Greenham Berkshire Buckinghamshire Common Bulletin Oxfordshire Managing your common for you 2nd Edition, winter 2015/16 Take the Wild Ride for Wildlife Crookham Commons. Wild Ride for Wildlife challenge! Cycle from Greenham The Wild Ride for Wildlife is being 8 to 11 September 2016 Common to Paris and raise funds organised by experienced event 200 miles for local nature reserves managers, Global Adventure Challenges. 3 days cycling Sign up to the 200-mile Wild Ride for Seasoned long-distance cyclists and Accommodation provided Wildlife from Greenham Common to enthusiasts who would like to take on Minimum sponsorship £1,300 Paris, and help to protect the amazing the challenge can find out more at a birds, flowers, reptiles and insects of West Wild Ride Information Evening on the 27 Berkshire. January at the Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham. The Wild Ride for Wildlife will take place in September 2016, but cyclists are For more information visit: encouraged to sign up now to start bbowt.org.uk/wildride fundraising and training for the ride Contact the Fundraising Team on through southern England and northern [email protected] France. or 01865 775476. Funds raised on the Wild Ride for Wildlife will help us to look after heathland E W RID nature reserves such as Greenham and ILD Wallington Adrian for Wildlife Grazing on Greenham Common attle have been present on the ownership. A total of 50 active badger commons since 2001 and are setts have so far been recorded and to owned and grazed using historical date we have vaccinated 29 badgers C 2 commoners’ rights. Grazing is important over about 10km of land. The scheme for the management of the common as requires a long-term commitment from it reduces the growth of trees and scrub The Wildlife Trust as the vaccination which can prevent less vigorous plants process needs to be repeated at each such as heathers and dwarf plants from sett annually until 2018. flourishing. By hopefully creating a buffer of It is usual to remove the livestock during healthy badgers in West Berkshire and the winter because of a lack of grass but continuing a licenced programme of last year the cattle were given additional vaccinating badgers on our nature hay because they were quarantined due reserves in Oxfordshire, the scheme to bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). could play an important role in helping to contain the disease and halt its spread Four more animals tested positive to bTB Rob Appleby eastwards in the county. at the end of October 2015. The cattle of the common, not directly because of are tested every 60 days and for the restrictions imposed by bTB. herd to be classified as bTB free, there must be no positive reactors during two Badger Vaccination consecutive tests (120 days). A special BBOWT secured £45k funding from dispensation has been given by Natural DEFRA through its Badger Edge England to authorise feeding this winter. Vaccination Scheme (BEVS) to This year, the cattle are overwintering implement the vaccination scheme east on the Common under a special of Newbury, covering Greenham and Crookham Commons, and Thatcham agreement with the Greenham and Find out more: bbowt.org.uk/ Crookham Commons Commission, the Reedbeds, as well as West Berkshire Council sites and adjacent land in private badgers-and-bovine-tb body that oversees the management Rob Appleby Protecting local wildlife www.bbowt.org.uk Tel.: 01865 775476 News bbowt.org.uk/news Greenham Common Trust awarded project will see the renewal of the old a grant of £10,098 to the Berks, Bucks waymarked trails. Using locally sourced & Oxon Wildlife Trust at the Pitch to and sawn oak posts, each trail is coloured the Panel event on 12 November. This coded and has a recognizable image is a valuable contribution to the West for visitors to follow. Five easy to read Berkshire Access Improvement Project information signs are being designed helping to give people easy access to which will help visitors make a choice seven nature reserves, each renowned for where they would like to go and make the their rare wildlife and open spaces. The most of their visit. The completion of the objective is to increase opportunities for waymarked routes and installation of the everyone in the community to access the visitor signage is due spring 2016. countryside to improve their health and The project is also set to deliver visitor wellbeing. improvements at Pyle Hill car park, a Specifically for Greenham (subject safer crossing for all at Crookham pools/ to approval from the Greenham and Chamberhouse Farm bridleway and path Crookham Commons Commission) the repairs to maintain good access. James Stevenson Keeping an eye on wildlife Nightjars numbers are up on last year. the Crookham restoration area and 15 to 16 pairs of nightjars were recorded Crookham pools. across Greenham, Crookham and Preliminary results of our adder Newtown Commons this year. tracking Wading species such as lapwing, ringed A total of 14 snakes were tagged plover and redshank did not manage as part of the research into adder to successfully rear any young. Song movements on the common. Females bird species such as Dartford warbler, moved relatively short distances while stonechat, woodlark and nightingale males were more prepared to move have been more successful. around +500 meters, possibly looking Skylarks continue a steady decline on for females. All adders kept to their the common, particularly along the preferred habitat. Records of their heathland lozenges, territories dropping movments will be overlayed onto Tom Marshall Tom by 56% since 2009. These ground habitat maps so we can safeguard nesting birds are at risk from disturbance current populations and join fragmented BBOWT undertakes evidence based and predation. populations by better managing the conservation which means we record adders prefered habitat type. the presence of species and monitor Sightings indicate that yellowhammer the habitats so we can then undertake and reed bunting (both species of targeted management. conservation concern) are colonising How to help care for our common Keep Greenham free from Help the ground nesting BBOWT is using its own funds Berkshire Buckinghamshire invasive garden plants. birds raise their chicks in raised through membership Oxfordshire It is not OK to dump garden peace by observing the zones to top up the West Berkshire Please pick up your dog’s poo waste on nature reserves! that are marked out every Council grant we receive. We Garden waste can harbour year between 1 March and want to allow anyone visiting species that can take over 31 July. As in previous years, the opportunity to help us with our natural habitats. The BBOWT will be providing our work. outcome is often irreversible. seasonal wardens during Do I have to pay to park? Himalayan balsam is found this period to answer No, BBOWT is asking for Dog mess is unpleasant and can harm: extensively around Greenham visitor questions, provide • wildlife • volunteers • families • staff and Bowdown Woods and it information on what to see voluntary donations. You can We use all corners of this site, not just the paths. outcompetes natural species. and undertake free guided contribute as much as you www.bbowt.org.uk Managed by the Berks, Waste can also look unsightly, walks on Saturdays. would like, whether it be during Bucks & Oxon Wildlife 01865 775476 Trust on behalf of block access and infill ponds. your visit, weekly or monthly if Donation Stations If you bring it on, you can It will also enrich habitats you visit regularly. take it off! Treading in dog Why have you installed which promotes the growth Will visitors be forced to pay waste can ruin the day for donation stations? of weeds. Dispose of all your in the future? visitors and volunteers, and garden waste responsibly in BBOWT is keen to provide the be harmful to health. Please No. BBOWT does not charge for your green wheelie bin or highest standards for visitors pick up your dog’s poo and parking at any of its sites. Newtown Road Recycling and wildlife alike. Currently bin it or take it home. Centre. Precious heritage bbowt.org.uk/wild-info-heathland Rob Appleby ormed as a result of thousands of conditions for plants such as heathers, This in turn supports a population of years of human activity, heathlands gorse and birch to take root. Animals like small blue butterflies, whose caterpillars Fhave evolved as special habitats the adder need the warm microclimate feed upon it. with their own unique and fascinating that the heather produces, and the The right balance wildlife. Our conservation work ensures Dartford warbler would not be present that this natural heritage won’t be lost. this far north if it weren’t for the gorse. Much of the practical work carried out Deemed unsuitable for crops, these relies on staff and volunteers working to On a hot summer’s day, the earthy smell unique habitats were subsequently achieve the right balance between open of heather mingles with the sweet, maintained by commoners as a resource heathland, scrub and tree cover. coconut fragrance of gorse to create an for grazing, foraging and firewood. environment like no other. Nightjars are spring and summer Military history visitors to our heaths. The males require This habitat is known as lowland heath. vantage points from where they can This heathland, together with areas of Greenham and Crookham Commons’ proclaim territory and attract a mate. flower rich grassland, is the main reason military history has created a truly Isolated trees left by the conservation much of the Common is listed as a diverse range of habitats. team provide ideal perches to call their Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).