Thursday, September 26, 2013

Mincemeat

Not quite such a happy tale as Pete's:
On Monday I went for a stroll in a local(ish) wood where I had found a dozen or so ova and young larvae earlier in the year. Unfortunately, FC staff had carried out their annual 'habitat mismanagement' works, and the ride-side sallows upon which the ova/larvae were observed have now been flailed.
"It's all about public access sir" although quite what the 'public' need with a 25 foot ride wide (with no vehicular access) is beyond my slow pate.
I don't suppose that the impact upon the population will be anything more than utterly insignificant, but sometimes one does have to wonder.

1 comment:

Matthew Oates said...

This is an increasingly common problem in FC woods. It's all to do with H&S apparently, contractors and public. Yet, in another Wiltshire Wood - Savernake - the FC doesn't vertically flail cut the ride side shrub zone. Perhaps this is because Sav is an SSSI and Purple Emperor is named on its SSSI citation sheet. Goat Moth also breeds in some of the older sallows, along with a lot of other biodiversity.