East Cambridgeshire Reserves Highlights

Mark Ricketts, Reserves Manager (East Cambridgeshire)

Fulbourn Fen - fencing and tree felling

A section of stock fencing was planned to be replaced after the grazing season in 2024. However, with several ash trees suffering from ash dieback falling onto the fence line at the end of the winter this had to be brought forward and involved the coordination of volunteers, staff and contractors to get it all done.

Volunteers on the warden’s work party cut out and removed the old stock net and barbed wire. (Or should that be the wardens’ work party – Our long time voluntary warden for Fulbourn Pete has now been joined by James and John so Fulbourn Fen can have more frequent volunteer work parties).

Experienced staff with appropriate qualifications were needed to deal with the windblown trees that with attached root plates that have extra hazards compared to standard tree felling. 

We have installed Clipex metal fence posts in house for the first time. A slight learning curve but with a 30 year guarantee and with the metal posts lighter, and easier to put into the ground and quicker to attach the stock net, we will be replacing more fencing with this in the near future.

The final job for the contractor is to remove the sections of timber from the site once ground condition are suitable.

Fulbourn Fen – new culvert for cattle access

Another job co-ordinated between staff / volunteers / contractors was the installation of a culvert so we can have better control over grazing of the different fields in Fulbourn. Previously we have had difficulty encouraging cattle over the foot bridge between two fields and unable to get cattle trailers and our vehicles in for other jobs e.g. fencing. Staff and volunteers cleared the scrub and old fencing during the winter. A contractor installed the culvert and new gates in early summer. Working around bird nesting season and suitable ground conditions often means a job must be done in stages and takes a lot longer than visitors may expect.

Pyramidal Orchids

Pyramidal orchids continue to do well, spreading along road verges as well as within our nature reserves. The behemoth pyramidal below was spotted in Sugley Wood at Gamlingay.

Cambourne

With a significant shortfall of reserve staff for the reserve management work required, it is a challenge to prioritise and plan our workplan for each week. And best laid plans…. are often interrupted with a completely new challenge! The height barrier below was reversed into overnight and left in a precarious state, putting any users to the busy car park, anglers, children on the way to school and many other members of the public at risk. Planned livestock fencing works had to be put on hold while the area was made safe and secure, and contractors organised to come and carry out repairs. Thanks to the good working relationships that reserve staff have developed with local contractors this was resolved the same morning.

Cambourne Grazing

We have had Limousin cattle grazing in Cambourne for a few years, but unfortunately not enough of them to keep on top of all the grazing required. This year we have some extra animals on site to help. Despite the question “Are they antelope ?!” from one on looker, we have been able to recruit some hardy native British breeds of sheep and cattle that are more suited to our often less nutritious meadows and pastures. Hebridean sheep (along with Manx Loaghtan and  Jacob sheep) can have 2, 4 or even 6 horns, and so it is not surprising they can appear quite exotic to people unused to our rarer, native breeds of livestock.

Trumpington Meadows

Michael Barnes (Ranger) and Becky Green (Senior Ranger)

The spring and summer have brought out the best of Trumpington Meadows, with expanses of kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria), quaking grass (Briza media) and bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) across the reserve. Late spring saw the Reserves and Monitoring and Research teams out and about surveying some of our meadows and other local reserves – all helping build a picture of what’s there and how our management is impacting botanical diversity.

Results from these Rapid Grassland Surveys have suggested combined grazing and hay cutting of our meadows would be most beneficial to botanical diversity. To that end, we have been installing new fencing around Edmundsoles Meadow, the only meadow in the south of the reserve that had remained unfenced. We decided to use a mix of sweet chestnut strainers and metal Clipex posts, as these should last a very long time, saving us time and money in the long run. We’re looking to work with local graziers later in the year to introduce the first livestock.

Before we start grazing, we need to complete the annual hay cuts - these get underway in July. Our regular volunteer teams, and several corporate work parties, have been helping with ragwort pulling; while an important food source for many invertebrates farmers won’t take the hay for their livestock with ragwort present, but we always leave plenty around the margins.

Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits

Jenny Smith (Ranger)

We have been working on removing some of the invasive cotoneaster and dogwood from the chalk grassland areas of East Pit. The chalk pit floor has changed a lot since the relandscaping works carried out 15 years ago, but we have to keep on top of the scrub to stop it smothering the delicate chalk grassland plants. A combination of Wild Work Days with staff from our corporate supporters and Trust volunteer teams has made a significant impact this year. We also used a digger to take some areas back to bare chalk to benefit the early successional species.

West Cambridgeshire Highlights  

Matt Hamilton, Senior Reserves Manager

Brampton wood – Good Year for Black Hairstreak butterfly

This year we have recorded the highest number of black hairstreak butterflies at Brampton wood using the annual timed count method. 

There are five points in the wood associated with black hairstreak butterfly colonies where since 1999 butterfly surveyors have completed annual timed counts on a single day, when weather conditions are within certain tolerances and the butterflies are known to be on the wing.  Usually, the butterfly flight time is around early June, although this can vary by a week or so.  A significant difficulty is picking the right day to survey due to the vagaries of the British weather.  A period of warm air temperature is needed to survey but not too hot and sunny and not raining or too windy, plus the colonies are spread across the wood.  The aim is to give an indication of the number of black hairstreak butterflies present at each site and provide feedback on the present quality of the sites for the butterflies. 

Black Hairstreak are generally more sedentary than most butterfly species and require their food plant blackthorn to occur at the right age \ growth stage and in favourable sheltered areas.  Although suitable blackthorn does exist across wide areas of Brampton wood and the wider countryside the butterflies’ exacting requirements mean that only a proportion of this habitat will be suitable at any time and remain in good condition for a colony to persist.  The butterflies do occur across the woodland and not just the monitored colonies so when conditions are good the large Brampton wood population can spread and form new colonies in the surrounding countryside including other woodlands.    

Dogsthorpe Star Pit – flooding Issues resolved

We now have a working pump and have stabilised water levels across the pit floor  preventing further flooding.  This has been a huge effort by the West Cambs team who had to hire in a large diesel pump to reduce the flooding across the pit floor to a level low enough that the pump housing was above water and a replacement electric pump could be installed.  The hired pump required checking and refuelling twice a day for several weeks.  The reserve is looking good and hopefully our replacement pump will last for many years to come.