Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary document This document gives a summary of the draft management plan for Ranscombe Farm Reserve for the period 2013 to 2018. The aim of the document is to give a clear indication of what management work is proposed, including both ongoing and new work, and the reasoning behind it. It is hoped that this will allow readers to get an idea how Ranscombe might change over the five years of the plan. A full, detailed version of the management plan, upon which this document is based, is also available. Contents 1. About Ranscombe Farm Reserve .............................................................................................................. 2 2. Managing the farmed environment ......................................................................................................... 4 3. Managing grassland ................................................................................................................................... 6 4. Managing woodland ................................................................................................................................... 8 5. Managing for people ................................................................................................................................ 10 6. Making management more effective ..................................................................................................... 12 7. Managing our obligations ........................................................................................................................ 13 Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary 1 1. About Ranscombe Farm Reserve Ranscombe Farm Reserve (outlined red). Greyed-out area is privately-owned land. Ranscombe Farm Reserve is located to the north of the village of Cuxton and west of the town of Strood. It covers 268 hectares (662 acres) of farmland, woodland and grassland, and is managed in partnership by Plantlife and Medway Council. 106 hectares of the site lie within the Cobham Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the citation document for which notes that “This woodland … is representative of woods in North Kent which occur in part on acidic Thanet Sands and in part on chalk soils. One nationally rare plant species occurs in the arable land close to the wood. An outstanding assemblage of plants is present at this site which is also of importance for its breeding birds.” Just over 33 hectares of the site is recognised as an Important Plant Area (IPA). The IPA description notes that “Ranscombe Farm has long been famed amongst botanists as one of the richest sites for arable plants in the UK. Notable plants include the UK’s largest population of the Nationally Rare broad-leaved cudweed, the first British locality for rough marsh-mallow and local and rare species such as ground pine, rough poppy, narrow- fruited cornsalad and Venus’s looking-glass.” Mill Hill South is recognised as a Local Wildlife Site by the Kent Biodiversity Partnership. The whole site lies within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and most falls within Kent Downs AONB Landscape Character area 6 (Medway - Birling to Cuxton; Wouldham to Aylesford), important for its wooded upper scarps, wide views across the river, rolling, intensively cultivated fields, swathes of dense mixed woodland and mosaic of unimproved grassland and scrub. Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary 2 Ranscombe Farm Reserve Private land Part of Cobham Woods SSSI Ranscombe Farm IPA IPA & SSSI Local Wildlife Site Path Crown copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence No. 100032779 Over 350 different wildflowers, shrubs and trees have been recorded from Ranscombe Farm. Of these, 22 have some kind of national or local nature conservation status: Ranscombe is the most important site in Britain for the endangered broad-leaved cudweed, and may support the only remaining native population of corncockle in Britain. More than 200 species of moth have been recorded, 30 butterfly species (including silver-washed fritillary), 65 species of bird (including skylark, linnet and nightjar), and 15 species of mammal (including dormouse and fallow deer). The site has a number of features or archaeological and/or historical interest. The Historic Environment Register records ring ditch crop-marks in Brockles Field, chalk pits close to the North Downs Way, and Palaeolithic finds close to the current farm buildings. There have also been significant finds of Mesolithic worked flints and finds of Neolithic worked flints, and there is evidence of early cultivation in the form of lynchets on sloping valley sides. The pattern of tracks and field boundaries appears to go back to at least the early 1600s, and there is evidence of vanished habitations. Ranscombe Farm Reserve immediately abuts the village of Cuxton to the south and Strood (and the rest of the Medway Towns) to the east. There is therefore a large catchment population for the site and it is regularly used by visitors. Although there is currently no quantitative data on visitor use of the site, day-time use appears to be very light and consist mainly of dog walkers. More visitors attend at weekend and evenings, particularly in the summer, and are dependent on good weather. Main users are probably the immediate local resident walkers and ramblers, though visitor numbers appear to have increased through the recent HLF project, with numbers travelling by car and using the main car park entrance. The site’s size and undulating land-form, together with the extent and layout of the site’s woodlands, means that it is likely to be possible to accommodate substantially higher visitor numbers without losing a sense of tranquillity and isolation. There are more than 16km (10 miles) of paths (including public footpaths and permissive paths) on the site. Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary 3 2. Managing the farmed environment Arable land Existing conservation arable New conservation arable KF = Kitchen Field LH = Longhoes Field KF LH Crown copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence No. 100032779 Why is this important? Arable farmland makes up around 110ha (40%) of Ranscombe Farm Reserve. Arable fields are shaded orange on the above map. Rare wildflowers associated with arable farming are the most important aspect of the wildlife interest of Ranscombe Farm Reserve, and the site is recognised as an Important Plant Area because of the rare farmland plants it supports. Nationally rare and threatened species include: Broad-leaved cudweed Ground-pine Narrow-fruited cornsalad Corncockle Stinking chamomile Rough mallow Prickly poppy Other important species include: Blue pimpernel Rye brome Rough poppy Dense-flowered fumitory Venus’s looking-glass Other farmland wildlife includes breeding skylarks and linnets, and wintering meadow pipits. The arable land at Ranscombe is farmed by a tenant farmer, for whom the site is an important part of his farm business. Our ambitions to improve the site for wildlife therefore need to be balanced with the need to have an economically viable arable farm, and most of the arable farmland will remain conventionally farmed for the period of this management plan. Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary 4 What are our aims? Our objective is to maximise the quality and extent of arable land managed for arable flora, particularly in order to maintain and enhance populations of key wild plant species. This will include experimenting with techniques to enhance populations of key arable plants and reduce weed load within arable areas managed for conservation. What will we continue to do? Manage Kitchen Field (KF on the map) (approx 5ha) and Longhoes Field (LH on the map) (approx 4ha) for wildflowers of arable farmland, cultivating both fields every year. Manage the margins of many of the arable fields for wildflowers of arable farmland, cultivating them every year, but not sowing with a crop. What will we do that’s new? We will work with our tenant farmer to establish a further 6ha of farmland to be managed primarily for rare arable wildflowers. We will work with our tenant farmer to establish a significant increase in the length of field margins managed for rare arable wildflowers. This will involve a reduction in the length of field margins managed as grassland, where we have not seen an increase in wildflowers. We will work with our tenant farmer to see if variations in management (e.g. cultivation in spring rather than autumn, or ploughing rather than minimum tillage) can benefit a wider range of plants. We will explore the best ways to manage damaging weeds, which can build up in fields managed for wildflowers. We will look at the possibility of winter grazing of stubbles in field managed for arable wildflowers. How we will know if the changes are working? We already have good data on where the most important wildflowers are found, and their numbers. We will continue to monitor populations of the most important species every year. We will do our best to set up a scheme for monitoring farmland birds. Ranscombe Farm Reserve Draft Management Plan 2013-18 Summary 5 3. Managing grassland Existing grassland New grassland Twenty Acre Brockles Crown copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence No. 100032779 Why is this important? Grassland occupies about 31ha (12%) of the reserve. The largest block is Brockles Field,