FILE NOTE
Date: / 06 February 2017Site: / Therfield Heath SSSI
Subject: / Meeting with the Golf Club and the Conservators
By: / Sonja Kaupe
Meeting with:
- The Golf Club: David Caunce, Ian Coote
- The Conservators: David Smith, Vincent Thompson
- Natural England: Sarah Clarkson, Sonja Kaupe
The Golf Club got offered 200/250 tons of chalk from a house extension (creation of a basement) on the other side of the road. That chalk will be useful on site (paths resurfacing, etc.) and is available for the Golf Club as well as the Conservators.
The material shouldn’t be contaminated with seeds or other plant material as it will be excavated from under the current house. It will be pure chalk with no other building material. It will be stored behind the Golf Club house, within the area marked on the map (depending on the amount delivered).
In the scrub behind the Sports Club car park, several patches of Irises (garden escapes) seem to be spreading. They will be prayed of with a broadleaf herbicide (Icade Herbicide, from Dow AgroSciences). This will be done with all the usual precautions when spraying on the SSSI: spot-praying with minimal drift, etc.
At the top of the 1st fairway, a large patch of Bramble was cut down by the Golf Club this winter as it was slowly encroaching onto the grassland. At the moment the brambles have been cut and removed and the ground will be raked for the debris. The area will then be sprayed with a broadleaf herbicide (Icade Herbicide, from Dow AgroSciences) when the new growth appears (March/April). This will be done with all the usual precautions when spraying on the SSSI: spot-praying with minimal drift, etc.
We discussed working on the “woodland” edge behind the bramble patch. We would like to create a more gradual edge with a shrubby layer, by coppicing some trees and potentially planting some shrubs (hawthorn, etc.). This was not flagged as a priority and will be considered next year.
The flax present in the semi-rough on the 1st fairway will be marked by Vincent or Sonja, so that it doesn’t get cut before flowering and setting seed. Once it has set seed, it can be cut with the rest.
In the shrubby area (between the 5th and 17th fairway), the dying cherry trees next to the path will be taken out for H&S reasons. The one furthers from the path will be kept for dead wood habitat. The area will be kept as open scrub, the blackthorn is going to be coppiced on a rotation.
Several parts of the grassland (2 Hills, 5 Hills) are slowly being encroached on by moss. We are not sure what the cause may be but we suspect that a thick layer of thatch close to the ground might have keptthe right condition for their establishment(warm, damp).
It was proposed to trial an area next to the 15th fairway
Two methods will be used to remove the thatch and moss, on each half of the selected area: one with a spring tine harrow and the other with a chain harrow. The thatch should then be raked off. We also discussed whether a forage harvester would suck up all the moss and thatch after the area had been chain-harrowed. This will be done before the end of March. If it can’t be done by then, it will be delayed to the winter. It would then need to be grazed early in the grazing season.
The bank next to Therfield Road seems to have several tracks developing. This is partly because the main track gets muddy in the wetter months, and the golf buggies get driven on the grass. To stop this from happening we suggested using some of the chalk (see above), as it will help make the track less muddy and will hopefully encourage people to use it.
There is another track that starts developing along the edge of the gallops, past the metal gate and on to the rest of the grassland. It is suspected that it is used by John Jenkins. To encourage him to use the metal gate, we suggested the Golf Course blocks the access to the rest of the grassland by a large, painted log (painting it white apparently stops it from being stolen). ACTION: Sarah and Sonja to talk to John Jenkins so he starts using the gate instead of driving onto the grassland.
A patch of young brambles next to the 8th will not be sprayed for now by regularly cut and collected.
On the 10th the Golf Club has been removing some scrub
On Pen Hill north, the Conservators will take out scrub selectively on the slope. The clusters of scrub will be thinned to avoid shading the grassland too much. A patch of scrub on the north side of the tee of the 11th fairway will be removed. The smaller patch on the south side of the tee will be kept.
The Golf Club cleared the bank at the bottom of the 10th. The scrub has been cut and the tree stumps will be plugged. This area should ideally be grazed in the next grazing season.
Grazing:
Sarah and Sonja with Robert Law at Thrift farm after the site meeting.
Robert had a good grazing season, with little incidents. Almost all compartments got grazed including the south half of Lancaster Hill (3 weeks between Christmas and 15 January).
He will try to put a flock of barren ewes on the Butts in March, at the end of the Rifle Range. This will make the scrub work easier for the Conservators. He will let us know if he is unable to do it, so that scrub work can be planned without waiting for the sheep.
He does not wish to see anyone else grazing the Heath (he mentioned the difficulties to graze the site and diseases).
Robert agreed to fill in a grazing diary. ACTION: Sonja to send Robert a copy of the table to record his grazing details (based on the table from Robert’s Wildlife Enhancement Scheme, 2004, Annex 1).
ACTION summary
- Sarah and Sonja to talk to John Jenkins so he starts using the gate instead of driving onto the grassland.
- Sonja to send Robert Law a copy of the table (based on the table from Robert’s Wildlife Enhancement Scheme, 2004, Annex 1).
- Sarah to let the Conservators (Golf Club?) know about Roberts grazing plans for the winter
Sonja Kaupe
27/02/2017 reviewed by Sarah Clarkson