THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE CONSERVATION MAGAZINE Number 38 • 2009 Otters in STANTA p12 Diving into History p26 Grazing towards Sustainability p40 Foreword by Alan Titchmarsh THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE CONSERVATION MAGAZINE Number 38 • 2009 Editor – Rebekah Jones Defence Estates Designed by – Liaison Design Printed by – Corporate Document Services (CDS) Editorial Board – Simon Adamson (Chair) Keith Maddison Julie Cannell Ennid Canniford Pragati Baddhan Editorial Contact – Sanctuary Team Property Directorate Defence Estates Kingston Road Sutton Coldfield B75 7RL E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 0121 311 3734/ 2183 Cover image credit: White park cattle on Salisbury Plain Photography: Guy Hagg Silver-studded blue butterfly © Iain Perkins Sanctuary is a free publication. Submissions: If you would like to contribute For further copies: Forms and Publications to Sanctuary Magazine or enter future Building C16 Sanctuary Awards please contact Rebekah C Site Jones, Editor at: [email protected]. Lower Arncott Bicester The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Ministry OX25 1LP of Defence. Nothwithstanding Section 48 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents E-mail: [email protected] Act 1988, the Ministry of Defence reserves the right to publish authors’ literary and photographic contributions to Sanctuary in further and similar publications Sanctuary is an annual publication about conservation of the owned by the Ministry of Defence. This is subject to contrary agreement, which natural and historic environment on the defence estate. It must be communicated to the editor in writing. Authors’ contributions will illustrates how the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is undertaking be acknowledged with each and every publication. Maps in this publication its responsibility for stewardship of the estate in the UK are reproduced from the Ordnance Survey map, by Defence Estates, with the permission of the controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Crown Copyright. and overseas through its policies and their subsequent Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to implementation. It is designed for a wide audience, from the prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number GD3189G. general public to the people who work for us or volunteer as members of the MOD Conservation Groups. It is produced for the MOD by Defence Estates. FOREWORD For all our worries about their welfare, plants and animals are great opportunists – give them half a chance to survive and they will cling to life tenaciously. But it still seems strangely perverse that land which is set aside to allow a country to train its Armed Forces, regarded by some as an inherently destructive exercise, should prove to be a sanctuary for all forms of wildlife. I have seen at first hand the qualities of professionalism and dedication that this country has come to rely on from its Armed Forces. I have also seen at first hand, while making The Nature of Britain series for the BBC, the caterpillars of the rare marsh fritillary butterfly feeding on devil’s bit scabious on the MOD ranges on Salisbury Plain. It is a plant that can only grow there thanks to the tank tracks ripping up the greensward and allowing the plant to seed itself on the clean soil – a perfect example of nature taking advantage of human, in this case Army activity. Sanctuary magazine shows how seriously the MOD takes its responsibility for managing land and supporting wildlife as well as supporting our Armed Forces – the two need not be mutually exclusive. What’s more, wherever possible public access is allowed so that these wildlife-rich areas can be enjoyed by us all. And where they are closed? Well, just think of the benefits to butterflies and birds, insects and mammals! This is not just a case of the MOD paying lip service to conservation aims. It has an impressive record when it comes to managing Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and has become a partner in the Million Ponds project – a cause close to my heart in which we are endeavouring to increase the numbers of clean ponds in this country (sadly depleted in recent years) to offer greater opportunities for wildlife and spiritual benefit to us all. Something sadly overlooked in today’s material world. The MOD estate shows just how effective land management can result in the right balance between supporting our Armed Forces and creating a valuable habitat for wildlife. Their thoughtful stewardship makes our country a safer place to live. And I speak for the wildlife, as well as the human population. ALAN TITCHMARSH 2009 - The MOD Conservation Magazine 1 CONTENTS Foreword 1 INTERNATIONAL The Sanctuary Awards 3 Right Kit, Right Place, Right Time – Shark Tagging in the Eastern Pacific 58 UPDATE Operation Heritage 61 Access and recreation on the defence estate 8 Akrotiri Environmental Education and Information Down to the Wire – Porton Down 10 Centre – Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus 62 Cyprus – Conservation Group Update 64 FEATURES Otters secure a stronghold in STANTA 12 AROUND THE REGIONS A Range of Habitats, a Wealth of Invertebrates Spotlight on... Sandhurst Conservation Group 67 – Castlemartin Range 16 Angus and Dundee Ringing in the Century 20 – Barry Buddon Training Centre 69 The Best of Both Worlds Cambridgeshire – RAF Wittering 70 – A Sustainable Approach to Military Training 24 Cornwall – Penhale Camp 71 Diving Into History 26 Dumfries and Galloway Echoes of D-Day – Traces of the – West Freugh Conservation Group 73 Normandy Campaign on Salisbury Plain 29 Hampshire – Defence Storage Distribution Bovington – The Spiritual Home of the Tank 32 Agency Gosport 74 ‘Streamlining away in the vagaries of the wind’ Isle of Wight – Newton Ranges and Jersey Camp 75 – Braunton Burrows 34 Kent – Canterbury Old Park Training Area 77 “I’m not eating that, it’s disgusting” Kent and East Sussex – Community Outreach on Salisbury Plain 37 – Cinque Ports Training Area 79 The Flourishing Management Group and Kent – Defence Fire Training & Development Wildlife of Penhale Sands 38 Centre, Manston 81 Grazing towards Sustainability 40 Norfolk – Stanford Training Area 82 Water – a valuable commodity 43 Northamptonshire – Yardley Chase 84 Shining a light underground – Investigating the Surrey – Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 85 military use of the quarry tunnels at Corsham 44 Wiltshire – Boscombe Down 86 A range of military fungi 47 Wiltshire – Imber Conservation Group 87 Operational Capability and Conservation Wiltshire – Porton Down 89 – The Scottish Highlands 48 East Yorkshire – Defence School of Transport Archaeology on the Edge – Cape Wrath 50 Leconfield Carrs 91 The Last Wilderness North Yorkshire – Catterick 92 – Pirbright Range Danger Area 52 Recycling Champions – Army London District 55 Terrier Training – Bovington 56 Contacts Inside back cover 2 THE SANCTUARY AWARDS The aim of the Sanctuary Awards is to recognise and encourage group and individual efforts that benefit THE SANCTUARY AWARD BOARD wildlife, archaeology, environmental improvement The Sanctuary Award Board for 2009 were: (for example waste or energy projects) or community for Defence Estates: Martin Coulson, Property awareness of conservation on or within land and property Directorate; Ennid Canniford, Environmental that the MOD owns or uses in the UK or overseas. Advisory Service; Ted Cundall, Property Directorate and Pippa Morrison, Property The 2009 Awards were divided into four categories: Directorate. We would like to pass on our Environmental, Heritage and Sustainability Projects and thanks to Marcus Yeo, Managing Director, Individual Achievement. The winners of each category are Joint Nature Conservation Committee, for considered for the overall winner and receive the coveted acting as an external judge. Silver Otter for one year. SILVER OTTER AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT WINNER The first day of construction with the MOD Police, local community and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers © John Simpson The Peaton Hill Community Nature Reserve a wide spectrum including biodiversity, public to come to the site from the nearby Project are winners of the Silver Otter and community use, natural history, access and Peninsula Path (part of the Scottish Core the Environmental Project Award. recreation, education and wildlife crime Paths network). There are aspirations to prevention training. do even more with the continued help of This project, based on land at the margin Scottish Natural Heritage in particular. of the military estate, between HM Naval Their aspirations have been realised Base Clyde and the Royal Naval Armament through careful assessment, judicious use of The Board considered that the project was Depot, Coulport, was initiated in 2004 when resources, donated items and the time given an outstanding example of collaboration MOD hosted a Biodiversity Day at the site. by numerous volunteers. The reserve now between MOD, the conservation group and The Garelochhead and Clyde Conservation has a car park, a picnic site, an educational external bodies and it was very worthy of the Group, local MOD staff and external agencies zone, boardwalks for pond dipping, nest Environmental Project Award and the Silver aimed to deliver a sustainable benefit for boxes designed for owls and kestrels and Otter for 2009. local people and the environment across new access paths that encourage the 2009 - The MOD Conservation Magazine 3 THE SANCTUARY AWARDS E NVIRONMENTAL PROJECT R PUNNER U The project undertaken by the QinetiQ Hebrides Engineering and Transport Team to remove a redundant water storage tank, an eyesore and potential source of contamination, from the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the MOD Hebrides Range was well thought through and carefully executed. Work involved consultation with Scottish Natural Heritage and the local graziers, and then extreme Tank removal before care to minimise impacts of the removal operation and the infill of the resulting void. The outcome is a significant improvement to the protected site and the landscape of the SSSI. It also demonstrated that with local support and professional guidance, a small team in a remote site can have a vision and deliver improvements with minimum additional resources.