Castle Hill Nature Reserve Chessington

Here are the results of the 'Living Woodlands' project eighteen months after works. The woodland has an open feel and the understorey has taken off. The wood is good for butterflies such as the female brown hairstreak found this morning 28.8.14










Female brown hairstreak

 
 On Tuesday 13.3.12 a volunteer from the Lower Mole Project informed participants about the recent management project at Castle Hill Nature Reserve in Chessington. The Lower Mole project have been clearing scrub and undertaking tree work at the Horton CP entrance, in order to clear areas for planting  hazel whips. The compartments are then surrounded by deer fencing until they are sufficiently strong to withstand deer browsing.This will  bring a portion of the wood back into traditional coppice management.

 National Grid have been undertaking similar operations at the Filby Road entrance. Over the years efforts to reduce the trees to prevent them interfering with the power lines have led to lop-sided, poor quality results and so a better management outcome has been negotiated. In both cases this will allow the ground flora to flourish and be beneficial for insects particularly butterflies. Castle Hill is a scheduled ancient monument and English Heritage have had concerns, in former years, regarding mountain biking and unchecked vegetation over features pertaining to the old fort. During the walk they were pleased to see the effect of recent management.

Comments

  1. Benton1 April 2012 at 00:58

    Comprehensive vegetation surveys were undertaken during 2006 (Dobbs) and 2008 (Cullen) so it will be interesting to compare results now that the woodland canopy has been opened to the light.

    ReplyDelete

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