Devils bit scabious, reintroduction

[Kay_9]

Hello!

Im trying to write a management plan for a species-rich wet grassland. I would like to reintroduce Devils-Bit Scabious.

The meadow contains the Southern Marsh Orchid, so the plan at the moment is to graze from August to February to fit in with the growth phase of the orchid.

Would it affect the orchid to delay grazing until september, to allow the Devils Bit Scabious to set seed?

If so, would fencing a section of the meadow until september be an option?

Does anyone know if sheep would be suitable rather than cattle?!

Thanks in advance, i'm a little confused!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Hi Kay,

If your grassland is wet during the grazing period then sheep are pretty much out of the question and certain breeds of cattle too, because of foot rot. You need a breed that doesn't mind getting their feet wet.

Waiting until September should be no problem at all and probably it might be beneficial if you could leave it later still.

The main thing is to get your stocking levels per hectare right and not over-graze the sward. Grazing for six months of the year may actually be detrimental.

Cheers,

Adam

[JennyS]

Im trying to write a management plan for a species-rich wet grassland. I would like to reintroduce Devils-Bit Scabious.

Hi Kay, I'm curious why you feel the need to reintroduce Devils-bit Scabious if the grassland is already species-rich?

[Kay_9]

Thanks Adam, thats really helpful advise

Hi Jenny, sorry i didn't word that particularly well!

The area currently species poor and unmanaged - it used to be a fantastic wet habitat supporting the orchid (which we think is still present in the seed bank) but has been left for a number of years and has dried out.

I would like the site to be used for guided walks in the spring summer- hence the introduction of devils bit scabious and hopefully the marsh fritillary!

(i'm guessing one will lead to the other?!) I'm pretty new to this so please tell me if i'm wrong!

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Kay_9

Thanks Adam, thats really helpful advise

Hi Jenny, sorry i didn't word that particularly well!

The area currently species poor and unmanaged - it used to be a fantastic wet habitat supporting the orchid (which we think is still present in the seed bank) but has been left for a number of years and has dried out.

I would like the site to be used for guided walks in the spring summer- hence the introduction of devils bit scabious and hopefully the marsh fritillary!

(i'm guessing one will lead to the other?!) I'm pretty new to this so please tell me if i'm wrong!

Are Marsh Fritillaries in the general area? If not you could have a whole field of Devil'sbit Scabious but unlikely to get any Marsh Fritillaries as they are pretty localised + not strong colonisers unless there is a suitable corridor for them.

[ChrisJB]

As soon as I saw you mention DB Scabious, I had a feeling the ultimate goal might be Marsh Frit'. I don't know if they are nearby, but they are one stunning butterfly and I hope you get 'em. I went to see the thriving population at Little Scrubbs Meadow, by Chambers Wood, in Lincolnshire a couple of years ago. Fabulous.

Regards, Chris

[Adam Cheeseman]

Hi Kay,

I have a bit of research and found this for you.

Breeds: Hereford, Shetland, Welsh Black all recommended.

Stocking rate: 0.3 to 0.5 cows per hectare

Quote: We manage wet Molinea grasslands for marsh fritillaries, aiming for a mosaic-y vegetation height between 12 & 25cm at the end of the grazing season. I've been working on 0.3LU per ha, erring on the side of caution. So far we've used Welsh blacks, but we'd be glad for any breed of cattle we can get hold of. We also use various ponies, some of which are better than others at creating the mosaic of short & tall which is of benefit to many invertebrates.


Cheers,

Adam

[Hobjob]

I know nought

But
The Suffolk Wildlife Trust, RSPB and Natural England
all manage wet grasslands on the coast strip with a
variety of hardy animals - cows, sheep and of course
the Konik's pony.

I'm sure they would advise. They are gaining experience
each year.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Hi Kay,

I had this reply from Dr. Francis Kirkham.

The term Wet Grassland covers a range of types of grassland, from unimproved floodplain meadows to the more fertile semi-improved coastal grazing marsh. In a study I managed a few years ago while still employed by ADAS we collated all the stocking data we could get hold of from lowland grasslands managed by grazing primarily for nature conservation and classified it into half a dozen or so grassland types, mainly by BAP habitat. Stocking rates for Coastal and Floodplain Grazing Marsh (CFGM) were generally in the range 0.38 - 0.63 LU/ha averaged over the whole year with annual totals in the range 140-230 LU days/ha. The upper and lower values in these ranges represented coastal grazing marsh and floodplain meadows respectively. Note that there was some fuzziness in classification between floodplain grazing marsh and Lowland Meadow, the latter being another of the categories used (see below).

In CFGM grasslands, particularly the more fertile coastal grazing marshes, quite high stocking rates tended to be needed for short periods to knock the grass down to a target height, particularly where grazing was allowed only from April or May onwards. In these situations up to about 5 LU/ha per day were sometimes required. Where grazing was allowed all year round maximum stocking rate for any period was typically up to 2 LU /ha/day. But I emphasise, these high rates were maxima and would only be used for short periods. Year-to-year variation in stocking requirements tended to be lower than in CFGM than in other grasslands (probably due to lower variability in moisture supply) typically + or - 5% of the average annual requirement, exceptionally up to +/- 20%.

Lowland Meadows grazed throughout the season (i.e. not shut up for hay/silage) supported very slightly lower stocking rates on average (0.35 LU/ha, 125 LU days/ha), with a tentative positive relationship to annual rainfall of about 18 LU days per 100mm of rain between March and October - but note that this was derived from geographical variation within one year only (2002). As noted above, these meadows would be at the drier end compared to floodplain meadows.

Purple Moor Grass and Rush Pastures are sometimes referred to as wet grassland. Annual average stocking rate was similar to floodplain meadows (0.4 LU/ha, 135-140 LU days/ha). Year-to-year variation tended to be high in these grasslands, typically +/- 35%, exceptionally up to about 130%, although some of the large variation may have been attributable to management difficulties and variation in stock availability rather than to variation in grass growth.

These values are extracted from CCW Contract Science Report No. 596 "Review of stocking levels recommended for semi-natural lowland grasslands" (FW Kirkham, A Mole, SM Gardner & DW Wilson). I can't find it on the CCW website but should you want more information you can download it from the GAP website using this link

http://www.grazinganimalsproject.org...reports.html?9

Francis

Dr F.W. Kirkham
Ecological Research & Consultancy
Far View, Nymet Rowland
Crediton, Devon

[Fauna]

Originally Posted by Kay_9

Hello!

Im trying to write a management plan for a species-rich wet grassland. I would like to reintroduce Devils-Bit Scabious.

The meadow contains the Southern Marsh Orchid, so the plan at the moment is to graze from August to February to fit in with the growth phase of the orchid.

Would it affect the orchid to delay grazing until september, to allow the Devils Bit Scabious to set seed?

If so, would fencing a section of the meadow until september be an option?

Does anyone know if sheep would be suitable rather than cattle?!

Thanks in advance, i'm a little confused!

Hi Kay 9.

I'm luckily enough to live close to a few important Rush Pasture areas. Some of the more species rich fields and once abundant Marsh frits populations were grazed by Horses.

One large site close to me (prior to new grazing) had very large Marsh frit counts. These high counts were from those fields that were once grazed all year round by small numbers of Horses.

The fields that were grazed by cattle, tended to be more rank in their species composition. They became mostly fields of Molinia tussocks (from cattle trudging them up into mounds) with plenty of sphagnum with Marsh Violets growing up through.These fields do support large numbers of Small pearl-bordered frits.

The powers that be has gone for full on Cattle grazing, Marsh frits numbers have droped dramatically. However, I don't know if it is all just coincidental or Cattle are a poor choice for these wetter situations.



Regards Chris.