Boost for Popular Reserves
Monday 27th October
Two of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s most popular nature reserves have been revamped thanks to a £13,000 grant.
The cash, from Waste Recycling Environmental Limited (WREN), paid for much-needed work at the Mansey Common and Duke’s Wood reserves, which are part of the Redgate Woods site of special scientific interest (SSSI).
The Wildlife Trust applied for funding to help several species to thrive in the area.
It contacted WREN after a number of species once recorded at Redgate Woods, such as nightingales, disappeared. The Trust warned other species were under threat from alien, non-native species like crassula, and that increasing scrubland was strangling potential wildflower meadows.
The £13,415 paid for a number of restorative projects to help improve the reserves.
At Duke’s Wood, the grant paid for a survey to find suitable habitat for nightingales at the site, in an attempt to attract the species back to the reserve. It also helped fund the creation of new nesting and feeding places for the birds, and blackthorn coppicing to create a gradient of low lying trees for nesting and larger, mature trees for feeding.
Staff and volunteers also conducted an invertebrate and bird survey at the site to establish population numbers and density.
Records show Mansey Common has been common land, managed by toftholders, for more than 700 years. Toftholders are local residents, who have held the right to graze their livestock on the land since 1302.
Grazing provides excellent meadow management, as cattle eat the longer grasses and allow more delicate flora to grow and survive unchallenged.
In 2005, the Wildlife Trust reintroduced grazing to Mansey Common with English Longhorn Cattle. The move has already proved effective, allowing species such as red campion to make a successful comeback.
Crassula was also removed from the woodland ponds, and interpretation boards, to help raise awareness of the area’s importance, were installed at Duke’s Wood and Mansey Common.
The final part of the project saw large swathes of scrubland cleared away to allow wildflowers to flourish.
Erin McDaid, from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, said: “The two areas here, Mansey Common and Duke’s Wood, are highly valued for their biodiversity and attract many casual visitors.
“Duke’s Wood is well-used as an environmental education site and is popular with casual walkers, and this use is likely to increase with plans to build a small educational facility on the reserve.
“Mansey Common boasts the intrinsic appeal of wildflower-rich grassland, and a number of other features of interest, including several large, ancient oaks and The Robin Hood Way, a long-distance footpath, which runs through the reserve. Many of the visitors to Mansey Common find their way along this route.
“This project has given us a tremendous opportunity to improve two popular sites, for the benefit of wildlife, wildflowers and the public.”
