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End of four-year project brings welcome return of rare wildlife to Hampshire heathland

Plantlife celebrates the completion of a four-year partnership project at Bramshill, Hampshire.

July 12 2011

A pond at Bramshill. © Dominic Price / Plantlife

With support from partners, Plantlife has managed to restore more than seven hectares of heathland and create 28 new ponds at Bramshill, a Forestry Commission site north of Hartley Wintney.

Bramshill is part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area and is one of the South East’s most important natural assets. Last century, it was quarried for gravel, re-filled with landfill and then used for commercial forestry yet, despite this busy history, some unique species have survived.

In particular, Bramshill is home to an internationally important, tiny, creeping fern – pillwort - and is one of southern England’s most valuable dragonfly and damselfly habitats, with at least 24 of the 38 species in the UK recorded here. Some have already been seen at the new ponds, and numerous species will now have more space to thrive at Bramshill.

“I’m really pleased with the results" says Plantlife’s Species Recovery Officer, Dominic Price. "Areas which were choked with scrub and supported few wild plants now boast a network of ponds and slopes of bare damp mud, ready to be colonised with rare plants such as marsh clubmoss and six-stamened waterwort."

"In turn, the plants will support a lot more wildlife, particularly dragonflies and damselflies, boosting rare species such as the small red dragonfly and brilliant emerald dragonfly. By next summer, visitors to Bramshill should be able to enjoy the sound of buzzing, whirring insects, and the smell of heathland flora including lemon scented fern. I’m looking forward to returning next spring to see how these special heathland plants and invertebrates are thriving.”

The Chairman of SITA Trust, Marek Gordon, adds, “This project is an excellent example of how Landfill Communities Funders can come together to help experts, like Plantlife, protect and improve vital habitats in the UK.” Margaret Cobbold, Executive Director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, agrees, “By matching funds we were able to provide the vast majority of funding that this project required. Both SITA Trust and Veolia Environmental Trust look forward to hearing about the continued success of the site.”

Plantlife’s project involved creating new ponds in the heathland valley mires, but a partnership with Pond Conservation’s Million Ponds project enabled the project’s scope to increase, jointly creating 28 new ponds. The new ponds link up with existing ones to allow plant seeds and spores to spread into new areas, with plants easily able to colonise the bare mud around the ponds.

The project was made possible through generous funding from SITA Trust and The Veolia Environmental Trust, awarded through the Landfill Communities Fund, and through partnership work with Pond Conservation and the Forestry Commission.

For more information and images, please contact:

Sue Nottingham Senior Press Officer 01722 342757 / 0786 1655438 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Dominic Price Plantlife Species Recovery Officer 01722 342749 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).