National Trust Chalk Grassland Restoration
Chalk grassland and woodland pond improvements at Lardon Chase, Lough Down and Basildon Park
Mend the Gap is funding the National Trust to help bring their Streatley Chalk grassland and a woodland pond at Basildon House, back into better condition for Wildlife.
On the Chalk grassland the grant will support the hard work of volunteers and the wardens in removing scrub, using Tree Poppers.
The mechanised work will take place over the winter and autumn and will involve the contracting in of tractor mounted flails for scrub removal on grassland edges to prevent the advance of scrub from the edges and loss of open grassland and use of contractors and volunteers with manually operated, National Trust owned “Tree Poppers” to physically uproot individual stems of hawthorn and blackthorn and avoid the need for herbicide application.
Tree popping focusses on small fingers of woody growth which are too small to support nesting birds (and can be seen through), so can continue throughout the year. The use of the Tree Poppers is a sensitive option involving the least possible disturbance to the surrounding chalk grassland sward and therefore avoids what may be considered “potentially damaging” operations on the SSSIs and the wider sites, considered to be the best examples of chalk grassland in the Berkshire Downs.
In addition to the Chalk Grassland enhancements, the National Trust will baseline survey a pond and then they plan to reshape it providing improvements to wildlife habitats, this will include plants to help clean the water that runs off the main highway near Basildon house.
If you would like to know more about this project please contact the Mend the Gap Programme team at mendthegap@chilterns.org.uk