Welcome......to the 2015 Local Wildlife Sitesnewsletter. This time we arefocussing on Wildlife Sites inand around towns and cities,their management issues, casestudies, ideas and opportunities.

What are Wildlife Sites? Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) aresites of substantive natureconservation value and althoughthey do not have any statutorystatus, many are equal in qualityto statutory Sites of SpecialScientific Interest (SSSIs). There are more than 40,000Local Wildlife Sites in Englandoverseen by 65 Local Sitessystems, covering contrastinglandscapes in coastal, rural andurban situations. Hertfordshirecurrently has 1,575 habitat LWS.Together with SSSIs, LWSsupport locally and nationallythreatened species and habitats.They play a critical role informing the building blocks ofecological networks and LivingLandscapes.

We want to hear from you!Comments or suggestions forfuture articles are welcome.If you would prefer to receiveyour newsletter via email please contact Judith Cox:judith.cox@hmwt.org

As towns and cities expand andregenerate, wildlife continues to tryto find a home there too. Nest boxes,ponds, compost heaps and highledges provide valuable homes androosts, but not all wildlife is adaptableand connectivity between habitats isalso vital. Local Wildlife Sites provideareas of refuge and corridors of highquality habitat between buildings,towns, and amenity areas and allowwildlife to forage and move safelybetween built up areas. Urban green spaces are of great

benefit to people too. Time spent in,or viewing nature helps us to relaxand feel happier. Local Wildlife Sitescan include golf courses, church -yards, village greens and road verges.Large publicly accessible LocalWildlife Sites within our townsinclude Monks & WhomerleyWoods in Stevenage, CassioburyPark in Watford and BoxmoorCommon in Hemel Hempstead. Some urban Local Wildlife Sites –

including river banks, grassland sitesand woodlands – are on private land.However, despite their lack of publicaccess these areas still provide uswith the benefit of ‘breathing space’

between built up areas, natural floodbarriers, noise/pollution reduction anda more picturesque landscape scene. Owning a metropolitan Local

Wildlife Site when pressures onurban space are growing is notalways easy. Litter and fly tipping,development and unauthorisedaccess to land are just some of the associated problems, but LocalWildlife Sites are critical to our localwildlife. In this issue we celebrate

their importance and provide casestudies and ideas for your ownLocal Wildlife Site. You can also read more about Local WildlifeSites in our Secret Spaces report.Find it at: www.wildlifetrusts.org/localwildlifesites

Few people realise the global signifi -cance of Hertfordshire’s chalk rivers.Estimates vary but there are fewerthan 200 chalk rivers in the world andHertfordshire is home to a significantproportion of these – the Mimram,Beane, Ash, Ver, Chess and Gade,to name a few. Our chalk rivers arebeautiful and iconic ecosystems,supporting a wide range of nativewildlife. Chalk river water is pure,mineral rich and relatively alkaline.The temperature is relatively constantthroughout the year at around 10oCand these stable conditions areperfect for wildlife, especially a richinvertebrate life, to flourish.

Chalk rivers are a feature of a numberof urban or suburban Local WildlifeSites – such as Singlers Marsh onthe River Mimram, and Beane Marsh(River Beane). While this can provideopportunities for public engagementand education, it also presentschallenges for a river’s ecology. Urban diffuse pollution can comefrom a number of sources, includingmisconnections from domestic waterpipes, sewer outflows, run-off fromroads and illegal dumping of wastedown roadside drains (many of whichlead directly to rivers without treat -ment). Fertiliser run-off, ornamentalweirs, and non-native and invasiveplants, all have a detrimental impacton our local rivers.

How you can helpRivers interconnect with each otherand with the land (or ‘catchment’)which they drain. What happensupstream will have impacts down -stream, and what happens in landbordering the river will affect the riveritself. To improve and protect ourrivers it’s important to look at the

bigger picture. Focussing on alandscape scale makes perfect senseand working with local landownersand land managers is crucial to thisapproach. If you own some river,whether a long stretch within aLocal Wildlife Site, or a few metresin your back garden, you can play a huge role in improving the healthof our chalk rivers.

The Wildlife Trust is ‘hosting’ catch -ment management plans for all ofthe rivers of the Upper Lea: The Lea itself, Mimram, Beane, Ash, Riband Quin, and Stort. Planning themanagement of a catchment is ahuge task; no one person or groupcan do it alone. So by hosting thepartnerships we can bring togetherinterested people and organisationsand focus on taking a ‘bottom up’approach to improving our rivers;driven by local people. If you are ariparian landowner, or a local personwith an interest in one of these rivers,you may be interested in joiningyour local Catchment Partnership.Our vision is for a management plandeveloped and implemented by apartnership of interested people,including farmers, local communitygroups, fishing clubs, landowners,charities and statutory bodies.

The Catchment Partnerships meetevery few months to discuss projectsfor the river and update memberson developments and progress. Tofind out more and to get involved,visit www.riverleacatchment.org.ukand click on your local river!

n Charlie BellHertfordshire Living Rivers Officer,Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership March2015

What’s special aboutLocal Wildlife Sites in towns and cities?

photo: Margaret Holland

Stevenage road verge with wildflowers

The partnership This newsletter has been produced by Hertsand Middlesex Wildlife Trust on behalf ofthe Local Wildlife Sites Partnership,supported by funding from theEnvironment Agency, Herts CountyCouncil and North Herts District Council.

The Wildlife Sites Partnership in Hertford shireincludes Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre,Hertfordshire Ecology, Natural England, the Countryside Management Service, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, ChilternsAONB, the Forestry Commission and theEnvironment Agency, and is coordinated by Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

Registered address:Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Grebe House, St Michael’s Street, St Albans, AL3 4SN

01727 858901info@hmwt.orgwww.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk

Registered in England: 816710Registered Charity: 239863

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnershipdoes not necessarily identify with or hold themselvesresponsible for the views expressed by contributors,correspondents or advertisers.

Printed by Berforts on AmadeusSilk made from 100% recycledfibre at a mill that has beenawarded the ISO140001certificate for environmentalmanagement. The pulp isbleached using a totally chlorine free (TCF) processand is a certified carbon neutral paper.

Designed by Wildcat Design (wildcat1@ntlworld.com)

pea sticks. Nothing would bewasted, with larger timbers madeinto charcoal and smaller twiggypieces bound up into faggot bundlesand burned on domestic fires.

Coppicing restarted in 1979, but thecut wood was under-utilised due tolimited demand for the products andthe work was undertaken solely byvolunteers. More recently, the CMShas been working with HBC toimprove the woodland managementand a more commercial approachhas been taken. The management isnow more sustainable, maximisingthe value of the timber whilst contin -uing the vital coppice managementunder which the woodland wildlifethrives. Volunteers are still engagedin different aspects of the wood’sconservation. Following theproduction of a woodland manage -ment plan and, with further advicefrom the CMS, Iain Loasby of Riven -wood Coppice is now employed tocoppice an area of the wood eachyear, bringing it back into a regularcoppice cycle. Iain processes the cuttrees into useful products which hemarkets and sells, offsetting someof the cost of the work. Grantmonies secured from the ForestryCommiss ion have further reduced

Furzefield Wood Local NatureReserve (LNR) is a small remnant ofancient woodland on the outskirtsof Potters Bar, known to have beenwooded since the early 1600s. Itsancient woodland flora and faunamake Furzefield Wood of countyimportance for its wildlife, reflectingits designation as an LNR and LocalWildlife Site (LWS). The CountrysideManagement Service (CMS), inpartnership with site ownersHertsmere Borough Council (HBC),manage the woodland for bothwildlife and people.

With a canopy of mainly coppicedhazel bushes and large oak trees,the woodland is a world away fromthe surrounding town; alive withwildlife. In spring it is carpeted withwildflowers including bluebells,delicate white wood anemones andthe yellows of lesser celandine andprimroses. It supports a wide varietyof birds, insects and mammals,including bats. Speckled wood andstriking yellow brimstone butterfliescan be seen in the dappled shade of the woodland paths and edges in spring and great spottedwoodpeckers heard drummingthroughout the day.

Prior to 1935, when it was purchasedby the Urban District Council ofPotters Bar, Furzefield Wood wasmanaged traditionally with recordsof hazel coppicing going back severalcenturies. This ancient practiceinvolves cutting trees on a cycle, for example every seven years, withsubsequent re-growth used to makeproducts such as thatching sparsand sheep hurdles, bean poles and

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

Waxwings

??????????????

All photos: C

MS

Horsepower – Furzefield Wood Coppiced faggot bundles

newsletterHERTS LOCAL WILDLIFE SITES

THEH

ERT

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RD

SH

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LO C A L WI L D L I F

E

SIT

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Horses and hurdles – traditional management forsustainable urban woodland

Bluebells under hazel coppice

the cost of the woodland manage -ment. Temporary fencing round thecoppice areas now limits the impactof muntjac deer and additional hazeltrees have been planted too. Thiswork will improve the quality andproductivity of the coppice, so intime the woodland managementwork will pay for itself or may evenprovide a small income.

Over winter, there has been a newaddition to the work force in theform of Roy, a Suffolk Punch horse.Roy and his handler, Matt Wallerfrom Hawthorn Heavy Horses, havebeen brought in to help Iain extracttimber and coppice products fromthe wood to the roadside. Thistraditional approach is moreecologically sensitive, causingminimal ground disturbance whencompared to the use of modernmechanised forestry equipment.

n The Countryside ManagementService works with communities inHertfordshire to help them care forand enjoy the environment. Formore information visit the CMSwebsite: www.hertslink.org/cmsemail: northeast.cms@hertfordshire.gov.uk or tel: 01992 588433.

Chalk rivers in urban landscape Singlers Marsh

photo: Judith Cox

photo: Ann Favell

Welcome......to the 2015 Local Wildlife Sitesnewsletter. This time we arefocussing on Wildlife Sites inand around towns and cities,their management issues, casestudies, ideas and opportunities.

What are Wildlife Sites? Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) aresites of substantive natureconservation value and althoughthey do not have any statutorystatus, many are equal in qualityto statutory Sites of SpecialScientific Interest (SSSIs). There are more than 40,000Local Wildlife Sites in Englandoverseen by 65 Local Sitessystems, covering contrastinglandscapes in coastal, rural andurban situations. Hertfordshirecurrently has 1,575 habitat LWS.Together with SSSIs, LWSsupport locally and nationallythreatened species and habitats.They play a critical role informing the building blocks ofecological networks and LivingLandscapes.

We want to hear from you!Comments or suggestions forfuture articles are welcome.If you would prefer to receiveyour newsletter via email please contact Judith Cox:judith.cox@hmwt.org

As towns and cities expand andregenerate, wildlife continues to tryto find a home there too. Nest boxes,ponds, compost heaps and highledges provide valuable homes androosts, but not all wildlife is adaptableand connectivity between habitats isalso vital. Local Wildlife Sites provideareas of refuge and corridors of highquality habitat between buildings,towns, and amenity areas and allowwildlife to forage and move safelybetween built up areas. Urban green spaces are of great

benefit to people too. Time spent in,or viewing nature helps us to relaxand feel happier. Local Wildlife Sitescan include golf courses, church -yards, village greens and road verges.Large publicly accessible LocalWildlife Sites within our townsinclude Monks & WhomerleyWoods in Stevenage, CassioburyPark in Watford and BoxmoorCommon in Hemel Hempstead. Some urban Local Wildlife Sites –

including river banks, grassland sitesand woodlands – are on private land.However, despite their lack of publicaccess these areas still provide uswith the benefit of ‘breathing space’

between built up areas, natural floodbarriers, noise/pollution reduction anda more picturesque landscape scene. Owning a metropolitan Local

Wildlife Site when pressures onurban space are growing is notalways easy. Litter and fly tipping,development and unauthorisedaccess to land are just some of the associated problems, but LocalWildlife Sites are critical to our localwildlife. In this issue we celebrate

their importance and provide casestudies and ideas for your ownLocal Wildlife Site. You can also read more about Local WildlifeSites in our Secret Spaces report.Find it at: www.wildlifetrusts.org/localwildlifesites

Few people realise the global signifi -cance of Hertfordshire’s chalk rivers.Estimates vary but there are fewerthan 200 chalk rivers in the world andHertfordshire is home to a significantproportion of these – the Mimram,Beane, Ash, Ver, Chess and Gade,to name a few. Our chalk rivers arebeautiful and iconic ecosystems,supporting a wide range of nativewildlife. Chalk river water is pure,mineral rich and relatively alkaline.The temperature is relatively constantthroughout the year at around 10oCand these stable conditions areperfect for wildlife, especially a richinvertebrate life, to flourish.

Chalk rivers are a feature of a numberof urban or suburban Local WildlifeSites – such as Singlers Marsh onthe River Mimram, and Beane Marsh(River Beane). While this can provideopportunities for public engagementand education, it also presentschallenges for a river’s ecology. Urban diffuse pollution can comefrom a number of sources, includingmisconnections from domestic waterpipes, sewer outflows, run-off fromroads and illegal dumping of wastedown roadside drains (many of whichlead directly to rivers without treat -ment). Fertiliser run-off, ornamentalweirs, and non-native and invasiveplants, all have a detrimental impacton our local rivers.

How you can helpRivers interconnect with each otherand with the land (or ‘catchment’)which they drain. What happensupstream will have impacts down -stream, and what happens in landbordering the river will affect the riveritself. To improve and protect ourrivers it’s important to look at the

bigger picture. Focussing on alandscape scale makes perfect senseand working with local landownersand land managers is crucial to thisapproach. If you own some river,whether a long stretch within aLocal Wildlife Site, or a few metresin your back garden, you can play a huge role in improving the healthof our chalk rivers.

The Wildlife Trust is ‘hosting’ catch -ment management plans for all ofthe rivers of the Upper Lea: The Lea itself, Mimram, Beane, Ash, Riband Quin, and Stort. Planning themanagement of a catchment is ahuge task; no one person or groupcan do it alone. So by hosting thepartnerships we can bring togetherinterested people and organisationsand focus on taking a ‘bottom up’approach to improving our rivers;driven by local people. If you are ariparian landowner, or a local personwith an interest in one of these rivers,you may be interested in joiningyour local Catchment Partnership.Our vision is for a management plandeveloped and implemented by apartnership of interested people,including farmers, local communitygroups, fishing clubs, landowners,charities and statutory bodies.

The Catchment Partnerships meetevery few months to discuss projectsfor the river and update memberson developments and progress. Tofind out more and to get involved,visit www.riverleacatchment.org.ukand click on your local river!

n Charlie BellHertfordshire Living Rivers Officer,Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership March2015

What’s special aboutLocal Wildlife Sites in towns and cities?

photo: Margaret Holland

Stevenage road verge with wildflowers

The partnership This newsletter has been produced by Hertsand Middlesex Wildlife Trust on behalf ofthe Local Wildlife Sites Partnership,supported by funding from theEnvironment Agency, Herts CountyCouncil and North Herts District Council.

The Wildlife Sites Partnership in Hertford shireincludes Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre,Hertfordshire Ecology, Natural England, the Countryside Management Service, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, ChilternsAONB, the Forestry Commission and theEnvironment Agency, and is coordinated by Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

Registered address:Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Grebe House, St Michael’s Street, St Albans, AL3 4SN

01727 858901info@hmwt.orgwww.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk

Registered in England: 816710Registered Charity: 239863

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnershipdoes not necessarily identify with or hold themselvesresponsible for the views expressed by contributors,correspondents or advertisers.

Printed by Berforts on AmadeusSilk made from 100% recycledfibre at a mill that has beenawarded the ISO140001certificate for environmentalmanagement. The pulp isbleached using a totally chlorine free (TCF) processand is a certified carbon neutral paper.

Designed by Wildcat Design (wildcat1@ntlworld.com)

pea sticks. Nothing would bewasted, with larger timbers madeinto charcoal and smaller twiggypieces bound up into faggot bundlesand burned on domestic fires.

Coppicing restarted in 1979, but thecut wood was under-utilised due tolimited demand for the products andthe work was undertaken solely byvolunteers. More recently, the CMShas been working with HBC toimprove the woodland managementand a more commercial approachhas been taken. The management isnow more sustainable, maximisingthe value of the timber whilst contin -uing the vital coppice managementunder which the woodland wildlifethrives. Volunteers are still engagedin different aspects of the wood’sconservation. Following theproduction of a woodland manage -ment plan and, with further advicefrom the CMS, Iain Loasby of Riven -wood Coppice is now employed tocoppice an area of the wood eachyear, bringing it back into a regularcoppice cycle. Iain processes the cuttrees into useful products which hemarkets and sells, offsetting someof the cost of the work. Grantmonies secured from the ForestryCommiss ion have further reduced

Furzefield Wood Local NatureReserve (LNR) is a small remnant ofancient woodland on the outskirtsof Potters Bar, known to have beenwooded since the early 1600s. Itsancient woodland flora and faunamake Furzefield Wood of countyimportance for its wildlife, reflectingits designation as an LNR and LocalWildlife Site (LWS). The CountrysideManagement Service (CMS), inpartnership with site ownersHertsmere Borough Council (HBC),manage the woodland for bothwildlife and people.

With a canopy of mainly coppicedhazel bushes and large oak trees,the woodland is a world away fromthe surrounding town; alive withwildlife. In spring it is carpeted withwildflowers including bluebells,delicate white wood anemones andthe yellows of lesser celandine andprimroses. It supports a wide varietyof birds, insects and mammals,including bats. Speckled wood andstriking yellow brimstone butterfliescan be seen in the dappled shade of the woodland paths and edges in spring and great spottedwoodpeckers heard drummingthroughout the day.

Prior to 1935, when it was purchasedby the Urban District Council ofPotters Bar, Furzefield Wood wasmanaged traditionally with recordsof hazel coppicing going back severalcenturies. This ancient practiceinvolves cutting trees on a cycle, for example every seven years, withsubsequent re-growth used to makeproducts such as thatching sparsand sheep hurdles, bean poles and

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

Waxwings

??????????????

All photos: C

MS

Horsepower – Furzefield Wood Coppiced faggot bundles

newsletterHERTS LOCAL WILDLIFE SITES

THEH

ERT

FO

RD

SH

IRE

LO C A L WI L D L I F

E

SIT

ES

PA

RT

NERSHIP

Horses and hurdles – traditional management forsustainable urban woodland

Bluebells under hazel coppice

the cost of the woodland manage -ment. Temporary fencing round thecoppice areas now limits the impactof muntjac deer and additional hazeltrees have been planted too. Thiswork will improve the quality andproductivity of the coppice, so intime the woodland managementwork will pay for itself or may evenprovide a small income.

Over winter, there has been a newaddition to the work force in theform of Roy, a Suffolk Punch horse.Roy and his handler, Matt Wallerfrom Hawthorn Heavy Horses, havebeen brought in to help Iain extracttimber and coppice products fromthe wood to the roadside. Thistraditional approach is moreecologically sensitive, causingminimal ground disturbance whencompared to the use of modernmechanised forestry equipment.

n The Countryside ManagementService works with communities inHertfordshire to help them care forand enjoy the environment. Formore information visit the CMSwebsite: www.hertslink.org/cmsemail: northeast.cms@hertfordshire.gov.uk or tel: 01992 588433.

Chalk rivers in urban landscape Singlers Marsh

photo: Judith Cox

photo: Ann Favell

Great green bush crickets, ancientwoodlands full of spring flowers anduncommon plants like adder’s tonguefern and early purple orchids, are allfound in the heart of Stevenage. As part of its local Biodiversity ActionPlan, Stevenage Borough Council(Stevenage BC) has been hard atwork maintaining, recording andimproving Local Wildlife Sites fornature conservation. With 80 percentof threatened vascular plants residingin Local Wildlife Sites and with everincreasing pressure from develop -ment, this work is vitally important.While most of Stevenage is urban,its green space is a haven forwildlife. Three successful projects in particular illustrate how goodconserv ation management can go a long way.

Shackledell GrasslandShackledell Grassland in Stevenageis very special. It is the only grassland

in Hertfordshire where the greatgreen bush cricket is recorded andis part of the 4 percent (19.1 ha) ofremaining unimproved grassland inthe borough. Unimproved grasslandmakes up only a small proportion(4.3 percent) of Hertfordshire’sgrassland. Traditionally managedwith little nutrient input, unimprovedsites typically include few agriculturalweeds and a high diversity of floracharacteristic of their soil type whichsupports many invertebrates, birdsand other fauna. Local volunteers took part in

practical tasks at Shackledell Grass -land for the Wild Stevenage Projectdelivered by Herts and MiddlesexWildlife Trust in partnership withStevenage BC. Volunteers planted a new native hedgerow to provideshelter, and helped to clear scruband saplings. Two of Stevenage BC’sGreen Space volunteers now act aswardens. The site is managed for its

grassland and its crickets so scrubdensity is maintained within controlledareas, and removed in others to increasethe grassland area. A meadow mowingregime has been incorporated in rotationleaving some vegetation each winter forinverte brates.

Monks & Whomerley WoodsMonks and Whomerley Woods make upsome of the 41 percent of ‘ancient’woodland in Stevenage, as indicated bytheir presence on the Ancient WoodlandInventory and their indicative flora like thebeautiful native bluebell. Many ancientwood land indicators grow very slowly anddo not compete well with other plants, soonce they have gone from a site theymay never return. Woodland flowers alsoprovide some of the first nectar of theyear for insects emerging in spring.Despite growing in a shady environmentmuch woodland flora requires at leastdappled light to grow. Management hasincluded opening up rides and gladesallowing more light to reach thewoodland floor. As a result there hasbeen a large increase in ground floraincluding early purple orchid, adder’stongue fern, yellow archangel, bugle andearly dog violet. Clear pathways and guidedroutes through the wood encouragewalkers to use paths to avoid tramplingthe flora, and Green Space volunteerscoppice an acre of the woods each winterto support the ongoing development ofgood vertical structure.

Chalk banks and road vergesMartins Way running along the A1072 in

Stevenage was a bare chalk bank with asunny aspect. It was seeded with nativewildflowers by Stevenage ZoologicalSociety and now the site is a buzzing insect metropolis with many calcareouswildflowers such as kidney vetch, beeorchid and burnet saxifrage, some ofwhich are believed to have colonised the site naturally. Three existing road verges were

experimentally managed to benefit floraconservation allowing them to grow long,cutting the verge only once the flowershad set seed in late summer. This increasesthe wildflower population. If cuttings areremoved nutrients are kept low, andcompetition from ‘weed’ species such as common ragwort is reduced. WildlifeTrust volunteers surveyed the sites beforeand after the revised management. Allthree sites increased their flora, diversity,and numbers of indicator plant species.Further areas of grassland are now alsoreceiving meadow management toincrease biodiversity within the town.

n Judith CoxWildlife Sites Programme Manager,Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

Wildlife Site Success in Stevenage

Herts Environmental Records Centre

Great green bush cricket

Volunteers with the Wild Stevenage Project

Six Hills Way, Stevenage

leaf litter out of the heather andmanaging tree and sapling growthalso take a lot of effort.

n And the benefits?Managing the course this waycreates a lot of work but we wouldsay it is worth it. The heather looksgreat when it’s flowering and theroughs have greatly improved – the

fescue grasses don’t clump at thebase like the coarser grasses they’vereplaced, so golf balls are more easilyfound. We are one of only a fewheath golf courses in Hertfordshire;it’s a more challenging course forgolfers, and heath golf courses cancharge more per round. We have installed 90 bird boxes

around the site and we have someonewho helps us with owls on site.There is more heather now, and theacid grassland has increased in florasuch as harebell and fescue grasses.So wildlife has benefited too.

n Future plans?A management plan is being writtenby Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trustto help us continue to manage thesite sensitively for nature and ourvision is to become the biggest heathsite in Hertfordshire.

code if you are recording on a siteyou know to be a LWSn The date when the species wasseen (or a month and year if you areunsure of the date)n How many of the species you sawe.g. 3 individuals or 5 males

Herts Environmental Records Centrecollates records of species and habitatsin Hertfordshire which can be usedfor monitoring, consideration inplanning developments and research.You can contribute to the knowledgeof your area by submitting records ofthe wildlife that you have observed.

A record should consist of:n The full name of the person whomade the observationn The species observedn Grid reference where the specieswas observed – see this handy web-page to find your grid reference:www.bnhs.co.uk/focuson/grabagridref/html/index.htmn The Local Wildlife Site name or file

n Any other comments of interestrelating to the species, the individualsseen or the location

Please be aware that all these detailsassociated with records submittedmay then be collated and disseminatedmanually or electronically, for environ -mental decision-making, education,research and other public benefit uses,and in the commercial operation of the record centre. The data may beuploaded to the National BiodiversityNetwork.

n Records may be sent to:enquiries@hercinfo.org.uk and weare happy to assist you with anyenquiries about recording.

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

the course for the benefit of theclub, and increase the wildlife valueof the site for the benefit of natureconservation. The golf club, withecological advice from Herts andMiddlesex Wildlife Trust, has beenworking to improve and restore thearea. I met Jody Wilson, CourseManager at Mid Herts Golf Club tohear about the challenges andadvantages of managing a heathgolf course for the benefit of peopleand wildlife.

n How do you manage the site?We manage the site for heatherregeneration and its acid grassland.The roughs are left long and havethe cuttings removed when they are mown. Organic matter has to be constantly cleared and leaf litterremoved from the heather (heatherand good acid grassland needs tobe nutrient poor). We have alsostripped four initial areas of theirvegetation and top soil to make way for new heather growth usingheather brashing brought in fromHankley Common Golf Course inSurrey, and our own heather seed.

n Why manage the site for heather?The course was originally aheathland site and 50 years ago was covered in heather. However,without targeted management,scrub, bramble and trees took over.The heather was greatly reducedand trees were growing amongst

Golf courses are a mosaic of habitatsthat include rough grass, open water,wooded areas and short open grass -land, each providing ideal conditionsfor different species if managedsympathetically. As golf courses arelarge areas of green space, oftenclose to urban sprawl, they givemembers and wildlife an escape fromthe bustle of town. Several of Hert -fordshire’s golf courses are LocalWild life Sites, selected for their richfloral diversity, and have been work ingon improving their courses not justfor their players but for wildlife too. One such example is Mid Herts

Golf Course which includes areas ofheath and acid grassland. Togetherwith adjoining Gustard WoodCommon, it forms a Local WildlifeSite. This supports heather, heathbedstraw, harebell, and juniper,which is a rare species in Hertford -shire. Heath is a very scarce habitatwithin the county, the UK and withinEurope. Much of it has been lost to woodland or development, or hasbeen fragmented by roads. Whatremains in the UK represents 20percent of the total European heathhabitat, with only 13 hectares ofheath remaining in the whole ofHertfordshire. This makes it animportant conservation concern notonly for the rarity of the habitat itselfbut for the flora and fauna it supports.Mid Herts Golf Club has made

use of the diversity of flora on itssite to help increase the difficulty of

heather stands. So, within the lastten years we have gradually beenstarting to restore it.

n What are the challenges ofmanaging heath?Finding the old seed banks andheather areas and getting new areasof heather established is difficult. Itcan take up to five years for heatherto start to really take off and untilthen the area doesn’t look so good.Removing grasses without damagingthe heather isn’t easy and picking the

photo: Ann Favell

photo: Bruce Shortland

photo: Ann Favell

photo: HMWT

Heather at Mid Herts Golf Course

photo: Mid H

erts Golf C

lub

Stripping topsoil for new heather

Juniper berries, Gustard Wood Common

Chalkhill blue

photo: Mid Herts Golf Club

photo: HMWT

Herts habitat heroes – golf courses can be havens forwildlife as the Wildlife Trust’s Judith Cox explains

photo: Tim Hill

Early purple orchid

Great green bush crickets, ancientwoodlands full of spring flowers anduncommon plants like adder’s tonguefern and early purple orchids, are allfound in the heart of Stevenage. As part of its local Biodiversity ActionPlan, Stevenage Borough Council(Stevenage BC) has been hard atwork maintaining, recording andimproving Local Wildlife Sites fornature conservation. With 80 percentof threatened vascular plants residingin Local Wildlife Sites and with everincreasing pressure from develop -ment, this work is vitally important.While most of Stevenage is urban,its green space is a haven forwildlife. Three successful projects in particular illustrate how goodconserv ation management can go a long way.

Shackledell GrasslandShackledell Grassland in Stevenageis very special. It is the only grassland

in Hertfordshire where the greatgreen bush cricket is recorded andis part of the 4 percent (19.1 ha) ofremaining unimproved grassland inthe borough. Unimproved grasslandmakes up only a small proportion(4.3 percent) of Hertfordshire’sgrassland. Traditionally managedwith little nutrient input, unimprovedsites typically include few agriculturalweeds and a high diversity of floracharacteristic of their soil type whichsupports many invertebrates, birdsand other fauna. Local volunteers took part in

practical tasks at Shackledell Grass -land for the Wild Stevenage Projectdelivered by Herts and MiddlesexWildlife Trust in partnership withStevenage BC. Volunteers planted a new native hedgerow to provideshelter, and helped to clear scruband saplings. Two of Stevenage BC’sGreen Space volunteers now act aswardens. The site is managed for its

grassland and its crickets so scrubdensity is maintained within controlledareas, and removed in others to increasethe grassland area. A meadow mowingregime has been incorporated in rotationleaving some vegetation each winter forinverte brates.

Monks & Whomerley WoodsMonks and Whomerley Woods make upsome of the 41 percent of ‘ancient’woodland in Stevenage, as indicated bytheir presence on the Ancient WoodlandInventory and their indicative flora like thebeautiful native bluebell. Many ancientwood land indicators grow very slowly anddo not compete well with other plants, soonce they have gone from a site theymay never return. Woodland flowers alsoprovide some of the first nectar of theyear for insects emerging in spring.Despite growing in a shady environmentmuch woodland flora requires at leastdappled light to grow. Management hasincluded opening up rides and gladesallowing more light to reach thewoodland floor. As a result there hasbeen a large increase in ground floraincluding early purple orchid, adder’stongue fern, yellow archangel, bugle andearly dog violet. Clear pathways and guidedroutes through the wood encouragewalkers to use paths to avoid tramplingthe flora, and Green Space volunteerscoppice an acre of the woods each winterto support the ongoing development ofgood vertical structure.

Chalk banks and road vergesMartins Way running along the A1072 in

Stevenage was a bare chalk bank with asunny aspect. It was seeded with nativewildflowers by Stevenage ZoologicalSociety and now the site is a buzzing insect metropolis with many calcareouswildflowers such as kidney vetch, beeorchid and burnet saxifrage, some ofwhich are believed to have colonised the site naturally. Three existing road verges were

experimentally managed to benefit floraconservation allowing them to grow long,cutting the verge only once the flowershad set seed in late summer. This increasesthe wildflower population. If cuttings areremoved nutrients are kept low, andcompetition from ‘weed’ species such as common ragwort is reduced. WildlifeTrust volunteers surveyed the sites beforeand after the revised management. Allthree sites increased their flora, diversity,and numbers of indicator plant species.Further areas of grassland are now alsoreceiving meadow management toincrease biodiversity within the town.

n Judith CoxWildlife Sites Programme Manager,Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

Wildlife Site Success in Stevenage

Herts Environmental Records Centre

Great green bush cricket

Volunteers with the Wild Stevenage Project

Six Hills Way, Stevenage

leaf litter out of the heather andmanaging tree and sapling growthalso take a lot of effort.

n And the benefits?Managing the course this waycreates a lot of work but we wouldsay it is worth it. The heather looksgreat when it’s flowering and theroughs have greatly improved – the

fescue grasses don’t clump at thebase like the coarser grasses they’vereplaced, so golf balls are more easilyfound. We are one of only a fewheath golf courses in Hertfordshire;it’s a more challenging course forgolfers, and heath golf courses cancharge more per round. We have installed 90 bird boxes

around the site and we have someonewho helps us with owls on site.There is more heather now, and theacid grassland has increased in florasuch as harebell and fescue grasses.So wildlife has benefited too.

n Future plans?A management plan is being writtenby Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trustto help us continue to manage thesite sensitively for nature and ourvision is to become the biggest heathsite in Hertfordshire.

code if you are recording on a siteyou know to be a LWSn The date when the species wasseen (or a month and year if you areunsure of the date)n How many of the species you sawe.g. 3 individuals or 5 males

Herts Environmental Records Centrecollates records of species and habitatsin Hertfordshire which can be usedfor monitoring, consideration inplanning developments and research.You can contribute to the knowledgeof your area by submitting records ofthe wildlife that you have observed.

A record should consist of:n The full name of the person whomade the observationn The species observedn Grid reference where the specieswas observed – see this handy web-page to find your grid reference:www.bnhs.co.uk/focuson/grabagridref/html/index.htmn The Local Wildlife Site name or file

n Any other comments of interestrelating to the species, the individualsseen or the location

Please be aware that all these detailsassociated with records submittedmay then be collated and disseminatedmanually or electronically, for environ -mental decision-making, education,research and other public benefit uses,and in the commercial operation of the record centre. The data may beuploaded to the National BiodiversityNetwork.

n Records may be sent to:enquiries@hercinfo.org.uk and weare happy to assist you with anyenquiries about recording.

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

the course for the benefit of theclub, and increase the wildlife valueof the site for the benefit of natureconservation. The golf club, withecological advice from Herts andMiddlesex Wildlife Trust, has beenworking to improve and restore thearea. I met Jody Wilson, CourseManager at Mid Herts Golf Club tohear about the challenges andadvantages of managing a heathgolf course for the benefit of peopleand wildlife.

n How do you manage the site?We manage the site for heatherregeneration and its acid grassland.The roughs are left long and havethe cuttings removed when they are mown. Organic matter has to be constantly cleared and leaf litterremoved from the heather (heatherand good acid grassland needs tobe nutrient poor). We have alsostripped four initial areas of theirvegetation and top soil to make way for new heather growth usingheather brashing brought in fromHankley Common Golf Course inSurrey, and our own heather seed.

n Why manage the site for heather?The course was originally aheathland site and 50 years ago was covered in heather. However,without targeted management,scrub, bramble and trees took over.The heather was greatly reducedand trees were growing amongst

Golf courses are a mosaic of habitatsthat include rough grass, open water,wooded areas and short open grass -land, each providing ideal conditionsfor different species if managedsympathetically. As golf courses arelarge areas of green space, oftenclose to urban sprawl, they givemembers and wildlife an escape fromthe bustle of town. Several of Hert -fordshire’s golf courses are LocalWild life Sites, selected for their richfloral diversity, and have been work ingon improving their courses not justfor their players but for wildlife too. One such example is Mid Herts

Golf Course which includes areas ofheath and acid grassland. Togetherwith adjoining Gustard WoodCommon, it forms a Local WildlifeSite. This supports heather, heathbedstraw, harebell, and juniper,which is a rare species in Hertford -shire. Heath is a very scarce habitatwithin the county, the UK and withinEurope. Much of it has been lost to woodland or development, or hasbeen fragmented by roads. Whatremains in the UK represents 20percent of the total European heathhabitat, with only 13 hectares ofheath remaining in the whole ofHertfordshire. This makes it animportant conservation concern notonly for the rarity of the habitat itselfbut for the flora and fauna it supports.Mid Herts Golf Club has made

use of the diversity of flora on itssite to help increase the difficulty of

heather stands. So, within the lastten years we have gradually beenstarting to restore it.

n What are the challenges ofmanaging heath?Finding the old seed banks andheather areas and getting new areasof heather established is difficult. Itcan take up to five years for heatherto start to really take off and untilthen the area doesn’t look so good.Removing grasses without damagingthe heather isn’t easy and picking the

photo: Ann Favell

photo: Bruce Shortland

photo: Ann Favell

photo: HMWT

Heather at Mid Herts Golf Course

photo: Mid H

erts Golf C

lub

Stripping topsoil for new heather

Juniper berries, Gustard Wood Common

Chalkhill blue

photo: Mid Herts Golf Club

photo: HMWT

Herts habitat heroes – golf courses can be havens forwildlife as the Wildlife Trust’s Judith Cox explains

photo: Tim Hill

Early purple orchid

Welcome......to the 2015 Local Wildlife Sitesnewsletter. This time we arefocussing on Wildlife Sites inand around towns and cities,their management issues, casestudies, ideas and opportunities.

What are Wildlife Sites? Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) aresites of substantive natureconservation value and althoughthey do not have any statutorystatus, many are equal in qualityto statutory Sites of SpecialScientific Interest (SSSIs). There are more than 40,000Local Wildlife Sites in Englandoverseen by 65 Local Sitessystems, covering contrastinglandscapes in coastal, rural andurban situations. Hertfordshirecurrently has 1,575 habitat LWS.Together with SSSIs, LWSsupport locally and nationallythreatened species and habitats.They play a critical role informing the building blocks ofecological networks and LivingLandscapes.

We want to hear from you!Comments or suggestions forfuture articles are welcome.If you would prefer to receiveyour newsletter via email please contact Judith Cox:judith.cox@hmwt.org

As towns and cities expand andregenerate, wildlife continues to tryto find a home there too. Nest boxes,ponds, compost heaps and highledges provide valuable homes androosts, but not all wildlife is adaptableand connectivity between habitats isalso vital. Local Wildlife Sites provideareas of refuge and corridors of highquality habitat between buildings,towns, and amenity areas and allowwildlife to forage and move safelybetween built up areas. Urban green spaces are of great

benefit to people too. Time spent in,or viewing nature helps us to relaxand feel happier. Local Wildlife Sitescan include golf courses, church -yards, village greens and road verges.Large publicly accessible LocalWildlife Sites within our townsinclude Monks & WhomerleyWoods in Stevenage, CassioburyPark in Watford and BoxmoorCommon in Hemel Hempstead. Some urban Local Wildlife Sites –

including river banks, grassland sitesand woodlands – are on private land.However, despite their lack of publicaccess these areas still provide uswith the benefit of ‘breathing space’

between built up areas, natural floodbarriers, noise/pollution reduction anda more picturesque landscape scene. Owning a metropolitan Local

Wildlife Site when pressures onurban space are growing is notalways easy. Litter and fly tipping,development and unauthorisedaccess to land are just some of the associated problems, but LocalWildlife Sites are critical to our localwildlife. In this issue we celebrate

their importance and provide casestudies and ideas for your ownLocal Wildlife Site. You can also read more about Local WildlifeSites in our Secret Spaces report.Find it at: www.wildlifetrusts.org/localwildlifesites

Few people realise the global signifi -cance of Hertfordshire’s chalk rivers.Estimates vary but there are fewerthan 200 chalk rivers in the world andHertfordshire is home to a significantproportion of these – the Mimram,Beane, Ash, Ver, Chess and Gade,to name a few. Our chalk rivers arebeautiful and iconic ecosystems,supporting a wide range of nativewildlife. Chalk river water is pure,mineral rich and relatively alkaline.The temperature is relatively constantthroughout the year at around 10oCand these stable conditions areperfect for wildlife, especially a richinvertebrate life, to flourish.

Chalk rivers are a feature of a numberof urban or suburban Local WildlifeSites – such as Singlers Marsh onthe River Mimram, and Beane Marsh(River Beane). While this can provideopportunities for public engagementand education, it also presentschallenges for a river’s ecology. Urban diffuse pollution can comefrom a number of sources, includingmisconnections from domestic waterpipes, sewer outflows, run-off fromroads and illegal dumping of wastedown roadside drains (many of whichlead directly to rivers without treat -ment). Fertiliser run-off, ornamentalweirs, and non-native and invasiveplants, all have a detrimental impacton our local rivers.

How you can helpRivers interconnect with each otherand with the land (or ‘catchment’)which they drain. What happensupstream will have impacts down -stream, and what happens in landbordering the river will affect the riveritself. To improve and protect ourrivers it’s important to look at the

bigger picture. Focussing on alandscape scale makes perfect senseand working with local landownersand land managers is crucial to thisapproach. If you own some river,whether a long stretch within aLocal Wildlife Site, or a few metresin your back garden, you can play a huge role in improving the healthof our chalk rivers.

The Wildlife Trust is ‘hosting’ catch -ment management plans for all ofthe rivers of the Upper Lea: The Lea itself, Mimram, Beane, Ash, Riband Quin, and Stort. Planning themanagement of a catchment is ahuge task; no one person or groupcan do it alone. So by hosting thepartnerships we can bring togetherinterested people and organisationsand focus on taking a ‘bottom up’approach to improving our rivers;driven by local people. If you are ariparian landowner, or a local personwith an interest in one of these rivers,you may be interested in joiningyour local Catchment Partnership.Our vision is for a management plandeveloped and implemented by apartnership of interested people,including farmers, local communitygroups, fishing clubs, landowners,charities and statutory bodies.

The Catchment Partnerships meetevery few months to discuss projectsfor the river and update memberson developments and progress. Tofind out more and to get involved,visit www.riverleacatchment.org.ukand click on your local river!

n Charlie BellHertfordshire Living Rivers Officer,Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership March2015

What’s special aboutLocal Wildlife Sites in towns and cities?

photo: Margaret Holland

Stevenage road verge with wildflowers

The partnership This newsletter has been produced by Hertsand Middlesex Wildlife Trust on behalf ofthe Local Wildlife Sites Partnership,supported by funding from theEnvironment Agency, Herts CountyCouncil and North Herts District Council.

The Wildlife Sites Partnership in Hertford shireincludes Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Hertfordshire Environmental Records Centre,Hertfordshire Ecology, Natural England, the Countryside Management Service, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, ChilternsAONB, the Forestry Commission and theEnvironment Agency, and is coordinated by Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

Registered address:Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust,Grebe House, St Michael’s Street, St Albans, AL3 4SN

01727 858901info@hmwt.orgwww.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk

Registered in England: 816710Registered Charity: 239863

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnershipdoes not necessarily identify with or hold themselvesresponsible for the views expressed by contributors,correspondents or advertisers.

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pea sticks. Nothing would bewasted, with larger timbers madeinto charcoal and smaller twiggypieces bound up into faggot bundlesand burned on domestic fires.

Coppicing restarted in 1979, but thecut wood was under-utilised due tolimited demand for the products andthe work was undertaken solely byvolunteers. More recently, the CMShas been working with HBC toimprove the woodland managementand a more commercial approachhas been taken. The management isnow more sustainable, maximisingthe value of the timber whilst contin -uing the vital coppice managementunder which the woodland wildlifethrives. Volunteers are still engagedin different aspects of the wood’sconservation. Following theproduction of a woodland manage -ment plan and, with further advicefrom the CMS, Iain Loasby of Riven -wood Coppice is now employed tocoppice an area of the wood eachyear, bringing it back into a regularcoppice cycle. Iain processes the cuttrees into useful products which hemarkets and sells, offsetting someof the cost of the work. Grantmonies secured from the ForestryCommiss ion have further reduced

Furzefield Wood Local NatureReserve (LNR) is a small remnant ofancient woodland on the outskirtsof Potters Bar, known to have beenwooded since the early 1600s. Itsancient woodland flora and faunamake Furzefield Wood of countyimportance for its wildlife, reflectingits designation as an LNR and LocalWildlife Site (LWS). The CountrysideManagement Service (CMS), inpartnership with site ownersHertsmere Borough Council (HBC),manage the woodland for bothwildlife and people.

With a canopy of mainly coppicedhazel bushes and large oak trees,the woodland is a world away fromthe surrounding town; alive withwildlife. In spring it is carpeted withwildflowers including bluebells,delicate white wood anemones andthe yellows of lesser celandine andprimroses. It supports a wide varietyof birds, insects and mammals,including bats. Speckled wood andstriking yellow brimstone butterfliescan be seen in the dappled shade of the woodland paths and edges in spring and great spottedwoodpeckers heard drummingthroughout the day.

Prior to 1935, when it was purchasedby the Urban District Council ofPotters Bar, Furzefield Wood wasmanaged traditionally with recordsof hazel coppicing going back severalcenturies. This ancient practiceinvolves cutting trees on a cycle, for example every seven years, withsubsequent re-growth used to makeproducts such as thatching sparsand sheep hurdles, bean poles and

The Hertfordshire Local Wildlife Sites Partnership

Waxwings

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All photos: C

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Horsepower – Furzefield Wood Coppiced faggot bundles

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Horses and hurdles – traditional management forsustainable urban woodland

Bluebells under hazel coppice

the cost of the woodland manage -ment. Temporary fencing round thecoppice areas now limits the impactof muntjac deer and additional hazeltrees have been planted too. Thiswork will improve the quality andproductivity of the coppice, so intime the woodland managementwork will pay for itself or may evenprovide a small income.

Over winter, there has been a newaddition to the work force in theform of Roy, a Suffolk Punch horse.Roy and his handler, Matt Wallerfrom Hawthorn Heavy Horses, havebeen brought in to help Iain extracttimber and coppice products fromthe wood to the roadside. Thistraditional approach is moreecologically sensitive, causingminimal ground disturbance whencompared to the use of modernmechanised forestry equipment.

n The Countryside ManagementService works with communities inHertfordshire to help them care forand enjoy the environment. Formore information visit the CMSwebsite: www.hertslink.org/cmsemail: northeast.cms@hertfordshire.gov.uk or tel: 01992 588433.

Chalk rivers in urban landscape Singlers Marsh

photo: Judith Cox

photo: Ann Favell