Essex Biodiversity Project

Because of their dynamic nature, without regular management grasslands can quickly lose their interest as open turf passes to rank vegetation, scrub and eventually secondary woodland. In a large more-or-less natural landscape the occurrence of succession such as this is normal. However, grasslands now exist in small isolated locations, and much of the larger fauna which would have shaped the character of grasslands in the distant past now extinct. As a result, the remaining wildlife that depends upon open grassland has little opportunity to move and seek-out areas of similar habitat in response to changes in the vegetation as one might expect in a natural system. Therefore, management is essential to maintain species-rich grasslands.

Management can take two forms: mowing or grazing. The latter is in most instances the preferred technique due to the indiscriminate nature of cutting with machinery, e.g. all the plant material is removed at once. However, if used creatively mowing is often a better alternative to no action at all, and on sites with a long history of mowing for hay the practise should be continued to maintain the botanical interest. However, even in these situations grazing plays an important role in controlling vigorous grass species as part of an after-math regime where stock are turned out upon the mown grass for a short period in autumn or early spring.

Often the biggest threat to the remaining areas of species-rich grassland is inappropriate management or neglect. A particular problem is overgrazing or too frequent mowing. In general, short regularly cropped swards provide little interest for wildlife and prolonged management of this sort relatively quickly diminishes the biodiversity interest of grasslands.

Aside from inappropriate management, neglect and physical destruction, one of the most significant threats faced species-rich grassland flora is from the impact of soil enrichment. Grasslands are often affected indirectly by fertiliser applications on neighbouring land through the movement, via spray-drift or groundwater, of phosphates and nitrates onto the grassland itself, and there is increasing evidence to suggest a similar effect from atmospheric sources most notably as a result of nitrogen deposition as a by-product of the burning of fossil fuels (e.g. vehicle and power station emissions).

Grassland enrichment tends to favour a small number of vigorous grass and herb species, and over time leads to a decline in floristic diversity as these species dominate the turf; this has a knock-on effect on other wildlife dependent upon less competitive grassland plants. Unfortunately, restoring grasslands that have been subject to enrichment is notoriously difficult, particularly on the typical clay soils found over much of the county.

The decline of commercial livestock farming across the county has significant implications for managing unimproved grasslands. Beyond the obvious lack of stock available for nature conservation grazing, there is the additional erosion of skills and support services. For example the number of local abattoirs and vets has declined within Essex. None-the-less many still remain, but as competition have fallen, the costs associated with both have tended to rise.

At a site level, many remaining species-rich grasslands are unsuitable for stock or lack the infrastructure to support effective nature conservation grazing. Some of the problems facing site managers include:

• poor, or difficult (particularly in wet weather), access for stock trailers;
• lack of on site water supply, making cattle grazing difficult especially for commercial graziers;
• lack of adequate handling facilities.  Easily addressed for sheep but not for cattle.  This can make the catching of stock for removal or veterinary attention problematic to impossible;
• species-rich grassland can exhibit trace element deficiencies, e.g. selenium, which can affect the health and wellbeing of stock.  These need to be anticipated by the grazier;
• many modern commercial breeds will not thrive or finish on species-rich grasslands;
• traditional breeds are the most appropriate for species-rich grassland, but are not often available locally;
• surviving areas of species-rich grassland are often small parcels of land that are unattractive to commercial graziers.

Livestock farming is closely regulated by the governments Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra). For example there are restrictions relating to the movement of animals between sites and all stock need to be ear-tagged. Therefore, site managers planning to introduce nature conservation grazing should be aware of the relevant legislation at an early stage, and seek expert guidance where appropriate. A useful source of information is the Grazing Animals Project¹ .

The decline in the livestock economy has the knock-on effect of reducing the value of grass forage such as hay.  Despite the potential for this shortfall to be met by the growing equine industry, horse owners often demand high-quality hay and are increasingly becoming more discerning in their choice. For example, they typically avoid ‘dusty’ hay in favour of modern products such as ‘haylage’.

In common with other semi-natural habitats large grassland sites tend to support a greater diversity of species, and are more resilient to change. In most situations this is because they have larger populations of species that are less likely to become extinct, and smaller sites have a smaller range of habitat conditions. The remaining species-rich grasslands in Essex are typically small and isolated among arable or urban areas. As a result they are often susceptible to damage from agricultural activity and amenity pressure.

Historically, the biggest threat to species-rich grasslands has come directly from agriculture as it has sought to replace them with more productive grassland vegetation or to convert them to arable land. Indeed, most people have little idea that Essex was once a patchwork of small meadows and pastures, together with the fields of corn, the staple crop of farmers for a long period of time. Prior to the rapid population growth after the war, this type of mixed farm agriculture dominated the land use. Grazing and mowing tended to be less intensive, and wild flowers were often abundant in meadows and pastures.

With the development of refrigeration and exponential urban population growth, large herds of dairy and beef cattle became the norm, and pastures and hay meadows were either reseeded with nutritious grass and herb mixtures, or/and were heavily treated with synthetic fertilizers to maintain the new high stocking levels (improved!). In those meadows and pastures that were not reseeded or fertilized, wild flowers were still lost as they could not sustain the heavy grazing.

Furthermore, prior to the development of highly efficient combine harvesters, farmers had a struggle to harvest all their corn crops and hay. In a wet summer, it might take all the summer months to harvest the corn crops. Laid crops could not be allowed to go to waste and had to be hand scythed and sheathed. Thus in some years the hay crop would either have to be taken late, or not at all. Similarly, in a good year following a bad winter, some of the hay crop might be taken in early summer, even late May. Thus the hay cutting regime varied from year to year, allowing some plants and insects to do well one year and others to do well in another year.

Trying to re-establish the past regimes that led to the development of some of our most important grassland sites is not easy, and in many cases no longer possible. In recent decades, the over-reliance on standard prescriptions or romanticised ideas of how sites were managed in the past have in many cases not produced the results that were expected. Every species-rich grassland is different therefore modern day nature conservation management must to be flexible and monitor and adapt its approach to ensure the special interest of the site is maintained.

Species-rich grasslands are usually found within nature reserves, country parks or common land. As such, they are important amenity areas which members of the public value as open space for leisure and recreation. Apart from on the smallest of sites, picking of flowers or disturbance of the sward is not typically a problem. However, where problems can arise is when management of the grassland for wildlife conflicts, or is perceived to conflict, with the public enjoyment of the site. The most contentious issue is often the introduction of grazing to a site. Particularly where it restricts the access of walkers (particularly those with dogs) to parts of the site they formerly visited. Furthermore, members of the public often feel threatened by larger grazing animals and this may effect their enjoyment of the site. Poorly planned reintroductions of stock on well-used sites are destined to fail, but there are increasing examples of well thought-out schemes where consultation occurs at an early stage and the needs of the existing grassland users are well considered in the design of the scheme and its associated infrastructure (e.g. fences, gates and troughs). See Case Studies for some examples in Essex.

Since World War II the loss to development of species-rich grassland in Essex has been substantial. In recent decades, with the introduction of more stringent wildlife law and planning control physical destruction of sites has become much less of an issue. The County’s most important sites are designated as either statutory wildlife sites (e.g. SSSI), which protects them from development and to a certain extent inappropriate management; or non-statutory (e.g. Local Wildlife Site LoWS), which offers limited, but often very effective, protection from development. However non-statutory designation offers no-protection from neglect or inappropriate management, and there is strong evidence to suggest that grassland LoWS are frequently being damaged or destroyed as a result of tree-planting, heavy grazing/mowing or improvement.

Despite vigorous, and often successful, efforts to raise awareness of nature conservation issues among the general public, local authorities and businesses, the ‘mainstream’ of society still remains unaware of the special wildlife value and requirements of species-rich grasslands. Local authority conservation measures often go no further than ‘tree-planting’, and keeping grasslands ‘tidy’ is still the overriding objective of many parish and district councils. As a result, resources and support for grassland management is often difficult to secure.

The presence, at low frequencies, of plants such as ragwort, spear thistle or creeping thistle rarely pose a problem to the wildlife interest of species-grasslands. These species are a natural element of the British flora and some are important for a variety of invertebrates. Indeed, where these species become a problem is usually symptomatic of inappropriate management, e.g. heavy grazing. However, once well established they may cause problems in terms of securing graziers for the site and selling hay; and can prove difficult to control.  Other weeds such as dock and cow parsley rarely become abundant in species-rich grassland, and where they do inappropriate management is often the cause.

The Weeds Act 1959 specifies five injurious weeds: common ragwort, spear thistle, creeping or field thistle, broad leaved dock and curled dock. It is often wrongly believed that it is illegal to have these species on your land. It isn’t, under the act the Secretary of State may serve an enforcement notice on the occupier of any land on which injurious weeds are growing, requiring the occupier to take action to prevent the spread of injurious weeds. If the landowner doesn’t clear up the weeds, the government can do it for them, and charge them. So it's not actually illegal. Furthermore, this situation remains largely unchanged under The Ragwort Control Act 2003, and an order is still required to be issued before a landowner can be punished.

Of all the weeds ragwort elicits the strongest feelings among landowners. Ragwort can be fatal to horses, particularly when consumed dry in hay. Other livestock tend not to be as susceptible, and there is evidence to suggest that some breeds of sheep and cattle will eat it preferentially. It is only likely to pose a problem when consumed dry in supplementary feeds or when food is short as a result of overgrazing, or lying snow.