ISSUE 96 SUMMER UPSTREAM 2021 Inside this issue © Simon Barnett BBOWT

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Wildfire Damage at April 2021 Wildfire 3 Conservation Volunteers Resume 4 Wild Birds Adapt 8 Summer Walk Wildfire and Wildlife Plus lots more...

Throughout the course of factors – many fires have either been moorland plant communities, largely Earth’s history, wildfire has started deliberately by arsonists or are due to the nature of the vegetation. played a significant role – the result of negligence. Likely causes of Plants such as gorse contain flammable wildfire are: discarded cigarettes, or glass compounds and extensive areas of both in terms of its ability to and plastic bottles these can concentrate grasses, bracken and heather burn re-shape the landscape and the rays of the sun and ignite dry readily in dry conditions. Lowland the advantage that it confers vegetation, combustible litter, embers heathland is particularly prone to on organisms adapted to its from neighbours’ bonfires and campfires drought, due to its largely free draining presence. Plants adapted to or discarded portable barbeques. nature on sand or gravel substrates. tolerate fire are known as There have even been instances where Reedbeds are also prone to wildfire. Dry ‘pyrophytes’, while ‘pyrophiles’ wildfires have originated from bonfires standing reed and sedges burn readily are plants which require fire to on heathland sites where conservation and the dry dead thatch that builds help them complete their life work (not WBCV) has been carried up at the base of reed stems aids the cycle. Wildfire can therefore be out over the winter. The fire has been rapid spread of fire in this habitat. There dutifully doused but has penetrated the is anecdotal evidence that reedbeds seen as an important natural rootstocks of heather, gorse or broom, along the Kennet Valley such as those process and a selective force in smoldering below ground over winter at and Woolhampton were plant evolution. and then re-igniting above ground – regularly burnt by stray embers from sometimes months later. Unfortunately, whilst there are a number steam trains that plied the main line from of ‘natural’ wildfires in the country every Wildfire is most commonly associated in Paddington westwards until the 1960s. year – caused by lightning strike or other this country with lowland heathland and Continued on page 4 >

West Countryside Society Caring for our Countryside – Join Us and Help Make a Difference. Countryside Society The aim of the West Berkshire Countryside Society is to promote the understanding, appreciation and conservation of the West Berkshire countryside… furthering these objectives through practical conservation work and guided walks and talks from local experts. It was formed in 2012 by amalgamating the Friends of the Pang, Kennet & Lambourn Valleys; the Heathland Conservation Group; the Pang Valley Conservation Volunteers & the Barn Owl Group. Upstream is our quarterly publication designed to highlight conservation matters in West Berkshire and beyond and to publicise the activities of the Society. Chair, Webmaster & Enquiries: Tony McDonald Membership Secretary: Stewart Waight ([email protected]) Upstream Editor: John Salmon ([email protected]) Hon President: Dick Greenaway MBE RD

Initial contact for all above and for the Barn Owl Group, Bucklebury Heathland Conservation Group and West Berks Conservation Volunteers should, unless otherwise stated, be made via [email protected] Volunteers’ Task Diary For outdoor events please wear suitable footwear and clothing. Most practical tasks start at 10am and usually finish around 3pm, unless otherwise stated, so bring a packed lunch. However, we are more than happy to accept any time you can spare! All tools are provided. A map of each task location can be found on the website diary page by clicking on the grid reference shown for that task.

Date/Time Venue Details

July 2021

Tues 6th July Sulham Water Meadows Continuing ragwort control on this SSSI. Parking at Sulham Home Farm. SU643 758 10:00

Tues 13th July Winterbourne Wood Clearing bracken from Primrose Ridge. SU447 717 10:00

Tues 20th July Ashampstead Common Raking previously cut grass in woodland glades. Meet at car park. SU587 751 10:00

Tues 27th July Grove Pit Common, Scrub clearance on this parish wildlife site. Access the common via the track which leaves the SU440 777 10:00 Leckhampstead B4494 west at Cotswold Farm. Please leave your vehicles at the bottom of the track and walk up to the common. Vehicles carrying tools and refreshments please drive directly to the task site.

August 2021

Tues 3rd Aug Rushall Manor Farm, Woodland management, and ride widening. Meet at the Black Barn off Back Lane between SU584 723 10:00 Bradfield Stanford Dingley and Bradfield.

Tues 10th Aug Hampstead Ride widening and brash clearance. Parking off road on entrance to the main ride. SU420 642 10:00 Marshall

Tues 17th Aug Malt House, West Woodland maintenance. SU395 637 10:00 Woodhay

Tues 24th Aug Furze Hill, Hermitage Woodland and butterfly habitat management on this parish wildlife site. Parking at new village SU512 740 10:00 hall – through double gates off Pinewood Crescent.

September 2021

Tues 7th Sept Grimsbury Castle, Clearing invasive rhododendron from this ancient hill fort. Parking near the Estate House at the SU511 723 10:00 Hermitage castle by the interpretation board.

Tues 14th Sept Winterbourne Wood Woodland maintenance, and clearing fallen and damaged trees. Park in the entrance to the wood. SU447 717 10:00

Tues 21st Sept Heathland management. Meet at Angels Corner. SU550 688 10:00

Tues 28th Sept Cold Ash Scrub clearance on this parish wildlife site. Park on the track access to Westrop Farm. SU513 700 10:00

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© Andy Hollox © Andy

Haloed Trees at Leckhamstead at Leckhamstead Haloed Trees

Conservation Volunteers Round Up

After the winter COVID restrictions courses to prevent bovine access to clearing at the northern end by cutting forced us once more to halt our water courses – our task was to remove back and burning brash, coppiced hazel activities, we were delighted to be years of unchecked growth of hawthorn, stools using plastic fencing we had allowed to resume them in late March at bramble, willow and blackthorn so that a salvaged from Redhill Wood and cleared Rushall Farm, where pleasant sunshine new fence could be erected. ground (haloing) around some staked boosted our spirits even more. In unseasonal heat for April, we trees to remove competitor brambles. A pre-task briefing reminded us of the made one of our regular visits to Two dead elm close to the right-of-way extra health and safety precautions Winterbourne Wood, clearing an area were also removed for safety reasons. necessary because of the pandemic. of fallen and damaged trees, scrub and At Malt House Farm, West Woodhay, Happily, we were able to socially bramble. We dealt with brash from a we continued to maintain the boundary distance ourselves over 220 metres of previous visit, using some to protect on one side of an agricultural field. We hedge in Owlpit Field (the name relating coppiced hazel stools from deer and also ‘tidied up’ the woodland, cutting up from the nearby pit named on old maps which were already showing signs of some fallen trees into logs and stacking as Old Pit). Excessive bramble had grown regrowth. We also felled several birch them to form habitats. along the length. We removed and and ash allowing a track to be realigned burned this, along with several fallen so that it avoided a spring which made On Bucklebury Common we divided branches. the original route very boggy, even in into three groups to continue combatting invasive trees, with the aim A month later we worked on a new site, summer. of encouraging the natural heathland to the water meadows north of Bradfield At Leckhampstead, we made a second flourish. Our chainsaw-users felled and which have been under Rushall visit to a parish council site at Hill Green, Farm management for twenty years. removing regrowth from alongside cut up mature Scot’s pine, a larger group Traditionally, suckler cows graze there a public right-of-way. Our efforts last removed very young pine and birch, over the summer, thriving on the lush year ensured this primary task was and a third tackled 50 metres of very grass that continues to grow at that time completed much earlier than expected, formidable bramble, part of which was of year. A small tributary of the Pang enabling some volunteers to start work blocking a gated access for emergency runs alongside the site. Landowners on a further strip of land bordering the vehicles. are being encouraged to fence water meadow. Cutting back the bramble Terry Crawford growth allows nettles to thrive for the benefit of butterflies and moths at this time of year. A second team cleared a couple of small trees that had fallen across Gypsy Lane and cut back branches from other trees bordering this public byway. A further visit to Leckhampstead, this time to Grove Pit, saw us completing three tasks under the Management Plan Bradfield – Clearance Commences © Tony McDonald for the common. We opened up the Bradfield – Stream Revealed © Tony McDonald 3 Continued from page 1. Grassland communities also burn in succumb to the burn. Aside from the the right conditions, as does coniferous initial damage there is also a ‘flush’ woodland. Scots pine in particular of nutrients from the burnt material contain flammable resins and oils. A which will alter soil chemistry and often number of conifers are pyrophytes and stimulate more vigorous plant species some are pyrophiles. over those typically associated with the habitat. This may provide enough of Fire is often a regenerative force in a shift to change the trajectory of the the long term – it is an agent of plant habitat long term. succession and can alter the direction and dynamics of this process. It creates There is little doubt that as our climate bare ground for pioneer species, new changes and we are subject to more basking areas for reptiles and can create extreme weather episodes, including Common Lizard survivor of Wildmoor Heath Fire © Jamie Neaves Natural England favourable conditions for invertebrates prolonged periods of drought, wildfires with complex lifecycles, such as silver will become more prevalent. When studded blue butterflies. fire gets out of control it can have a the wider countryside. This means not catastrophic impact on anyone and littering, being careful with bonfires Conversely it will often do tremendous anything caught in its wake, taking in our gardens, following advice on damage in the short term, wiping human life, burning properties and campfires/barbeques and finally, being out local reptile populations, small exacting a devastating toll on wildlife. vigilant and alerting the Fire Service if mammals, the chicks of ground nesting you spot the early signs of a fire. birds or groups of invertebrates. Less We are asking all visitors to try to limit mobile species or any associated the likelihood of uncontrolled wildfires Simon Barnett, BBOWT Land with thatch or leaf litter will inevitably on our precious nature reserves and in Manager Berks (E) Wild Birds Adapt The grey wagtail has always been a like lock weirs. So, imagine my surprise pram tucked into an overhang in the fairly uncommon bird. It needs water when a few years ago a pair turned up corner of the yard and they nested in and the insects that go with it, so our at our house to breed. All we can offer that in year 1. Year 2 was under the sightings have been restricted to the is a reasonable sized pond and a few eaves which lasted two years. Year 4 and the canal with the smaller ones. The Winterbourne stream was in a green creeper and year 5 was occasional glimpse in winter on the is 500m away down in the valley. in a blocked drain hopper above it (so much for our maintenance). They are flooded parts of . The cock grey wagtail in full breeding back in the green creeper this year. All the literature says that breeding regalia is a superb sight, blue grey But why our house? I believe that it pairs need running water or structures above, bright yellow breast with a could be about disturbance. Canal magnificent black towpaths have got busier. Maybe there throat. But it is the are more grey wagtails about needing long tail which nesting sites. Our site is safe, but it is strikes one as being anything but quiet, with grandchildren out of the ordinary. kicking balls around in the yard It is always on the though we do try to encourage a bit move up and down of peace and quiet when we know as if on a spring and the female is sitting. They seem to enables it to dart like it as they keep coming back, but in any direction to they are remarkably secretive and you grab an insect off would not know they were anywhere the water surface. near unless you kept a close watch. It So why did the suggests that a few more ponds would wagtails choose not go amiss. Ours are also full of great our house? There crested newts but that is another story. Grey Wagtail © Debby Reynolds used to be an old Charles Flower 4 The Annual General Meeting of the West Berkshire © Dick Greenaway Countryside Society First Haloing Team 2004 2004 Haloing Team First will take place in the Oak Room, Upper Bucklebury Memorial Hall, RG7 6QH Thursday 29th July 2021 7:00pm for a Veterans and Volunteers 7:30pm start I very much enjoyed Charles Flower’s insects, lichens, mosses etc. that have piece ‘Don’t Plant Trees Here!’ in the survived in their creviced bark and All items for discussion during AOB (any other business) should be submitted Autumn 2020’s Upstream. As he says, hollows. to the Committee by emailing a you can’t just plant trees anywhere. In 2004 the ‘Pang Valley Countryside brief description to enquiries@ A planted tree is likely to be there Project’ put a plan to Yattendon Estates westberkscountryside.org.uk by for a very long time, so forward Thursday 22nd July at the latest. Items to preserve 24 trees on Ashampstead thinking is essential. Just think of received after this date will not be and Burnt Hill Commons as ‘Veteran those Edwardians who planted a little considered at the AGM. Trees for the Future’. Lord Iliffe gave Monkey Puzzle tree in a tiny front Arrangements for the AGM could be the project enthusiastic support and garden and the owners who now must affected by changes in the Government’s the then Pang Valley Conservation have the lights on at mid-day! Covid restrictions. Before attending the Volunteers set to work clearing ‘halos’ AGM please check our website for any last I would like to add to his plea for around the selected trees to reduce minute changes. planting a tree to replace the old trees competition for light and nutrients. he lists. Trees have three generations They have returned every autumn to – just like us! ‘Ancient Trees’ cut back the brambles and scrub – a (grandparents) like the 1000-year- process now known as ‘halo polishing’! Dates for old oaks in Windsor Great Park; In 2009 the project was extended to Your Diary ‘Veteran Trees’ (parents) like the 200 Bucklebury Common and the oaks Looking for Night Jars to 600-year-old ones on Ashampstead along the Avenue. and Bucklebury Commons, and ‘Young with Tim Culley As the light flooded in the wildflowers Trees’ – youngsters a mere hundred Wed 16th June & Wed 7th July years old. I suggest it is the ‘Veterans’ flourished and the leaflets we published provided ‘Hunting the Trees’ Meeting at 21:00 at the Crossroads who will replace the ‘Ancients’ and SU556 691, Tim will lead a short carry forward the historic signs of fun for families. Old trees, like old people, are special! walk looking for Night Jars on their use and management and the Bucklebury Common. All Welcome. immensely valuable populations of Dick Greenaway Exploring with Charles Gilchrist Sun 25th July 10:30 An exploration of the relationship between the flora, butterflies and geology of a beautiful area of rare chalk downland. The walk is about a mile on a sloping, grass-covered chalk hillside. The upper boundary is fairly level but the slopes get steeper as one moves east and north. Parking is available in the car park at SU582807. Haloed Veteran Tree © Dick Greenaway

5 Membership Subscriptions and an Easy Life with Standing Orders You can take part in most of our activities • Our walks are a wonderful way for We try to keep our admin costs to without being a member, although anyone of any age to go out into a minimum and Standing Order we do ask that you join if you become the countryside and gain a better payments make administration much a regular volunteer. What do you gain understanding of wildflowers, tree easier for us. Also, it makes it easier by being a member of the Society? In types, fungi, beautiful countryside for you as well as there is no need to the main it is really about what joining and to get some exercise along the remember to send a cheque at the and paying your annual subscription way. due time each year. Please note that does for others. Individual and family • Our conservation and heathland a Standing Order is not the same as a membership is £15 per annum. volunteer groups do tremendous Direct Debit. The Standing Order is an • We will post you our quarterly work in woodlands, heaths, water instruction you give to your bank to newsletter Upstream and your meadows, footpaths, riverbanks, all pay a fixed amount yearly to – WBCS membership helps towards the helping to keep the countryside in (unlike a Direct Debit, where money design, printing and postage costs. good shape and a place of pleasure is collected directly from your bank Each issue contains articles to help and beauty for others to enjoy. account and may vary in frequency you understand the how’s and why’s and amount – as used by utility of what goes on in the countryside. • We are also able to provide a small degree of financial support to the companies etc.). • More than that, our Barn Owl Group great work, with youngsters, which Rest assured, the Society does not share bring so many benefits to the the John Simonds Trust provide in personal information about members countryside and to the ongoing welfare of beautiful barn owls, and introducing them to our countryside. to anyone outside of the Society. their chicks. Not a bad return for £15! Jathan Rayner and Tony McDonald Keep up the Good Work During the winter lockdown, I came In the summer 2002 edition an article and 2018 identified that an estimated 577 across a forgotten folder of past queried whether the Water Vole chicks had fledged, a fantastic result. Upstreams. Whilst reading through would be extinct by 2005. Remedies One article that really hit home was about them was a trip down memory lane, discussed included, improving habitat Invasive species (Summer 2006) and how it also became apparent that some of plus undertaking the humane trapping much time had been spent removing the articles still resonate with today’s of mink. Another article in Autumn them. Something which clearly resonates challenges. For example: 2006 mentioned that no voles had today, as the society continues to tackle An article about Climate Change been found along the Pang that year. the scourge of Himalayan Balsam, (Autumn 2005) called “A Time to Get Encouragingly, an article in Summer Rhododendron and my favorite, Ragwort. Serious” highlighted, amongst other 2019 informed that the Kennet and things, “severe wet winters are likely to Avon canal and the river Kennet Finally, an article in Winter 2001 called become three times more frequent and between Hungerford and Newbury “Lunch time on the Internet” asked if winter rains will be heavier” – sounds were strongholds for water voles, but no anybody had ordered Xmas presents familiar. specific mention about the Pang. on-line? Or if buying the weekly groceries Articles in Summer 2001 & Autumn 2008 The Barn Owl Group have regularly online was a good idea? editions highlighted the plight of the updated us on the progress to protect Although a trip down memory lane. Barn Owls in West Berkshire. For example, Bumble bee, citing the possible reasons All the articles I have read highlight the an article called ‘Housing crisis for Barn for their decline. Primarily, loss or change importance of the work done by both of habitat. A suggested action was to Owls averted’ (Winter 2001) noted that the society and other groups in fighting leave an area of lawn uncut to encourage funding had been secured for 45 nest habitat loss, supporting biodiversity and the growth of pollen and nectar plants boxes. A 2003 article confirmed another helping to combat climate change. Keep especially native ones. Something we are 30 boxes had gone up. In 2013 a training fighting the good fight. being urged to do again. If you have not day was held, when 23 people attended. started doing this, give it a go. Other articles published between 2010 Terry Davis

6 Stygobytes

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live underground, in that dark, desolate realm, deep beneath our feet? If you have been caving, you will have some idea, as you squeeze and slide through watery sumps in the pitch black. It may surprise you to learn that Berkshire is home to a variety of animals that make this foreboding environment their home. There are a group of tiny (around 3-8mm in length), shrimp like animals (Crustacea) that live exclusively in groundwater. Collectively they are known as stygobites – a reference to the mythical river Styx, the ancient Niphargus Aquilex © Chris Proctor Greek boundary between earth and the underworld. Their presence a sign theory goes that the ice sheet cut off crawling underground with a sampling of ecosystem health. the surface food supply to the fauna net is not always that easy! Springs can below, causing their extinction. Some Stygobites are eyeless and colourless also be useful sampling spots, where other factors such as connectivity or white, with long appendages to groundwater fauna are ‘flushed-out’ between rocks, and water chemistry feel and navigate their way in the to the surface. Perhaps the easiest may also play a role. dark. These amazing adaptions are way of collecting stygobites is via a complimented by a low metabolism In Britain there are eight species of well or borehole sunk directly into which allows them to conserve energy Crustacea, comprising six amphipod the groundwater. This can be done shrimps, one isopod (lice) and one and survive in a cold and often low by lowering a weighted net on a rope oxygen environment. They mainly syncarid, accounting for the majority down the well to the bottom and feed as scavengers digesting detritus of stygobite records. Of the eight disturbing the sediment at the base, washed down from the surface – that Crustacea, seven have been recorded before hauling the net back up. might otherwise slow the passage of in Berkshire, mainly from the Downs. water through the ground. Together Indeed, one of the earliest records of This watery subterranean world and with bacteria they help recycle a stygobite in Britain was discovered the unique ancient fauna that inhabit it, nutrients. in a well near Maidenhead in 1853 by is being increasingly appreciated – its the distinguished entomologist Stygobites living quarters range from contribution to the nation’s biodiversity Professor John Westwood. The tiny water filled gaps between grains and natural capital valued more highly. specimen, described as a ‘well-shrimp’ of sand to larger cracks (fissures was later identified as Niphargus If you would like to know more about and fractures) in the rock, through aquilex, one of the now more these fascinating cryptic creatures there which the groundwater flows. Highly commonly recorded species. is a recording scheme for groundwater fractured rocks like limestones and fauna which has lots more information: chalk, such as the , Being restricted to groundwater far https://hcrs.brc.ac.uk/. Finally, if you offer a favourable habitat, but this below our feet, finding stygobites does not always mean groundwater presents some challenges. However, know of a well and would like to fauna will be present. Populations there are ‘windows’ into the discover if there are any stygobites of stygobites are often isolated. underworld that we can peer through. lurking down there, feel free to contact Stygobites are mainly found in the Caves are an obvious example. Many me for advice on sampling. southern half of the country, a pattern records of stygobites have been Tim Johns that is attributed to the extent of collected by passing a pond net the last glaciation, when northern through a pool in a cave. But caves Environment Agency, Britain was covered by ice sheets. The only occur in certain places and Environmental Monitoring Team

7 DOWN THE PANG A walk around Bradfield Parish. Starting and finishing at Rushall Manor Farm

About 4 miles or 6.5 km Walkers are welcome to park at the Black Barn. There are two pubs in Stanford Dingley for ‘after walk refreshments’! There are two modest hills on this walk and surfaces can be uneven and muddy. 1. Rushall Manor Farm. The 18th century Black Barn and other old farm buildings have been restored and converted as a 6 7 centre for the John Simonds Educational 8 Trust. It is used to introduce children and young people to the countryside and 1 receives many school visits and youth camping parties every year. Looking south from the Black Barn the hills on the horizon are chalk at the base overlain with 2 sands and clays deposited about 60 to 40 million years ago. They are capped with 3 5 gravels laid down about half a million 4 years ago by large outwash rivers and streams coming from glaciers north of Oxford. Berkshire was never covered by ice but at times the ground would have regularly and naturally dries as the water supplying water to the College, village been frozen tundra. The Pang valley in table in the chalk falls below the spring and workhouse. In the 1870’s an attempt front of the hills is much larger than the levels. There are only 200 chalk streams in was made, without success, to install a present day river could have made and the world and England has 80% of them. turbine to power refrigeration plant. We do not treat them with the respect shows that in the past water flows were 7. Bradfield College (St Andrew’s College) they deserve! very much greater than today. was founded in 1850 by the rector of 2. The path originally ran through the 4. The Blue Pools were dug to provide Bradfield to provide a choir for the church. Blue Pools but was formally diverted at watercress beds. They are fed by the After three years it only had 33 boys but the request of the landowner. Kimberhead Spring and are the perennial this rose to 300 by the end of the century. head of the river below which it always 3. The River Pang is an important chalk flows. They are no longer visible from the stream fed by springs in the chalk rock. path but a small area around the spring Its clear even temperatured alkaline can still be seen. The blue colour of the water hosts very special fish, plants and water is caused by glauconite dissolved creatures of kinds not found in other from the local clay. Look for the little swirls rivers. It is a bourne meaning that it of sand pushed up by the rising water. 5. Bradfield Hall was built in 1773 by John Barrington – an illegitimate son The Owl Pit of George III – for his eldest son – also illegitimate – on condition that he too 8. The Owl Pit is a quarry, started in 1830 never married! to provide chalk to sweeten the acid soils 6. Bradfield Mill is recorded in Domesday in the surrounding fields. The sequence of Book (1086) but the present building is geological layers in the chalk face make Victorian. It was built when the watermill this a Regionally Important Geological was enlarged and converted from being Site (RIGS). The Blue Pool spring a corn mill to being a pumping station Dick Greenaway Many more interesting local walks are available on our website: www.westberkscountryside.org.uk

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