Friday 26 May 2023

'Savannah' But Not As We Know It, Jim?

A super-national reserve of 3,400 hectares is being created on Purbeck's heathland (Dorset, South-West England). Over a thousand hectares of this reserve, will be made available to free-ranging, grazing animals. Two hundred red Devon cattle, Exmoor ponies and curly-coated Mangalitsa pigs will be introduced to roam free, along with the existing deer species of this location. The hope is that the various grazing and rooting styles of these mammals, will create a diverse range of mini-habitats. The mammals that used to do this in such UK locations, are mostly long gone. The intention is to create a large, open 'savannah', favouring currently rare regional species like the Sand lizard, the Southern damselfly and the Heath tiger beetle (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/26/dorset-super-reserve-recreates-ancient-savannah-habitat-boost-biodiversity). This seems like an interesting plan, especially as large, connected areas are rare but also really effective in terms of maintaining biodiversity. It's worth commenting, however, that heathland is very much a human creation. It's generated by periodically burning scrub. It's not exactly clear, whether 'savannah' is what this heathland will revert to, after these interventions. Sooner or later the plan is also going to have to include either a) culling of some of the grazing animals or b) introducing predatory species like the European lynx or wolves.

1 comment:

Bombhead said...

Unfortunately the habitats and nature reserves we are desperately trying to manage and recreate have evolved by default over the millennia - no great plan, just our need for natural resources, food etc. manipulating the environment and landscape to suit our requirements. Animals, insects and plant populations have adjusted to the environment we have created. This makes it very difficult to predict, with any certainty, what is the right way to achieve our goal. It's not an exact science. The need to survey, assess, tweak, manipulate and change course is essential as the end result can be unpredictable.

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