Cattle have done their bit... now we take care!
THE dunes briefly feel a quieter place in early spring once winter livestock has been moved off and conservation grazing ends for another season.
Last week Green Sefton waved off the 22 Belted Galloway cows and 25 Herdwick sheep that have munched their way through the rank vegetation of winter for the last few months on Ainsdale Local Nature Reserve.
While the Herdwicks have only moved “next door” to the National Nature Reserve, the Belties are continuing grazing duties on pastures new on Lancashire Wildlife Trust sites in the north west.
In a short time the sheep will leave the Sefton coast too and head back up to the Lakeland Fells for another summer.
The benefits of the grazed ground should soon become obvious to visitors for the quiet period once the livestock has gone is only a very brief one.
Skylarks and other ground nesting birds including Meadow Pipits and summer migrant Willow Warblers will get louder and louder as spring progresses and a host of tiny “dune annuals” will begin to bloom.
In a week or so, Spring Vetch and Rue-Leaved Saxifrage will flower – tiny but specialised blooms barely a few millimetres across – before the stunning kaleidoscope of colour that dune flora brings from late spring.
This incredible range of flora is a feast for the eye and for pollinators, many of them rare and threatened.
Banks that the cows have broken up with their footfall become perfect sites for colonies of Vernal Mining Bees which will emerge in April once Creeping Willow begins to flower – the pollen from this hardy plant is this scarce bee’s food source.
Its life-cycle revolves around the success of the Creeping Willow.
It is not just the cattle and sheep that deserve the credit though – a small army of supporters ensures that the project is successful each year, from Green Sefton staff and volunteers who check fencelines, habitats and animal livestock welfare on a daily basis.
Graziers supply the cattle and sheep of course, and without their enthusiasm for the project there would be no conservation grazing.
The Lancashire Wildlife Trust team work to ensure the Belted Galloways are safely transported on and off site (did you know cows each have individual passports just like humans?) and Natural England staff move the Herdwicks on and off and provide guidance and support too.
Green Sefton’s countryside officer Gordon White explained: “It really is a team effort all round, so thank you all again. I look forward to continuing to work with you all on the programme again next winter”.
Finally we should thank visitors to the site who observe the need to keep dogs under control in grazing areas, just as they would in any area where livestock can be found.
Although the cattle have left us until next autumn, dogwalkers should continue to keep their pets under control when walking in the Local Nature Reserve to avoid disturbance to ground nesting birds, which will be trying to raise families in the next few weeks.
Dog owners should also keep their pets out of any flooded areas as our amphibians including Natterjack Toads and Great Crested Newts become more active – the dune system is an internationally important nature reserve after all.
But more on that next week.
John works for Green Sefton, the Sefton Council service that brings together the coast & countryside, parks & green spaces, flooding & coastal erosion, risk management and grounds maintenance teams for a joined-up approach to the vital management, development and oversight of Sefton’s beautiful coastline, parks and green spaces. This column looks at the flora, fauna and history of the coastline, and the work carried out to protect it.