Quilters Wood Brash Pile Creation
A motley crew of KRAG folks today descended upon
Quilters Wood to create three large brash piles.
Quilters Wood is part of a long-term monitoring
project and supports four species of reptile. It is one of the key sites in the
Adders in Decline project and presents an ideal opportunity to investigate the
impact of different habitat management techniques on reptiles.
The paddocks at Quilters Wood used to be grazed by sheep and when the project started were fairly inhospitable to reptiles (very short sward, no complexity to the vegetation and little cover). Grazing of the site ceased in 2003 and the paddocks have been allowed to develop naturally ever since. As expected, the vegetation has become more structurally complex, providing excellent habitat for invertebrates and small mammals as well as more cover (and prey!) for reptiles. Although the paddocks have been colonised by slow-worm and viviparous lizard, only a small number of adder have been observed.
I consider that one of the reasons why adder have not used the paddocks in larger numbers is due to the lack of sufficient cover. Adder are relatively large animals and as such are vulnerable to predation (in open habitats predators can find them more easily). At Quilters Wood (and other sites that we are monitoring), adders are often associated with 'interface habitat'. This is particularly true on some of the more open and exposed sites.
To remedy this lack of cover, we have decided to create habitat piles in each of the paddocks, and today we started this process by building three piles.
The paddocks at Quilters Wood used to be grazed by sheep and when the project started were fairly inhospitable to reptiles (very short sward, no complexity to the vegetation and little cover). Grazing of the site ceased in 2003 and the paddocks have been allowed to develop naturally ever since. As expected, the vegetation has become more structurally complex, providing excellent habitat for invertebrates and small mammals as well as more cover (and prey!) for reptiles. Although the paddocks have been colonised by slow-worm and viviparous lizard, only a small number of adder have been observed.
I consider that one of the reasons why adder have not used the paddocks in larger numbers is due to the lack of sufficient cover. Adder are relatively large animals and as such are vulnerable to predation (in open habitats predators can find them more easily). At Quilters Wood (and other sites that we are monitoring), adders are often associated with 'interface habitat'. This is particularly true on some of the more open and exposed sites.
To remedy this lack of cover, we have decided to create habitat piles in each of the paddocks, and today we started this process by building three piles.
Mike and Laura building brash pile
Material for the piles had already been kindly supplied by Martin Hendy (Martin runs a local landscape design business). All that was required was for the KRAG team to drag material into position in each of the paddocks.
Dragging brash on a tarpaulin sheet
After a few hours we were done! It will be interesting to see just how quickly the piles are colonised in the coming survey season. If you would like to get involved in survey work at Quilters Wood please get in touch.
The Team!
A very big thank you to Philip, Lee, Kevin, Laura, Mike, Sophie, Martin and Brett for helping me with this important task today.
Lee Brady
Posted: Sun - January 22, 2006 at 03:25 pm
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This site contains news, announcements and reports concerning the conservation of reptiles and amphibians in the English county of Kent.
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Published On: Oct 01, 2007 10:54 am
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Published On: Oct 01, 2007 10:54 am