To restore and increase the nationally important Lowland Acid Grassland across Barnes Common Local Nature Reserve. Acid grassland is home to wildlife which loves sun and bare, patchy ground – mining bees, digger wasps, butterflies, insect-eating birds, and can support over 25 plants per square meter
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
We aim to restore areas of acidic, sandy soils, suitable for colonisation of acid grassland and to stop any further loss of acid grassland to scrub encroachment. We will increase the habitat on offer for the rare assemblage of invertebrates that are associated with this habitat.
Solution
We will use a combination of machinery and volunteers’ to control areas of scrub that are encroaching onto acid grassland. We will carry out several soil scrapes, to remove the top layer of nutrient rich soil to expose the acidic sandy substrate that is then suitable for colonisation by acid grassland flora. The exposed soils also provide crucial nesting and basking habitat for mining bees & wasps, butterflies and common lizards
