Sourced from the Wildlife Trusts.
Silver studded blue butterfly, marsh gentian, nightjar and woodlark
are all benefitting from Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s £50,000 restoration
of Buxton Heath SSSI. The project, which concludes this month, was made
possible thanks to a grant from Biffaward and the dedication of
volunteers from the Buxton Heath Wildlife Group.
Lowland heathland is a rare and threatened habitat and, as such, is
a priority for nature conservation. In England, only one sixth of the
heathland present in 1800 now remains. In order to restore and maintain
heathland, constant management of scrub and encroaching trees is
essential. During the project, over 5 hectares of scrub has been
cleared by NWT staff and volunteer labour from Buxton Heath Wildlife
Group and students from University of East Anglia.
New equipment, purchased thanks to the Biffaward grant, enabled NWT
to create areas of bare soil, short vegetation and open ground – the
ideal habitats for silver-studded blue butterflies. This resulted in an
excellent year for silver-studded blues with numbers reportedly
reaching 1,000. The high numbers enabled translocation of some adults
to colonise another heathland site at Cawston.
Marsh gentian was another key species to benefit from the
restoration. With ongoing light grazing creating and maintaining ideal
conditions, it flowered over the summers of 2007 and 2008. In addition,
individuals were found in outlying colonies assumed to be extinct.
Populations of nightjars and breeding woodlark have been maintained by
creating open areas of heath to provide the best foraging and breeding
conditions.
The Biffaward project is part of a longer term programme of
restoration for Buxton Heath. Work has now begun on a second phase of
restoration at Buxton Heath, funded by Natural England.
Director of Norfolk Wildlife Trust Brendan Joyce commented: “Buxton
Heath is one of the best examples of lowland heathland in Norfolk and
the generous grant from Biffaward allowed Norfolk Wildlife Trust to
both protect the existing habitat and directly contribute to the
ongoing restoration of this important site. It has also provided the
impetus for a larger programme of restoration to secure the future of
Buxton Heath.”
Biffaward is a multi-million pound environment fund managed by Royal
Society of Wildlife Trusts, which uses landfill tax credits donated by
Biffa Waste Services. Gillian French, Biffaward Programme Manager,
said: “Biffaward is delighted to be able to support Norfolk Wildlife
Trust in its work to restore and manage this valuable habitat. This is
a long-term investment which will bring real improvements.
Organisations across the country are working tirelessly to protect our
natural environment, and we are keen to support more worthwhile
projects such as this one.”
Buxton Heath is owned by the Hevingham Fuel Allotment Charity,
originally created to provide the poor of the parish with land to graze
and cut materials, but now recognised as custodians of an important
wildlife habitat. Norfolk Wildlife Trust, & volunteers from the
Buxton Heath Wildlife Group work with the owners to restore Buxton
Heath.