Quarterly Land Management Update - S2

Summer 2 (S2) – July, August, September

This quarter marks the end of our summer season – Engage and Observe

Engagement

We are busy planning and running Braywick Nature Festival, Saturday 5th August, a family friendly event with music, talks, food, and nature inspired activities. This allows us to connect, and reconnect, with local families and wildlife groups - spreading awareness of our work at the centre and inspiring a larger group of people to enjoy what the borough has to offer.

School Visits

The school visits at Braywick Nature Centre drawing to a close towards the end of July, allowing our team to focus more on the Biodiversity Action Plan, site visits and planning for the coming winter and practical conservation/land management season.

Observation and Planning

The team will be conducting site visits to assess whether the previous winter management (tree planting etc.) has been successful, while noting down works to be done in the coming winter.

Battlemead

After a hay cut and collect mid-July, aftermath conservation grazing will start with cows. In addition to trampling, cattle have large mouths and are non-selective grazers, creating areas with longer and shorter sward height and enhancing the diversity of the grassland. The cows will stay on East field until October where they will be replaced with sheep for the winter. Sheep have smaller, more selective mouths, useful for targeting the smaller broad-leaf species in the more open sward and preparing the grassland for spring flowering species.

Invasive Species Control

As summer continues, we must still undertake invasive species control for plants such as Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam. This is important, as without this management, these species would outcompete our natives and can cause a decline in biodiversity.

Bird Nesting Season

We are nearing the end of the nesting season for many UK native birds. Hedgerows are an important habitat during this time with over 30 species using various hedge heights and types for nesting; Robins prefer nests on, or close to, the ground and Bullfinches favour nests over the 4m mark. Therefore, it is crucial to leave hedgerows uncut during this time (March – August), with active birds’ nests protected by law under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. We do not cut our hedgerows during this period, and if you are wanting to trim your own hedges, you must check carefully for active nests as we reach the end of August and September.