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Discussion Forum
Started by Alex Moore da Luz at 11 Jan 2006 11:43 AM. Topic has 6 replies.
  
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 11 Jan 2006, 11:43 AM
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Alex Moore da Luz
Joined on 22 Dec 2005
Posts 2
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Wildflower Meadow and Pond Management
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I have had a request for information regarding how to manage a 13.4 acre site for birds. The site is owned by Eaton College and is regarded as long term investment which they would eventually like to utilise as a visitor facility. The site (pH 6) has been in set-aside for a number of years and has regenerated successfully with a good number of wildflowers, insects and invertebrates such as the glow worm. They want to convert half of the site into a giant 'bird table' and attract as many birds as possible. I have advised that it would be a good idea to sow a mix of kale, cereal and quinoa and re-establish every two years. They want to leave the other half of the site as a wildflower meadow and they would like some advice on how to manage it. Does anyone have any ideas???
They also have a pond (15x20m) which they would like to manage in a way that benefits birds and insects such as dragonflies. Does anyone have any advice they would like to give on how best they can achieve this?
Your thoughts on any or all of the above issues would be appreciated.
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11 Jan 2006, 1:46 PM
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alauda26
Joined on 10 Jan 2006
Oxfordshire
Posts 81
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Re: Wildflower Meadow and Pond Management
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It would certainly be a good idea to try to check the wildflower site for plants that had become established since it was set-aside. Unless the soils are very light, or there's a particularly rich seed bank though, it'll probably be better to have a go at enriching the sward with some native wildflowers suitable for the site before a managment regime gets settled into. Flora locale have a really good online library of literature about sourcing and techniques for enhancing grasslands with local provenance and/or native plants - http://www.floralocale.org
Once established, it'll probably want to be treated as a hay meadow, but maybe leaving some edges uncut, and checking that the cut date allows a variety of the wildflowers to set seed.
I wouldn't fancy trying to do any sort of vegetation survey at this time of year though!
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13 Jan 2006, 5:59 PM
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Peter Thompson
Joined on 25 Nov 2005
Posts 57
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Re: Wildflower Meadow and Pond Management
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When you have a large area to plant a mixture for birds etc, it is really beneficial to plant / renew half each year. This would mean that the annual Quinoa and cereal is available in one half and the second year seeding Kale is available in the other half - not only good for the widest range of birds but also helps to spread the costs more evenly!
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17 Jan 2006, 7:20 PM
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Ian Gould
Joined on 20 Dec 2005
Huntingdon
Posts 68
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Re: Wildflower Meadow and Pond Management
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I agree with the comments about the Wild Bird Seed Mixture, as the Kale, Quinoa and Cereal mix is tried and tested. However, where you have the size of plot(s) that would be available here, I would strongly recommend the use of additional species such as Millet, Linseed, Camelina (Gold of Pleasure), Buckwheat and perhaps Sunflowers. All of these appeal to a more limited range of species, but why not broaden the appeal when you have the resources. The disadvantage of almost all seed bearing crops is that they are annual, so they need replanting every year. They also tend to benefit from the application of fertilizer as this increases the seed yield.
Of all the above species I have found a mix of Red & White Millet to be a most cost effective and easy to grow seed crop. It has been invariably full of small birds but the seed is now almost gone. It is a dilema as the "Hungry Gap" period could only just be starting, if the weather turned cold, and that is when these crops are most needed. Quinoa can hold onto the seed for a bit longer but even that is now getting sparse. Linseed has some longevity and the oily seed doesn't rot very quickly.
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31 Jan 2006, 4:56 PM
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Pondsman
Joined on 31 Jan 2006
Posts 3
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Re: Wildflower Meadow and Pond Management
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Pond Management
For general advice on managing ponds see my reply to the other recent pond question.
Ponds need litttle management and in the brief circumstances outlined, and if there was enough resources, the best approach could be to over a period of time create a series of ponds on site rather than worry about trying to create and manage one perfect pond for suitable for everything (which is of course impossible).
The existing pond is a good size and in the same area or elsewhere on site a number of different sized, shaped and depthed ponds could be made from very small shallow scrapes (as little as 1 square metre and a few centimetres deep) to larger and deeper bodies. Try to create areas of permanent water, but also ensure that there are areas that dry out on a regular basis every year and others that do so over a longer cycle. The shallow margin of a pond which dries out on a seasonal basis (the drawdown zone) is one of the richest parts of a pond where dry ground species meet semi aquatic and aquatic species ... It is an edge habitat and thus very rich , often richer than in this case the more specialist pure open water habitat.
For guidance our defintion of a pond is a body of water between 1 square metre and 2 hecatres (larger than this is a lake) which holds water for at least 4 months of the year. There are no other major qualifying conditions i.e. amount of shade, plants ......
If you have the space you can let your imagination go wild and create the most fabulous habitat mosiacs between dry terrestrial habitats and bigger bodies of deeper open water for some of the bigger wildfowl ....
Rod d'Ayala, Ponds Officer for Pond Conservation, Oxford Brookes University
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