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The planned burning of Sullington Warren heather that was reported here in January 2020 did not happen.  Wet weather prevented the work being carried out and this was followed in March 2020 by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mowing of strips in the heather did happen in order to produce the ‘carpet squares’ in preparation for burning.  Unfortunately, visitors to Sullington Warren decided to treat these mowed strips as ‘paths’ and walked across the heather beds causing further deterioration of the heather.  To stop this happening the heather beds around The Green were, this year, fenced off in order to give the heather a chance to recover.  Unfortunately, the combination of heather beetle, people taking a ‘short cut’ across the heather beds rather than using the established paths, dog walkers allowing their dogs to foul the heather beds thereby increasing the nutrients in the soil to the detriment of the heather, plus the now regular summer drought, have taken their toll on the heather which no longer provides the quality heath land habitat it did just a few years ago, nor the blaze of colour in the late summer and early autumn.

With lowland heath being one of the world’s rarest habitats and particularly important for reptiles (of which there are six native species in the UK, all of which are rare and threaten) it is hoped that with careful management and cooperation from the public, this patch of lowland heath in Storrington will again become a place to see amazing plants and animals just a short distance from home.  It isn’t every village that can boast having a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), (designated as a SSSI because of the rare dry and wet lowland heath habitats and the species of plants and animals they support) so close to its centre.  At the moment this SSSI’s condition is assessed as ‘unfavourable’.  The aim is to get it to a ‘favourable’ status and again see species of plants and animals on it that have been lost over the years.

After several years leading and providing the refreshments for the Sandgate Park conservation mornings, John and Jan Dugnolle have decided that they would now like someone else to take on these responsibilities.

Ideally it would be someone or a couple of people (one to lead the work party and one to sort out refreshments) who live next to the park but John has indicated that for the foreseeable future he could still store the tools and wheelbarrows, so don’t be put off if you live a bit further away.

The person who leads the work party will:

• liaise with Horsham District Council Parks and Countryside on what tasks they would like the conservation morning volunteers to carry out;
• be responsible for the tools, including approaching HDC when tools require maintenance or replacement;
• ensure that volunteers are signed in at each conservation morning(for insurance purposes);
• carry out a risk assessment for the morning and ensure that all volunteers are briefed on any risks and how to use the tools safely;
• provide a report on conservation work done / planned to the trustee committee; and
• contribute to the Society Annual Report on work done and attendance numbers at the conservation mornings, and any planned future work. This includes a short presentation to the AGM.

The person providing the refreshments will be responsible for bringing along the hot water, tea, coffee, milk, sugar and any other drinks, cakes / biscuits and the drinking cups.  The cost of provisions can be claimed back from the Treasurer.

If you are interested in taking on either (or both) of these vital roles please contact the Society.

As of August 2020 conservation mornings at Sandgate Park are still suspended though they could restart under strict Covid-19 precautions.  If and when they do restart during the Covid-19 pandemic period it is likely that no refreshments will be provided because the sharing of food and drink increases the risk of passing on virus.

 

January 2020

Did you notice in late summer that large parts of the heather on Sullington Warren were not purple with flower but a reddish brown? This was the result of a massive heather beetle infestation of this section of the Warren.

The larva of the beetle is found feeding on the leaves, stem and bark of heather plants from June through until early September. If the number of larvae are very high this can result in the heather being killed and this is what happened on parts of Sullington Warren last summer.

Recovery plan

Charlie Cain, our National Trust Area Ranger, has developed a plan to tackle the heather beetle infestation and regenerate the heather.  He has asked Sandgate Conservation Society to help him let local people know about the plan so that they understand why the heather beds are being managed in such a seemingly destructive way and what they can do to help the heather restoration.

In late summer/autumn last year the National Trust employed a contractor to cut wide strips through the most badly affected areas. The cuttings from these areas were pilled into a large heap in the hope that any adult beetle collected as part of the mowing operation would be contained and killed with the heap, to reduce the risk of a massive infestation of other parts of the site in the following year.

These mowed strips were cut in such a manner as to leave “living room carpet” sized patches of uncut dead heather stems. The National Trust intents burning off these patches, one by one, this winter before the heather comes back into active growth. They are doing them one by one to avoid the risk of the fires getting out of control and threatening the unique ecology of the rest of the site.

Burning operation – why and when?

The National Trust feels this burning will have two advantages for the site:

• Heather seed needs light to hit the mineral soil surface to stimulate germination. The seed is extremely fire tolerant so the seed bank within the soil will be unaffected by the burning but after the burning it will be exposed to the light to encourage good germination rates in the spring.
• The remaining heather beetle population in the affected areas will, at this time of year, be an adult beetle hibernating under the moss layer where the larva lived and fed. Burning these areas has the potential to reduce the number of adults that will survive the winter and thereby reduce the risk to the remaining heather on the site next summer.

The beetles come out of hibernation in mid-February to March when the mean temperature is above 9°C, so it is important that this burning operation is carried out before then, if possible, to have the best chance of controlling the heather beetle population.  Studies have also shown that regeneration from burned heather plant is much greater if the operation takes place before the plants try to flourish in the spring.

Where is this happening?

If you enter the Warren from the Heather Way gate and walk straight on towards The Green the affected area is to you left.  (If you enter from Woodpecker Lane it is the area on your right, though there has also been some mowing carried out on the area on the left).

The area to your right, when entering via Heather Way, was attacked by heather beetle in the same way eight or nine years ago.  The National Trust have been doing lots of bits of work over the last six or seven years to re-establish carpets of heather as opposed to the wavy hair grass and Festuca carpets that colonised this area after that infestation. The restoration of this area has mainly been the manual removal of moss, carried out by volunteers, to expose dormant heather seeds to light to stimulate heather seed germination and regrowth.  The hope is that the burning operation will re-establish a heather carpet much more quickly over the areas that were killed last summer than has been achieved on this section, and with less back-breaking effort!

What you can do to help?

The photograph shows what Sullington Warren looked like in August 2010 before the heather beetle infestation.  This is what the National Trust is aiming to get the heather beds looking like again.  All of us who use and enjoy Sullington Warren can help.

Please do not walk across the heather beds or encourage your dogs to run into them.  There are plenty of obvious paths around the heather beds, there are none across them.  Walking across the heather can damage the vegetation, including recovering heather plants, disturb the wildlife (many invertebrates and reptiles, including adders live there – there is also the potential for ground-nesting birds in the spring if the areas were left undisturbed) and cause soil erosion.

Also, there is some evidence that increased soil fertility is exacerbating the heather beetle problem by producing heather growth that the heather beetle larvae finds more nutritious.  Increased nitrogen in the soil also encourages vegetation that competes with heather such as grasses and brambles.  The major source of excessive nitrogen in the soils at Sullington Warren is from dog fouling.  It is really important that dog waste on Sullington Warren is disposed of properly in a waste bin. There are a number of dog waste bins around the Warren including one just a short distance away from the heather beds around The Green, at the Woodpecker Lane entrance.

Over the next few months we will be coppicing and cutting back some of the encroaching trees and shrubs along the paths and fire ride on the Thakeham Road side of the the Warren.

Without grazing by wild herbivores or livestock the process of natural succession means that eventually dense trees and shrubs take over, reducing the variation in habitats that support the widest range of species.  Also, as the trees and shrubs grow close together they grow ‘leggy’ as they compete with each other to reach the light.

By cutting back the trees and shrubs not only are the paths opened up to improve access but also areas of heath can be linked up.   Cutting back a deciduous tree or shrub like holly does not kill it but rather rejuvenates it and creates a bushier plant as it throws up multiple stems from its roots.  These bushier plants provide another habitat, such as nesting sites for some birds.  In the meantime the extra light reaching the ground stimulates the growth of other plants, previously suppressed by the low light levels, which attract butterflies and other insects and which in turn provide food for other species such as birds and bats.

On Saturday we started to clear along the path behind Heatherlands.  As you can see some fairly substantial trees were taken down – these are probably as big as we can fell using hand saws.

Shifting the larger trees usually required some team-work

The small branches and twiggy material, or brash, was burnt – see previous post for an explanation of why we burn.

You can see that the bonfire is contained off the ground in a tray which is standing on corrugated iron sheets.  This is to prevent the ground catching fire, though with the amount of rain recently that seemed unlikely.

We are pleased to be able to tell you that the the bridge and the approaching footpaths have been completed.

There is a level footpath running a short distance through the woods from the gate on Badgers Holt to the bridge and on the other side of the bridge a gently rising footpath to join the path on the quarry side of the park.

The main motivation for getting the bridge and footpaths in place was to improve accessibility and we are gratified by the comments we have been getting from people about what a positive difference the new bridge and footpaths have made to their ability to enjoy the park.  It is now easy for people using mobility scooters to cross the stream.

We would love to hear from people about what they think about the new bridge and footpaths.  Email us on [email protected] or send us a message us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/SandgateConservation.

The works have obviously left some marks on the landscape, for example where soil has been moved to create the footpaths and piled up along the side of the paths, but in time the vegetation will grow and hide the soil.  Also,  it is hoped that with the new footpath in place people will avoid walking across the bluebell and wild daffodil areas and these will regenerate in time.  We plan to clear the stream of the logs and other debris that was used as a makeshift bridge now that it is no longer needed.

Over the next few weeks and months people should also see some other changes, such as a signage board and a dog poo bin, for the quarry area of the park.

As we move into mid summer the woods have become quieter as bird nesting tails off.  The heather is flowering and is looking reasonably good considering the die-off due to drought last year.  The wet heath pond looks much better now that the fence has been removed from around it.  Fungi are already starting to appear here and there.

The quarry area of the park is still full of wildlife activity.  The meadows are a mix of wild flowers and grasses that are attracting a wide variety of insects including a variety of butterflies.  The quarry is a regular nesting site for sand martins and the birds can be seen swooping over the grassy areas.

Please avoid creating new paths across the meadows as this results in fragmentation which significantly degrades it as a wildlife habitat and causes disturbance to the wildlife that lives in it.  Also, keeping to the footpaths greatly reduces the risk of you and your dog picking up ticks that could carry Lyme disease.  The footpaths around and through the meadows are clearly defined as they are finished in yellow Fittleworth stone (there are some tracks for infrequent use by maintenance vehicles – these are not intended to be used general footpaths) and the area can be fully enjoyed from the footpaths.

In our last update on the bridge, just over 2 weeks ago, we reported on the start of the work to build the bridge.  The contractor had marked the trees that needed to be taken out for the new path and the Sandgate Conservation Society volunteers had spent a work morning removing the trees.

Regular visitors to Sandgate Park would have seen that within a few days the contractor had cleared away the felled logs, removed the tree stumps and dug out the new path, and created the concrete foundations for the bridge.

A few days ago we were told that the bridge was at the stage where we could usefully help to finish work on it.

You can see the new path on the Cemex quarry side has been completed and it now has a gentle slope through the woods to the bridge.

The bridge crosses the stream at a point where its banks are level so that there is step-less access to the bridge from the paths.

The bridge is made from durable oak and it is build on top of two steel beams that span the gap – it is built to last.

The bridge still needed anti-slip strips and hand-rails so on Tuesday morning the ‘crew’ gathered for work.  Sandgate Conservation Society volunteers were joined by Horsham District Council Parks and Countryside staff.  Anna Worthington-Leese, Chairman of Storrington and Sullington Parish Council came along to check out progress.

Fixing the anti-slip strips.  Two people screwing on the strips, one person sorting out the screws and one person as the obligatory ‘foreman’!

 

 

Meanwhile, in another part of the woods, the redundant gate was removed.

While this activity was going on the contractor was continuing work on the paths.  A new path is being created from the new bridge to the gate onto Badgers Holt.  This will provide accessible access to the area of Sandgate Park from the eastern end of the park.  It is hoped that park users will stick to this new path so that the native bluebells and wild daffodils are not trampled.

We think you will agree that the bridge looks just right for the woodland setting and it meets all expectations.

A big thank-you to all of you who helped make this happen by donating to the bridge fund.