BLASTS FROM THE PAST: STAR SPECIES
FAIRY SHRIMP Chirocephalus diaphanous
Tank tracks compress the ground, creating water-filled hollows perfect for this quirky 13mm-long crustacean, in the UK found at only a handful of locations. “Army vehicles disperse its eggs, which stay dormant in mud until rain triggers their development,” says MoD ecologist Iain Perkins.
WHINCHAT Saxicola rubetra
Around 400–500 pairs of whinchats nest on Salisbury Plain, lowland England’s last significant population. “They love to perch on tall umbellifer flowers, such as wild carrot,” says Ian Henderson of the BTO, “especially on warm, dry valley sides with lots of insect-rich bare ground.”
BROKEN-BELTED BUMBLEBEE Bombus soroeensis
“Salisbury Plain’s MoD grassland is vast, flower-rich and not all cut in July, so is fantastic for bumblebees,” says Richard Comont of Bumblebee Conservation. “Several rare species still flourish, including this specialist of chalk grassland. As it emerges late, it can’t survive midsummer mowing.”
MARSH SH FRITILLARY Euphydryas aurinia
Salisbury Plain is one of Britain’s best sites for this beautiful butterfly, which is vanishing across Europe. “Elsewhere most pasture has been improved or is mown too early, killing the caterpillars,” explains Michelle Davis of Edge Hill University. “I spend August hunting for the larval webs on devil’s-bit scabious.”
NARROW-BORDERED RROW-BORDERED BEE E HAWKMOTH Hemaris tityus
“You could easily mistake this stunning hawkmoth for a bumblebee,” says Mark Parsons of Butterfly Conservation, “as it’s active by day and very fast flying, although quieter and more agile.” The MoD training area is outstanding for moths, with 36 nationally scarce species.
STONE CURLEW Burhinus oedicnemus
Numbers of this weird wader breeding in Wessex have risen from 30-odd pairs in the mid-1980s to around 130 now, many on military ranges. “Stone curlews need short turf or bare earth for nesting,” explains the RSPB’s Nick Tomalin, “so on MoD land many use specially created fallow nesting plots. Tank tracks and disturbed ground are also ideal.”
Even so, there must inevitably be a few losses: you try weaving in and out of sensitive areas while driving a 25-tonne Warrior tank at speed over bumpy terrain.
But counterintuitively, it turns out that noisy, heavy military equipment probably doesn’t bother Salisbury Plain’s wildlife much. Ten years ago, zoology student Liz Taylor carried out a PhD to examine what effects various types of human disturbance have on the breeding success of stone curlews, which are vulnerable due to their ground-nesting habits. Her findings were startling.
MILITARY MANOEUVRES
Dogs being walked by their owners proved to have by far the most impact. Next worst was people walking on their own. Tanks and other vehicles caused least disturbance. Later, the study was extended to include Apache attack helicopters. Goodness knows what the stone curlews thought, but they didn’t appear overly concerned. This is backed up by observations near the runway at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, where the birds ignore aircraft taking off and landing.
What about tank manoeuvres, trench digging and artillery shelling… don’t precious plants get trashed? Well, while these activities might seem destructive, they serve to increase the overall floristic diversity, by creating pockmarked soil, craters and furrows with warmer microclimates, helping seeds spread and showering the ground with shattered fragments of chalk. In the churned earth a different suite of wildflowers thrives, particularly smaller, low-growing species such as betony and common rock-rose. There’s even a rare aquatic crustacean, the fairy shrimp, which finds flooded tank ruts just to its liking.
For historical reasons there are plenty of rights of way across the MoD’s land on Salisbury Plain, especially in the east. So provided you stick to the paths and follow the public guidance, you can experience a fair proportion of the magnificent wilderness in complete safety – even on live firing days. It’s yet another of the many surprising aspects of this complex, often astonishing place.
Curiously, due to a legal technicality, the SPTA is actually a giant brownfield site. “It’s officially known as Previously Developed Land, because it is subject to a former planning application to be used as a training area,” says Matt Shardlow. “In fact, most of the UK’s defence estate is brownfield. Not many people know that.”
DOGS BEING WALKED HAD A BIGGER IMPACT ON BREEDING STONE CURLEWS THAN TANKS.