The Greensand Trust Quarterly Report:  January to March 2024

Education

Traditionally a quieter time of year for education visits, during the period January to March 2024, the education team, supported by our wonderful education volunteers, worked with 6 different groups. In total we worked with 344 young people.

Students from Central Bedfordshire College continued to regularly visit Rushmere Country Park carrying out practical conservation management supporting their coursework. Their studies covered threatened heathland habitats and helped develop their understanding.

During January, the Badger Hill Beavers were awarded their ‘high five’ medals for their fund-raising efforts supporting Clophill Lakes.

We also delivered an assembly to Clophill Lower School pupils sharing our exciting plans for our nature reserve. We hope they will have plenty of site visits in the future.

Our 2023 - 2024 Youth Rangers graduated at the end of February. The young Rangers explored the woodland habitat, learnt about, and monitored small mammals, and erected nest boxes for dormice in the wood. Their final celebration event involved a guided walk for parents, family and friends led by the young people themselves and all were presented with their Discovery Level John Muir Award.

Sand themed visits were hosted for Southcott Lower School pupils in March. Classroom sessions included a focus on local heritage, quarry safety and geology. These were followed by field visits to a processing plant kindly facilitated by Garside Sands and site visits to Tiddenfoot Waterside Park as a former quarry.

In addition, the education team delivered a birthday celebration at Rushmere Country Park and an early spring woodland walk for Maulden Lower School pupils in Maulden Wood and Maulden Heath during which we searched for miniature worlds in the mosses and lichens.

The team hosted Central Bedfordshire Council’s ‘Art Outdoors – a creative collaboration day’ at The Working Woodlands Centre in partnership with their Cultural Engagement Team and various local artists.

Four classes from Riverbank Primary School in Luton enjoyed visits with us to The Working Woodlands Centre using it as a base to explore habitats and learn about birds and animals in Maulden Wood.

 

Partnerships & Development Projects

 Outfall Safari

The pollution of our rivers and streams has been big news across the country in recent months, and sadly this occurs locally. But a group of Greensand Trust volunteers have helped identify (and hopefully solve) a pollution issue in the River Ouzel in Leighton Buzzard through their ‘Outfall Safari’ activities.

An ‘Outfall Safari’ involves a simple walking survey, mapping where outfalls go into a river, and then monitoring these to check for potential problems such as mis-connected plumbing (where ‘foul’ waste ends up going straight into a river instead of going to a sewage works for treatment). Outfall Safari training for volunteers has been provided through the Upper and Bedford Ouse Catchment Partnership.

On a very wet Friday morning in October the group met at the footbridge over the River Ouzel near King Street in Leighton Buzzard - many outfalls were hidden by rising water levels, but it didn’t take long to identify a major issue – an outfall next to the group’s meet point was spewing brown water, wet wipes and far worse!

The incident was phoned through to the Environment Agency’s Pollution Hotline, and the Trust has been liaising with them since then. The Agency has been working with Anglian Water to investigate and has now identified the cause – a property in a nearby residential street was misconnected, with foul water that should have been going for treatment going straight into the river! The Agency has worked with Anglian Water to resolve the issue and works took place to connect the property properly to the treatment system. The group will still be keeping a beady eye (and nose) on the now infamous ‘Outfall 16’, but fingers crossed the issue is sorted and the river is in better health for it.

‘Putting Peat on the Map’

Together with our collaborative initiative the Greensand Country Landscape Partnership, we’ve been working with The Wildlife Trust Beds, Cambs & Northants to launch a new project “Putting Peat on the Map” - focussing on improving our understanding of peat along the River Flit in Bedfordshire. 

It will be one of 13 projects sponsored by the Environment Agency’s Lowland Agriculture Peat Water Discovery Pilot looking at England’s lowland peat regions which include the Cambridgeshire Fens, Humberhead and Somerset levels.

Historically there were significant wetland areas in Bedfordshire’s Flit Valley with large deposits of peat, but only small fragments remain of what were once much larger wetland landscapes – to such an extent that not many people even know we have peat soils in the county. The project will set out to discover where the peat has survived focussing on nature reserves and valley mire habitats along the river. Key sites include Flitwick Moor SSSI, where the peat is critical to the specific habitats and interest. 

  

The project will look at historical evidence, conduct field surveys on the condition of peat in the Flit Valley and assess hydrology and water level management to identify areas for potential future peat conservation and management. The knowledge and thoughts of local farmers and landowners will be sought, and two guided walks of peatland areas will be offered as part of the annual Greensand Country Festival in May. Students at Cranfield University will be creating a National Capital Account to value the ecosystems from restored peat habitats.

 

This work is part of the Lowland Agricultural Peat Water Discovery Pilot funded by the Environment Agency and Defra and delivered by the Environment Agency as part of a wider initiative to progress the government’s targets on nature and climate as part of its Environmental Improvement Plan.

 We have now started surveying various sites and would be interested to hear from any farmers or landowners in the Flit Valley who believe they have peat soils and are interested in accessing advice or funding to help them manage it for both agriculture and wildlife – contact [email protected].

Visit to Essex to not see any beavers!

The Trust organised a visit to Spains Hall, near Finchingfield in Essex, on an atrociously cold and wet day in February, through the Upper and Bedford Ouse Catchment Partnership.  The visit was a follow up to the ‘Water, Water, Everywhere?’ conference held in July, and took a group of Bedfordshire farmers and landowners to see how ‘natural flood management’ techniques are being used to reduce flooding downstream.  Owner Archie Ruggles-Brise (pictured right) led the well-received tour, which culminated at an enclosure where beavers have been living for 5 years, building a complex series of dams which help regulate flows and store an estimated 3 million tons of water, creating a mosaic of wetland habitats.  As well as being very wet, it was also very cold, and the beavers very sensibly stayed in their lodge! But while none were seen, the impressive work of these ‘ecosystem engineers’ was plain to see.  Their activities are not only reducing the impacts of flooding, but by storing water they are also ensuring that the stream doesn’t dry out in dry periods.  A report has recently been published highlighting these benefits: https://www.spainshallestate.co.uk/five-years-of-beaver-activity-reduces-impact-of-flooding-and-drought

Sites we maintain

Linslade Wood

Three official action days took place this quarter. The first two involved Hazel coppicing and removal of dead Ash in the
 compartments either side of the bridleway near the Soulbury Road. The third action day involved the volunteers going to various areas of the site and cutting back any overhanging branches and vegetation from the path edges.

Volunteer work has continued elsewhere on the site with the work to lay the remainder of the hedge line now completed and the surrounding area cleared and thinned where appropriate to allow easier access to the sections of the top path that has been particularly boggy this year as well as in previous years.  Work has now started on ride widening the far western end of the main ride in the new wood. This particular area has always been very wet and muddy as soon as the winter draws in.

Superb work was started by the volunteers in some of the most horrendous weather conditions but this work has now been halted temporarily for nesting season and will recommence in the Autumn. In the interim volunteers have re-mulched the hedge planted last year down the edge of the bridleway and have restored the Willow hurdle fence around the pond, the previous hurdles having rotted down and more recently been subject to vandalism.

The heavy rainfall of recent weeks has highlighted the need for the Alwins field entrance to require further work to divert water away from the footpath towards the culvert.

Both Network Rail and telephone mast contractors have been onsite with vehicles that have caused significant puddling and rutting along the lower paths near Stoke Road and beyond the picnic triangle.

Studham Common

There were three action days this quarter, one of which GST did not attend. The two we attended consisted of a small group working on the boundary hedge on East common, this had been laid several years ago and required re-laying and tidying. While GST were assisting with this work, other volunteers concentrated on cutting back the Blackthorn hedge at the far end of East common. In February a memorial bench was found broken up due to vandalism, the remains have been removed and currently just the uprights remain in place.

Knolls Wood

There has been one volunteer task this quarter consisting of laurel and Rhododendron clearance in the newly gladed area next to Sandy Lane and a site litter pick undertaken by some of the volunteers.

Tiddenfoot Waterside Park

Three official action days took place this quarter, the first two concentrated on scrub clearance and hedgelaying  around the swims on the eastern side of the lake, the third involved installing Willow hurdles around the site, in particular on the Foragers Way and Sands of Time paths. The motorbike dumped by the black bridge entrance has been removed to the black barn complex but is yet to be removed by the relevant CBC department.

Beyond the official action days litter picking continues to be carried out on a weekly basis by volunteer wardens and hedgelaying has continued until the end of February when nesting season starts.

Clipstone Brook

Four site patrols have taken place this quarter ensuring the watercourses have remained free from obstruction and all furniture is present (when it has been safe to do so), the Morrisons trolley mentioned last quarter has still to be removed as water levels have remained consistently high.

Heath Wood and Meadow

One volunteer task this quarter concentrated on Holly and Birch clearance on the plateau adjacent to Plantation Road to encourage Dwarf gorse growth in the area. Wardens continue to keep GST updated on any issues on site. Motorbikes activity appears to have currently ceased at the site.

King Street and Millbank Meadow

No volunteer tasks have taken place this quarter either at King Street or Avery’s. No trollies have been recovered and five site patrols took place. 

Biodiversity & Heritage

At Clophill Lakes, the badger setts on site were checked for activity and a meeting was held with Natural England to introduce them to the site and discuss possible future agri-environment scheme options.  Otter spraint was potted on a rock right next to the new path along the north bank of the river at Clophill (not far from where our ecologist saw two otters in the river last year!)

At Sandy Smith Nature Reserve, the annual monitoring of the level of deer activity and damage was carried out at the end of March.  After an increase in the level of culling, a promising reduction in the level of browsing pressure was found which, if it can be maintained, will hopefully allow the woodland flora and structure to recover with time.

Consultancy Work

Our ecologist carried out a number of surveys and consultancy work during this quarter:

Our volunteers have been particularly active over the last few months, from giving talks to local groups and planning walks to putting up Festival banners and boards all across Greensand Country. We also welcomed two volunteers completing their Duke of Edinburgh award. They have been busy auditing routes to ensure signage is clear and have been recording heritage assets as part of Historic England’s ‘Missing Pieces’ project. 

Supporting local businesses through the Greensand Country Charter continues. We recently published guidance on electric vehicle charging for visitor attractions, giving them information on how to start the process of support EV infrastructure for their visitors. Working with Soul PR, we are running monthly ‘netwalking’ sessions to connect local businesses and enjoy the beautiful Greensand Country landscape.