Roadside Habitats any useful?

[GCN lova]

hi

Been traveling a bit today and saw quite a lot of different habitats by the road e.g heathland, ditches, woodland, grassland. Does anyone know if these habitats are good for wildlife? Ive seen kestrels hunting over these habitats so they must attract some animals and plants.

GCN lova

[Wild-Woman]

When left alone, some roadside habitats throw up some amazing wildlife. The wildlife trusts refer to them as roadside reserves.
Sadly some councils do not know just how good they are and mow- just at the wrong time.
I've seen orchids dealt a fatal blow by the mowers at peak flowering time.

[Johnny81]

Yes many are indeed, some have been given local wildlife status, roadside nature reserves. I have surveyed orchids on them and many other interesting organisms. Many inland verges now have plants usually associated with the sea/estuaries on them due to salt spraying.

[GCN lova]

wildwoman i know many once great wildlife sites which have been destroyed and its sad really . the only problem with roadside habitats is the noise. here in north kent the roadsides are woodland on the M2 as well as grassland. im sure these places support loads of plant life.

[Wild-Woman]

Keep an eye out (obviously if someone else is driving) for the diversity of plants on the chalky banks of the M2 travelling east from the Medway bridge in the spring and early summer. It's quite remarkable. I have spotted orchids here too.

[fairplay]

Suffolk was the first county to create a roadside nature reserve (RNR) specifically for a very rare fungus called the Sandy Stiltball, which is almost confined to roadside verges throughout the country.

The more rare Pepperpot fungus is known from only 2 sites in the whole of the country - both being on the verges of country lanes.

The important factor with both these species is warm, free draining, sandy soil, however, RNR's are very prone to disturbance from vehicles.
Horse and Carts were no problem, but sat-nav driven cars, Tesco delivery vans, mobile library's, etc, are continually pushing the verges back, so therefore, are destroying and creating the habitat at the same time !

Nobody really knows what these fungi are actually growing from because it is an offence to disturb them, but it is widely believed to be buried twigs or woody debris or even the ends of dead/live tree roots. (So we do not really know even if they are Saprophytic - feeding on dead organic matter, or Mycorrhizal - in a symbiotic relationship with a living host.)

Elm and even Ivy is another factor, as this is present at nearly all sites and since the introduction of Dutch Elm disease (some say it has always been here) the trees are continuously going through a cycle of growing and dying.
A possible threat could be when the trees are also killed by Honey Fungus - does the fungus put out an underground 'barrier' (common with some fungi) to keep away the competition ?

Another factor is human disturbance, sadly the more rare something becomes, then more people want to gather a sample, and unfortunately these very rare sanctuary's for wildlife have to be marked out to prevent essential maintenance contractors from damaging these sites. Road surfaces have to be renewed from time to time and obstructing vegetation has to be cut back.

This involves sweeping up loose surface debris (I have seen Pepperpot fungi full of vital spores 'sucked' down onto the road surface by the slip stream of passing vehicles) and next sticky tar is sprayed on the road followed by a layer of granite chippings - and these alone pose problems, for granite is crystalline, igneous rock consisting of quartz, mica and feldspar and when crushed together over the years by traffic, do we really understand what the dust does to the sandy soil ?

Overhanging vegetation was traditionally done by a farm labourer with a sickle or scythe or slasher, but did he leave the cuttings to rot down (making the soil too nutrient rich) remove by hand and throw through a convenient gap in the hedge, or did he burn it on site ? Now it is done (perhaps more regularly even) by tractor mounted implements which doesn't take any prisoners - no bad thing, as long as it is done at the right time of year, but what is right for one species could be wrong for another species and this can be fungal, insect, bird, small mammal, plant or it's fruit (berry's)

So as not to bore you further, sandy roadside verges are now also important for spreading populations of Ant Lions, I have located many sites where the larvae dig their tiny pits in order to catch their prey (normally ants which fall into the pits and are sucked dry) but these sites are very prone to disturbance from rabbits and exposure to heavy downpours of rain, especially when the grains of sand are perhaps not the perfect size or maybe too stony.
(the grains of sand have to be just right to make the perfect angle of pit in order for the buried larvae living at the bottom of the pit to sense an ant crawling around the crater rim, and it then flicks up sand to cause an avalanche bringing the ant down with it.)

Right, end of lesson, I'm off to bed.

Neil.

[GCN lova]

haha thanks neil and wild woman. ive yet to self educate myself on plants and fungi but ill try it. the first time i saw a kestrel was on a motorway verge hunting and the second hedgehog i saw was on a road (very sadly dead). they do seem do be a death trap as well as a vital habitat for animals...

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by GCN lova

hi

Been traveling a bit today and saw quite a lot of different habitats by the road e.g heathland, ditches, woodland, grassland. Does anyone know if these habitats are good for wildlife? Ive seen kestrels hunting over these habitats so they must attract some animals and plants.

GCN lova

The sum total area of roadside habitat in Britain covers a larger area than that taken up by the total area of nature reserves. Some rare species occur on some of our roadsides because they are little disturbed.

Cheers,

Adam

[GCN lova]

thanks adam

[King Edward]

One of the main advantages of these roadside habitats is that they're not farmland, so they escape a lot of damaging agricultural practices like ploughing, fertilisation and pesticide application. Exposed rocky ground or subsoil alongside newly built roads can also be good for various wildflowers which prefer the low nutrient conditions.

On the negative side though, the traffic can have a negative effect on species not just on the roadside but for a considerable distance around. The total number of animals killed annually must be vast, movement/migration patterns get disrupted (e.g. foraging bats, breeding toads), and roadside pollution also has quite an effect e.g. nitrogen desposition from car exhausts enriches the verges, causing tall vigorous species (large grasses, cow parsley etc.) to displace smaller plants.