ANDOVER

WILDLIFE SURVEY

(AWS)

______

An Overview for those undertaking surveys in the Andover area

Version 1Mike WildishFebruary 2017

PART 1 – ANDOVER

INTRODUCTION

General Aspects of the Area

Andover is an urban and light industrial town in north-West Hampshire, surrounded by a rural fringe of agriculture, pastoral farming and some woodland. This rural ring largely persists despite urban expansion in recent decades, which has also seen residential estates in surrounding villages and the tendency for some villages to become ‘welded on’ despite their desire to maintain their independent identity.

Choice of Area

In choosing the area for study the following criteria were applied:

  1. It should be square
  2. Andover should be centric
  3. The whole of Andover ‘strictly’ should be encompassed.
  4. It should consist of a finite number of National Grid one kilometre squares, and ideally it should consist of a finite number of ‘tetrads’ (groups of four one kilometre squares) that are used to show distribution of organisms at county level.

The following was chosen:

DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA

The area consists of the urban and industrial core of Andover, plus a peripheral ring:

  1. The Pentons
  2. Nutbane Farm and Charlton Down
  3. The Enhams
  4. Smannell, Little London and most of Ridges Copse
  5. Finkley and Trinley Farms
  6. Picket Piece
  7. Picket Twenty and most of Andover Down
  8. The western and central areas of Harewood forest
  9. Goodworth Clatford
  10. Upper Clatford and Anna Valley including Bury Hill
  11. Redrice Farm and St John’s Cross
  12. Abbott’s Ann including Little Ann, Little Park and the watercress beds
  13. Army HQ, Andover Business Park and Sunny Bank
  14. Penton Corner and Hanging Bushes

The area comprises 64 one kilometre squares of the National Grid, all of which are within the ten kilometre square SU34, which comprises one facet of the national survey map.

This also comprises all of 16 of the 25 ‘tetrads’ of SU34, previously used for surveying and still used for county-wide distribution maps of wildlife. However, for the purposes of this survey, the one kilometre squares only will be used.

Apart from a very tiny bit of South Wiltshire (Vice County 8) that crosses the extreme north-west corner, the chosen area is entirely within Vice County 12 – North Hampshire. Unlike some other border areas, the border here has not been subject to boundary changes, or controversy, in recent times.

The Wider Area

Those wanting to explore a wider area than that considered here will need to regard three counties – Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire. Here are places of a similar nature – Salisbury Plain, Marlborough Downs, North Hampshire and Berkshire Downs.

Maps

Maps are essential for work in the area. The following Ordnance Survey maps apply:

1:50 000 Landranger sheet 185 – Winchester and Basingstoke

1:25 000 Explorer sheet 131 – Romsey, Andover and Test Valley

Designated Areas and Routes

North Wessex Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This large area (1730 Sq Km) includes parts of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. It occurs in the AWS area as the tiny part of Wiltshire in the NW corner, and again in the NE corner bounded by a line from North of Enham to Little London, Smannell, Finkley Manor, and the Portway to Trinley Buildings.

Anton Lakes Local Nature Reserve. Managed by Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC), this mostly wetland area is now completely surrounded by housing estates. The lakes were formed by gravel extraction, and partly occupy former watercress beds, where there are numerous spring-fed streams.

Rooksbury Mill Park Local Nature Reserve. Managed by TVBC, this mostly wetland area, again formed by gravel extraction, was previously a private fishing area.

Charlton Lakes. Managed by TVBC, this mostly wetland area, again formed by gravel extraction, serves mostly for recreation, but has a wildlife interest.

The Test Way. This long-distance path crosses the SE corner, passing through Harewood Forest before continuing northwards just outside the eastern boundary of AWS, passing through St Mary Bourne.

The River Anton Way. Starting at Charlton Lakes, this path runs southwards through Anton Lakes, Andover Town Centre, and Rooksbury Mill before following the river through the Clatfords to the southern margin of AWS, from where it continues to the Chilbolton area and termination where it meets the Test Way.

The Brenda Parker Way. This route starts at the town, and largely duplicates the line of the Anton Way to Charlton Lakes from where it continues westwards and then northwards through the Pentons, leaving the AWS area at Nutbane. From there it turns eastwards just outside the area to cross the Test Way at St Mary Bourne.

Ladies Walk. This track runs from the top of Old Winton Road along the high ground SE of the town to finish at the top of the London Road truncated spur by Picket Twenty. It offers a splendid view northwards across Andover, and crosses Marlborough Road by an old iron bridge built by Taskers.

Ladies Walk Fields. Managed by TVBC, this steeply graded area below the track remains undeveloped and is managed for wildlife interest.

Organisations (Non-thematic, and other than TVBC)

The Anton River Conservation Association (TARCA). This organisation supports wildlife in the area through practical management and surveying. Most work takes place on the designated areas, but also at other sites within the AWS area.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Naturalists Trust. This charity is now almost non-existent in the area following the fold-up of its NW area group. It has no nature reserves in AWS, but has recently been involved in various surveys on farm estates.

Woodland Trust. Have one small site (Jonathan’s Wood) at Enham.

Hampshire County Council. Responsible for roadsides, but have no sites in AWS.

RSPB/National Trust. Have no sites in AWS, but are active in the wider area.

THE SLAB

A Three-dimensional Concept

Although an ‘area’ is usually considered as a plan view, as presented by a map, for study of the wildlife it is actually a three-dimensional slab. The troposphere layer of the atmosphere (in which weather takes place), extends upwards to 15k above Ordnance Datum, and it has been shown that micro-organisms exist down into the bedrock. So, at about 16k in the vertical dimension, the height of the slab of AWS is twice that of its width!

The ‘slab’ can be stratified as follows, from the bottom up:

  1. The Lithic.

The bedrock geology of the AWS area is quite simple – chalk of the Upper Cretaceous Period. Essentially this is chalk in the familiar context of a soft white limestone with beds of flints. Previously known as ‘Upper Chalk’, it is now officially referred to as the ’Chalk Group: White Chalk Sub-Group’. More specifically the formations present at the surface, by comparison with the classic south coast sections, are, in descending order:

Newhaven Chalk

Seaford Chalk, including a hard bed member, the Stockbridge Rock

The surface of the eroded chalk varies from 45 metres to 120 metres above Ordnance Datum in the area. It continues downwards to 150 metres below Ordnance Datum, where it has been shown in boreholes to overlie Lower Cretaceous and earlier deposits. Apart from a few superficial pits and rail / road cuttings, largely overgrown, no recent quarrying has taken place in the area, and no exposures are presented for fossil collection.

The chalk was subsequently, in early Palaeogene (and likely Neogene) times, overlain by beds of sands and mud, varying from river deposits to those of more coastal environments, but since then exposure and erosion have removed almost all traces of this, as well as the upper layers of the chalk. As a result there are no bedded deposits of these ages, only a capping in the higher areas termed Clay with flints, a mix derived from these later deposits and insoluble chalk residue.

From this is derived head – superficial deposits moved downhill by weathering, and glacial actions of the ice ages, that cover slopes and fill ‘dry’ valleys, and alluvium that fills active river valleys.

The strata in the area are almost horizontal and free from major folding and faulting. Faults below ground largely put the Andover area into a shallow syncline between the London Platform to the north and the Stockbridge Syncline to the south. Few faults are seen at the surface and are insignificant in extent.

Geological Maps: British Geological Survey 1:50 000 Series:

Sheet 283 Andover and Sheet 299 Winchester.

  1. The Detritic

This layer is known as soil, or sediment where overlain by the fluvic. The distinction between these concepts and those of the geologist’s head and alluvium are not sharp, but the presence of recent residue of recent biological origin, and of organisms that break down such matter to be recycled by plants defines the layer.

The soils that overlie the clay-with-flints are more acidic. Although there are no areas strictly termed ‘heathland’ in AWS, many areas are affected, and can typically be identified by the presence of bracken.

  1. The Fluvic

Water expressed at the surface, typically overlaying the detritic. Water also exists in the lithic, of course, especially in the porous chalk that we have. It may be at the surface after rainfall within the catchment area, soak underground, and re-appear at springs somewhere else and sometime later.

The area lies within the catchment of the River Anton, which drains southwards into the River Test south of AWS, although dry valleys in the south-east point directly into the Test to the east.

Gravel extraction at certain locations in the 20th century has created artificial lakes that the water typically flows through along the original river course. A slowing in the rate of water flow and enlargement of area affects the wildlife composition.

After heavy rainfall, the whole area might be considered to have a fluvic layer! The important point here is how quickly it then dries out:

Permanent water - the Anton south of Anton Lakes, and the Pillhill Brook are drought-free.

Drought-prone – Here the water often dries out by late summer, and may be intermittent in the winter:

To Anton Lakes from Penton Grafton.

The northern limb of Anton Lakes from Knights Enham.

The stream from East Anton through Swallowfields.

Flood streams – flow only after heavy and persistent rain, and so are dry throughout the year most years:

The flow of the Anton from the west above Penton Grafton, flowing from up as far as Redenham, through Appleshaw and Weyhill Bottom.

A flow from south of Hatherden, past Penton Saw Mill to Penton Mewsey, where it can flow over the road. A lake may form north of Penton Saw Mill.

From Enham Alamein to Knights Enham in the roadside ditch, but sometimes out onto the road.

The East Anton Stream, mostly piped underground, above Smannell Road, where it can flood the amenity grassland.

The Walworth/River Way stream, mostly piped underground can flood grassland on the Walworth Estate.

  1. The Photic

Over and rooted within the detritic, present in the surface layers of the fluvic, and extending into the aeric is the layer where photosynthesis takes place. It requires light, of course.

  1. The Aeric

Existing over the tops of the photic and buildings up through the troposphere, this is where weather takes place.

Averages are: Jan mean temp 4C; July mean temp 17C; average annual rainfall 800mm. These figures mask the extremes that have occurred in recent decades that have had impacts on wildlife. It is generally accepted now that the climate is warming and becoming more erratic, to which the wildlife is obliged to adapt. Changes, as declines and expansions, are well documented, and will require detailed attention in the near future.

As well as the obvious presence of birds and bats, insect swarms have been recorded in this zone, and it usually has spores of bacteria, fungi, bryophytes and ferns, plus smaller seeds.

PART 2 – THE SPECIES GROUPS

INTRODUCTION

There are millions of species and perhaps over a million in the AWS area, many of which have never been recorded, and some not even been described: most of these will be bacteria.

To get a representative and manageable view of what is present, it is necessary to split them into ‘groups’. A group can be of three types:

  1. Clade. Species derived from a common ancestor – e.g. Birds, Flowering Plants.
  2. Pollard Group. A clade with one or more sub-clades removed, retaining those that are least modified from the common ancestor – e.g. Reptiles (Amniotes less Birds and Mammals).
  3. Bouquet Group. An ad-hoc selection of species that share a common trait, but not a common ancestor – e.g. Lichens, Algae.

DEFINING WHAT IS A GROUP

Most groups have already been defined by the generations of esteemed naturalists, and the organisations and publications they have generated.

A group will often have a thematic National Organisation that conducts surveys, maintains a database, and has likely published at least one national atlas, perhaps now monitoring change over time. For some groups, a national atlas may be ‘provisional’, showing what has been recorded so far without claiming to be a truly national picture.

Many groups are fortunate to have a Hampshire equivalent, which may be a sub-level of the National Organisation with direct ties; a similar County Organisation with indirect links, or just a group of enthusiasts. For some groups a Hampshire atlas has been produced.

A group has often had a field guide or identification key documents published that enable identification of all/most/at least some of the species. There is a tendency for field guides to become more comprehensive, and for keys to be better illustrated and less technical, such that the two are now effectively one for many groups.

The groups as detailed below attempt to cover all those known to occur or suspected to occur within the AWS area. A marine influence is non-existent: while we are denied the delights of Barnacles and Beached Whales, this does enable a more restricted view of the British fauna and flora, permitting a more intensive study of those present. Exclusively marine groups are therefore excluded, and with Wiltshire having only a tiny presence in the NW corner, a county view will be restricted to Hampshire.

CONDUITS, DATABASES, PUDDLES and VIEWS

Those who assemble data from their activities, either professionally or as a hobby may wish to see their efforts accrue towards a county or national view of our wildlife, with its knock-on benefit on conservation. Many individuals will long have assembled notebooks of their field trips, garden observations etc, and these are now invited to be input into record systems.

While original schemes relied on pen and paper forms, with volunteer effort to input and validate data, the IT era has generated a plethora of conduits for the observer to input their data, and a headache for the county / national compiler to assimilate!

Conduits vary from organisation-derived systems that meet their requirements specifically, to free or subscription initiatives that may only part meet the requirement. Some of these systems (such as Living Record) create ‘puddles’ of data where the observer can store and view their own data, and perhaps share a view with other users of that specific system, but not, therefore, obtain a view of the whole county or national dataset. Viewing such a dataset is often difficult or costly, other than when an atlas is published.

Data needs to be validated; otherwise the naive (or even malicious!) can devalue or corrupt the database. An observer to county to national input conduit is ideal as it makes use of local knowledge. An inverse observer to national, download to county, system enables errors to accumulate, be viewed as if accurate, and only corrected later. It is also necessary to filter the view of some sensitive species to prevent access for those who wish to plunder our wildlife for commercial gain or to satisfy a ‘collector’ perversion.

GROUP PRIORITIES

The groups below are arranged in an order of popularity. Those new to surveying may wish to start near to the top as publications, advice and previous observations are readily available. Those with ambition might start further down where, with a good start, there is more chance of becoming an expert, or even discovering new species!

Organisation is:-

  1. The Big 3 – Vascular Plants, Birds and Butterflies.
  2. The Populars – Where field guides are typically available.
  3. Others – Difficult groups to work with, microscopic, or key works largely unavailable.

THE BIG 3