Our first point of call, before we even took on the site, was to look at what had already been recorded on site, both by ecological consultants during 2022 and by numerous volunteers historically. We knew the site was very important for birds and supported populations of nightingales and turtle doves, both birds rarely seen elsewhere in the county.

We then set out to conduct as many surveys as possible during the year to work out what was present now. Some surveys were done by our own staff and volunteers and some by, or with the help of, the local natural history organisations including Bedfordshire Natural History Society (BNHS), Bedfordshire Bat Group, Bedfordshire Mammal Group, Bedfordshire Invertebrate Group, Beds and Northants Branch of Butterfly Conservation and numerous county recorders. We have also had national specialists taking an interest in the site with Graeme Lyons conducting a specialist invertebrate survey and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) using the site as part of a wider study into carbon flux.

Between us all we have looked at communities of birds, bats, reptiles, terrestrial mammals, butterflies and other invertebrates, flora, bryophytes, algae, lichen and general habitats across the site, with more surveys being needed for most groups given the scale of site.

Our volunteers have recorded 50 bird species on site over the past year including 32 nightingale territories, 4 turtle dove territories, a huge number of warblers and other scrub loving birds in the spring Breeding Bird Surveys and several thousand thrushes this winter including large flocks of redwing and fieldfare. Barn owls live and breed on site and raven and woodcock have been recorded dropping by. The more we learn about the bird life the more obvious it is just how important Strawberry Hill is for them.

Strawberry Hill may also be an important site for local bat communities too. During surveys conducted by the Bedfordshire Bat Group, consultants and our volunteers 10 of the 12 bat species present in the county have been recorded here.  As well as the more common species we found Serotine, Leisler’s, Nathusius’ pipistrelle and interestingly high numbers of Barbastelle passes. Barbastelle bats are a rare bat typically associated with woodlands rather than the younger scrub we have at Strawberry Hill. However, Strawberry Hill sits within a wooded landscape and between two of our biggest Barbastelle colonies in the county. It is likely that these bats are roosting in other woodlands nearby and using Strawberry Hill as an important site for commuting and/or feeding. The buildings and some of the old oak, ash and willow trees on site have potential for bats to be roosting in them so further surveys will be needed of these.

Other mammal species are being monitored via trail camera for the larger ones and Longworth traps for the smaller species. So far we have recorded badger, roe deer, muntjac deer, Chinese water deer, rabbit, hare, red fox, grey squirrel, wood mice, bank vole and harvest mice on site. With the Beds Mammal Group we’ve had two sessions hunting for mouse nests through the grasslands at Strawberry Hill. We have only found three of their distinctive woven nests her which implies they are here in low numbers.

Reptile surveys at Strawberry Hill have so far been disappointing turning up no lizards or snakes. However, surveys of the ponds did find great crested newts on site.

A butterfly transect was set up this spring through the centre of Strawberry Hill following the methods of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Staff and volunteers recorded 24 species of butterfly with abundant clouds of gatekeepers, speckled wood and red admiral and the occasional silver-washed fritillary, small copper and Essex skipper. The site has the potential to support purple hairstreak and black hairstreak so we plan to survey for them separately next year. We are still awaiting the last records trickle in but over 470 invertebrate species have been recorded on site including a few that are rare and/or new to Bedfordshire. This includes the nationally scarce leafhopper Iassus scutellaris and spider Liocranoeca striata. The site was taken out of arable production just prior to the use of neonicotinoid insecticides and given the size of the site it is likely the central areas remain unaffected. It will be interesting to see how Strawberry Hill compares with other similar sites where neonicotinoids have been used in the past.

The majority of Strawberry Hill is made up of dense, self-sown scrub which has developed over the last 35 years. This is primarily hawthorn, but with blackthorn, dogwood, guelder rose, dog rose and thickets of bramble throughout. Young pedunculate oak, ash and field maple are forming some areas of secondary woodland too. Ditches and ponds across the site provide wetland habitats which would be interesting to improve and expand in future years.

The large grassland areas of the site tend to be species-poor, semi-improved grassland. Some plants that are indicators of good grassland are present, especially along the managed rides and in some of the scrub glades. These include lady’s bedstraw, perforate St. John’s-wort, common knapweed, common centaury, common spotted orchid, agrimony and cowslip. A few indicators of ancient woodland remain on site including bluebells and greater stitchwort, these have probably survived in ancient hedgerows from the woodlands that are shown on the 1838 tithe map of the region.

We only have a snapshot of the bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) and algae found at Strawberry Hill as the survey only covered a small area compared to the whole site. The 30 bryophyte species were mostly the common ones that would be expected in these habitats. The algae survey turned up two interesting taxa Koliella spiculiformis, a rarely documented planktonic green algae and Spirogyra elongate in a rarely seen fertile state. A few lichen surveys have turned up 57 species, as well as 8 lichenicolous fungi. This includes a several rarer species, some only recently recoded in Bedfordshire and others that are perhaps often overlooked.

All this data is being fed back to the reserves team who have begun managing the site, and to the fundraising team who are busy raising the money to purchase the site from the charitable trusts who bought it on our behalf.

Our management of nature reserves focuses on enhancing habitats for a wide range of species, with only occasional focus given to very rare species such as the nightingale. Given the rich variety of wildlife already present at Strawberry Hill, we are keen to ensure any management interventions will only act to enhance the site further. So far much of the management here has related to the rides, glades and coppice. Opening up new glades and widening existing rides within the scrub habitat, to expose the grassland beneath increases the structural diversity within the habitat This provides new ecological niches and microclimates for a multitude of species to exploit increasing the sites biodiversity. 

The grasslands near the house were grazed by our lovely highland cattle in spring where we trialled a no-fence system of using collars. This proved extremely effective in managing the small herd and we are hopeful that the technology will allow us to graze the site on a scale that would be difficult to achieve through traditional fencing.

Much of the surveys and habitat work has been done by our amazing volunteers - both existing and new - who are as excited about this new reserve as we are. Find out more about volunteering with us here.