· Improving the quality of the landscape
· Making it richer in wildlife
· Making it more accessible, understandable and enjoyable for residents and visitors
· Celebrating its history and culture
· Making the landscape more relevant to those whose livings depend on it." Project Managers Claims.
Buckland Wood
This Forestry Commission site, just down the hill from the Merry Harriers, is an important butterfly reserve, and is subject to large scale habitat creation work involving the clearance of conifers and introduction of low-intensity cattle grazing. This work will expand the area of open ground and give the butterflies and other wildlife space to spread and strengthen their populations. The existing open grassland is rich in wildflowers, including orchids, and supports several fritillary and other butterflies. It also contains the remains of the 'reservoir that never was' - a planned reservoir for Taunton which began to be constucted in the 1940s but was never completed.
"This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family........Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself". Ted Perry inspired by Chief Seattle.
"Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was lent to you by your children." --Kenyan proverb
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." --Gandhi.
"I seriously feel the whole bickering struggle between commerce and husbandry will be overtaken on the grandest scale by global warming". Ted Hughes 1997
Livestock enclosures are a hazard to Deer.
The north face of the Blackdown Hills is home to many Spring-line mires which I understand are a fragile ecosystem and a conservation priority and therefore should be protected. They are also home to an astonishingly diverse flora and fauna including many particularly sensitive species.
With referance to the Blackdown Hills Project Report 1993, page 32.
"According to the Devon Wildlife Trust "Springline mires are the most important habitats in the AONB. It is necessary to decide which means are the most appropriate for long-term positive management of this habitat".
para 5.11. A springline of varying width is often present between the impermeable clay of the Keuper Marl and Lower Lias, and the overlying Greensand. Where the springs run all the year round and drainage is impeded, the water table can be very near the surface.This is sometimes realised in shallow accumulations of peat.
para 5.14. According to the Devon Wildlife Trust, the communities associated with the springline zone are the most IMPORTANTon the Blackdowns being restricted in both a regional and national context.
Click here for Neroche Project Info 2006
Click here for "Kleen Kutts'view." 2006
Click here for more Neroche Project Info and Map.
Click here for yet still more Neroche Project Info
COMMENTS
ECOLOGY, It is mystifying, that forests are still being managed in the ways that students of ecology and conservation in the 1970s, were taught to avoid. For example, clear felling and planting huge stands of conifers. This results in a wasteland where nothing much can live.
Why not take a walk thro the Old WW2 Firing Range at Leigh Hill Gate, Quants? Tread carefully!
"Buckland Wood and Quants have seen huge changes over the last century or so. An ancient hanging oak woodland has dominated the skyline above West Buckland for a thousand years,............. the site also contains the remains of the 'reservoir that never was' - a planned reservoir for Taunton which began to be constucted in the 1940s but was never completed was used as a military training area in the final years of the Second World War, and was the scene of a dreadful local tragedy in which some local children were killed when they stumbled on an unexploded shell".
Read also how Kleen Kutt views the Neroche Project update
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