TAG Aviation support BVCT work at Grants Moor

Towards the end of 2010, TAG Aviation donated £5000 to the Trust, via the Rushmoor Environmental Fund, to enable it to carry out some initial work to restore a neglected area of land, known as Grants Moor, which is located between the Blackwater Valley Relief Road and Farnborough North railway station.

Grants Moor, which is an area of lowland heathland, contains several ponds, which had become surrounded by scrub Birch and Alder, a small area of Lowland Heath and Acid Grassland as well as several small coppices of trees. 

The donation from TAG Aviation enabled the Trust to engage a small team of contractors, who during December 2010 and Januarys 2011, cleared a path through the scrub and removed a significant number of trees and bushes that had obscured the ponds - as the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures show.  This clearance work will, it is hoped, improve the biodiversity of the ponds, and attract dragonflies and damselflies, invertebrates etc. as the habitat improves over time.

 

There is of course a considerable amount of work that needs to be done, not only in the area of the cleared ponds, but also on the Heath and Grassland areas if the full potential of Grants Moor is going to be realised.  With this in mind the trust is working closely with the Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership to develop a management plan for the site.  As a beginning, the Trust plan to carry out some initial survey work to establish the number of creatures (large and small) that use the area at present – this will include surveying for small mammals, insects, dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies, reptiles etc.  We would also hope to try and identify some of the plant species on the site.

So, if you are a Trust member and feel you would like to be involved with this survey work over the course of this year please get in touch with me: cbimages@ntlworld.com on to register your interest.

Chris Bean