CONSERVATION NEWS

Despite the intense heat KSCP volunteers have cut, strimmed, raked and piled their way around the Warren. Opening up three woodland glades in this popular Local Nature Reserve in Ashford. Work has also been carried out to improve way marking around the Warren to ensure visitors can find their way.

This summer has seen continued work on improving the upper reaches of the river Great Stour for native crayfish, with help from landowners and the Environment Agency. Stone deflectors have been repaired and created as these make ideal homes for the scaly crustacean. White clawed crayfish are recognised as a nationally endangered species, so as well as creating additional habitat, monitoring of the existing distribution of the population is vital. This year the results have been poor, indicating that much work is still to be done to secure the future of our native crayfish.

Pic: A stone weir at Godinton.

The Friends of King’s Wood have had another busy summer of walks and events. The children’s art competition was well received with an excellent number of entries; the pictures were displayed in the forest car park and in the local paper. Guided walk subjects so far this year have included nightjar, butterflies, bats, dormice, reptiles and a tour of the sculpture trail. The Friends have also been successful with gaining £3000 from Ashford Community Grants towards the creation of new ponds, owl nesting boxes and promotional material, this is being matched funded by KSCP grants.

During the last 18 months KSCP have been erecting barn owl nesting boxes along the river Stour, there are now some 26 boxes along the course of the river. Colin Sawyer the country’s leading expert on barn owls joined KSCP to survey the boxes this summer. Nearly all the boxes were occupied, unfortunately only two of the boxes had barn owls the rest had become home to stock dove, kestrel, jackdaw, squirrel and wasps! The boxes are still very new, and in time it is hoped more owls will move in, and this most beautiful of birds will once again become common sight in the Stour Valley.

Dig Pic: Colin Sawyer with a barn owl chick in the Stour Valley.

Caption

Following much negotiation with the Estates Department at the University of Kent, in Canterbury, two of the wildlife ponds within the university campus are being restored. Upper Eliot pond, behind the Venue night-club has been cleared, de-silted and goldfish removed. Work is due on Lower Eliot pond, connected to the Upper pond by a stream, in September 2003 to clear reedmace, which now dominates the pond, and remove some silt. The work should benefit great crested newts and is being grant aided with a KSCP Countryside Grant. By the end of the year a sign will be installed to highlight the value of the ponds and explain the management work.

Volunteers clearing scrub from Westbere Lakes SSSI this winter will be benefiting the rare des Moulin’s snail Vertigo moulinsiana. In Kent, this snail is only found at Westbere Marshes, preferring richly vegetated ditches. Work is therefore vital to maintain optimal conditions for this isolated population.

The North Downs Way Project has secured funding from the Local Heritage Initiative for a new project called ‘Lost Landscapes’. The project will be exploring the heritage that surrounds the trail in the parishes of Charing, Chilham, Wye and Chartham. The project intends to investigate how places such as hills and fields got their names and how the landscape has evolved.

The KSCP Countryside Products Guide produced in 2000 has recently been updated. So if you would like to find out where to buy environmentally friendly or local products in the Stour Valley such as fruit & vegetables or wood products visit our website and look under the page ‘Get Involved’. If you are a producer and would like to advertise yourselves under our Products Guide please contact us.

Kentish Stour Countryside Project
Sidelands Farm, Wye, Ashford, Kent TN25 5DQ
01233 813307
kentishstour@kent.gov.uk