goats, although the goats still grazed the surrounding Moffat Hills. Some part of the valley was covered by an SSSI, but the project had been able to get permission from Scottish Natural Heritage for the change of use. Perhaps the entertaining highlight of the day was a presentation on rewilding West Sussex farmland by Charlie Burrell (who would definitely get lost in woodland). Charlie owns 3,500 acres of dairy and arable farmland on boulder clay near Horsham. As with many farmers, Charlie has been staring the future of farming in the face over the last five years, recognising that the structural changes in subsidy, coupled with the poor quality of his land, meant that he could not carry on as normal. A first move some years ago was to put 1,400 acres into a Countryside Stewardship Scheme for parkland restoration (the farm is situated in the old Repton Park). A 60 acre lake and a herd of fallow deer in the medieval deer park have been supplemented by Exmoor ponies, Old English longhorn cattle and Tamworth pigs that get to roam freely around the park, including around his stately Knepp Hall. Dead, fallen trees that once would have been cleared away and burnt are being left in place. Large areas of his arable land have been sown with meadow flower seed, using up most of the local supply. Other areas of arable are being left to turn into scrubland. The changes in land use and management style that Charlie has taken on were described by him as the "Zen-like art of letting go". Future plans are for an even bigger ring-fenced parkland reserve, co-operating with his farming neighbours, where internal boundary fences are to be removed, roads grid-gated and tunnels made under roads for wildlife corridors. Zen on speed! What makes all this possible is the change to single payment in farm subsidy that does not require Charlie to actually produce anything from farming. As he divulged, his farm advisors told him he would lose money if he carried on farming, whereas his single payment subsidy alone was a income surplus if he did nothing. It is interesting to note that Charlie's farm is being written up as a case study report, sponsored by the nascent Natural England, and coming out in March next year. The single payment started in April this year, and thus we can only presume that by the time of publication of that report, Government will show the measure of their support for such schemes on farms and how they meet with compliance for the single payment. Meanwhile, good luck to Charlie! The group discussions that followed were cramped for time. Being a hardcore wildnut amongst those more tentative in outlook, I concluded that the only chance for wildland in Britain is in a post-apocalyptic state where wild nature takes over and consensus amongst the human species is not needed (discussion groups can do that to you!). What I would have liked for perspective would have been the walk in the Wild Ennerdale valley, scheduled for the next day, where nature would have been the guide and discussion would be flowing. A prior travel arrangement made me miss that day. Mark Fisher, 27th October 2005
The meeting report is now posted on the Wildland
Network website www.self-willed-land.org.uk mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk |
