Grants Moor

GRANTS MOOR – PROGRESS UPDATE 4

As those of you who walk through Grants Moor along the permissive footpath will know, there are some very wet patches, to be negotiated.  The worst area is near the far end of the wooded area when you walk in from the Farnborough North station end.   As the picture opposite shows this wet area also makes access by vehicle to carry out work on site almost impossible at this time of year.  We hope to remedy this situation over time but we will be unable to do so until the area dries out a little in the coming months.

To enable access to the site for the vehicle and any future work parties, a group of volunteers recently opened up the existing track way from the first gate at the Farnborough Gate end of the site as far as the second gate.    We also took the opportunity to open up a 'window' onto the River Blackwater.  There the willow we cut back should return as coppice over the next couple of years. We will also be giving some thought as to whether it would be feasible to plant up the far bank with some flowering trees and/or shrubs.

Thanks must go to the Blackwater Valley Tuesday Volunteers for all their hard work and of course to the team at Ash Lock  for their help and advice.

Chris Bean – March 2012

GRANTS MOOR PROGRESS UPDATE 3

It has been some time since I provided an update on what progress has been made on the Grants Moor site.  Over the summer months we have tried to keep any disturbance on the site to a minimum, partly to benefit the wildlife already there and partly to see what is present or using the site. Our work on site has therefore been limited to keeping the path through the site open to allow access by walkers.

We already knew we had a small population of slowworms on the heath, and we have also seen grass snakes there too.  A butterfly survey has taken place and 18 different species of butterflies have been recorded to date: a relatively scarce Emerald Dragonfly was also seen on the site in June. Of the larger mammals, fox and roe deer are present.  So, all in all, the Grants Moor site seems to be well used and, as we develop the management plan, we hope to increase the benefit of the site to wildlife and plants in the coming years. 

In August we took two TAG staff members around the site to show them what we had done with the grant they gave us in 2010 and discussed with them our future plans.  Both seemed impressed with our efforts to date and indicated they might be responsive to a further approach for funding in the future.

Earlier this month a group of six volunteers met up and cleared a patch of the heath of scrub birch and oak and cut back the encroaching bramble. In addition the volunteers also cut back some branches that were shading the heath. As the 'before' (left) and 'after' (right) pictures below show, the work has opened up this small area of heath quite considerably and we will be watching closely how the heather grows back in the coming months as it will provide us with a model for future work on the larger areas of heath elsewhere on the site.

Thanks must go to the Blackwater Valley team at Ash Lock for the advice and guidance received, as well as the loan of equipment to enable the work to be done.

Chris Bean - September 2011

GRANTS MOOR PROGRESS UPDATE 2

The fencing work around the pond on the north side of the site was completed by the team of volunteers on 15 April.  As you can see from the picture below the work was quite extensive and I can only thank all of the willing volunteers for their hard work.

A Management Plan is currently being prepared with the aim of improving the site for the benefit of the wildlife – both flora and fauna.  Once this has been agreed we will be looking for volunteers to put the Plan into effect over the coming months.  In the interim several Trust members have started to survey Grants Moor for wildlife with the aim of establishing a baseline of the species present on the site now so that we will be able to measure the success of our Management Plan in future years. So far we have established that there are slowworms (see below) and common lizards there; at least six species of butterflies and over the ponds Downey Emerald and Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies have been observed. There also seems to be a number of birds using the site, judging by the birdsong heard as one walks through the site.  So we seem to be off to a good start!

GRANTS MOOR PROGRESS UPDATE

On Tuesday,15 March 2011, a team of volunteers spent the day at Grants Moor continuing to replace the posts and rails surrounding the pond which were removed by the contractors when they carried out the initial clearance work on the site.  The work has progressed well but is still not completed and so we will be back again in the coming weeks to finish off the task.

In addition to the fencing work the volunteers also spent some time constructing seven habitat piles to encourage small mammals and reptiles to use the site. We also built a stag beetle habitat from logs which had started to rot down. Stag beetles are our largest land based beetle – males can grow up to 70mm including their jaws which resemble stags' antlers and so give them their names.

It was nice to see spring returning to Grants Moor with a first sighting of a Brimstone butterfly and a small Scarlet Elf Cap fungus which, unlike many fungi species, fruits in the spring rather than the autumn.  It will be interesting to see what other species of plants and animals start to use the site over the coming year.

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 January 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 us.

Chris Bean - March 2011

GRANTS MOOR and FRIMLEY HATCHES in the 1980s

Connie Dunford, a Blackwater Valley Countryside Trust member, has been carrying out a survey of the butterflies using the Grants Moor site over this Summer.

For many years she has walked around the area near Farnborough North Station, including Grants Moor and Frimley Hatches, and she has sent the following recollections of her walks there during 1988/89.

 ‘Every year I eagerly awaited the arrival of the geese and ducks that stayed all through the winter and left in the Spring, returning to their breeding grounds . Each species had their own particular area that they always returned to.

When it was decided to build a relief road through the area, I began to record the numbers of water fowl, before and after, to see how the road building and traffic would affect their numbers. Having been a volunteer counting butterflies at Grant’s Moor north and south, this year, I thought it would be interesting to compare 1988/9 seasons to 2011/12.

December 1988 - Frimley Hatches.

This pond was situated in fields and had many reeds and grassed surroundings. There were hawthorn hedges and the pathway to Frimley Green passed over the River Blackwater whose banks border the area. 

Four days before Xmas, the pond was drained completely, to allow for work to be carried out on the electricity pylons. By 11th January it was half full and filled completely by 24th. There had been many water plants there and was home to mallards, coots, and little grebes. During the  mildest winter for 26 years, there were on occasions 7 mallards, 3 coots, 2 little grebe, 14 tufted duck, 2 moorhens, 48 Canada geese and 1 snipe on the pond edge.

By February 1989, there was snow, but on March 6th a coot was nesting with 4 eggs, by 11th one egg only and 12th none.

The large landscape lake with the island in the middle had increasing numbers of ducks and geese arriving during the early spring.  On 12 January, I counted 23 pochards, 2 coots, 127 Canada geese, 2 crested grebe, 2 little grebe and 9 swans. By March 1st the widgeon had increased to 23 and there were 8 cormorants.

Gradually the Canada geese moved to Willow Tree Lake which was used every year by the geese, swans and crested grebe for nesting.

This lake is where the ‘’recycled’’ picnic table is now situated on the Path.  Also in that area of the Path I saw many butterflies including Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells on March 30^th.  The temperature was 65F in London,the warmest day for 21 years, but on April 4th it was snowing .

There was a bend in the river just at that stretch and kingfishers built their nest in the bank very near to a branch which overhung the water, which they used for fishing.

Grant’s Moor South didn’t exist at that time.

Summer 2011 Grant’s Moor South.

This area, although small, is where ponds were dug to relocate as many of the amphibians and reptiles as possible during the construction of the relief road.

There are two ponds where the banks are covered with reeds and rushes ,and there are clumps of purple loosestrife, vetch, bird’s foot trefoil, convolvulus, hogweed, thistles and clover.

The butterflies were not plentiful, but included Small Whites, Large White, Ringlets, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Speckled Wood

Although the larger pond is discoloured, water plants are in there, and I have seen a heron standing amongst the reeds and a kingfisher flying over, also 2 moorhens with 2 chicks.  Dragonflies and damselflies are on both ponds and I was able to identify chiffchaff, tits, greenfinches and goldfinches, as well as the usual garden birds.

Summer 2011 Grant’s Moor North.

Butterflies seen from the end of May to October - Speckled Wood, Large White, Red Admiral, Small White, Ringlets( 26 on June the 30th), Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Large Skipper, and on the 14th July 1 Silver Washed Fritillary, also seen by a Ranger later in the day. The summer was dull but 10 degrees above average in September and October started by breaking records for temperature. A yellow wagtail was seen once perched on the tree in the pond and greenfinches were heard early on in the summer but they are suffering from a disease and numbers are falling.

Leaves on the trees were changing colour by the end of September.

There were several flowers in the meadow and also Himalayan Balsam which was removed by volunteers as it chokes everything quickly.

Summer 1989 Station Pond (Grant’s Moor)

May 1989.  There were 2 Canada Geese with 11 young , coots and a Swan .

Willow Tree Lake had 14 Canada geese with 13 young, 2 crested grebe and 2 young, who are white with black zebra like stripes when they are first born. The Canada geese families join together and move with their young down the Path to the safer landscape. I have seen up to 50 young walking towards me and stepped aside while they passed; a fox was watching from the opposite river bank, but they arrived safely. Cuckoo heard by the Station on May 8th. Water level in the river low, swans able to stand up in the middle.

May 24th 1.30 a fierce storm hit Farnborough (said to have been the wettest place in the country), cars had headlights on and traffic came to a standstill. An Army lorry was three-quarters submerged on the A325 by the turning to Fleet, but the soldiers swam to safety.

Rest of the Summer was dry and hot, people used rubber boats and swam in the Lake.

Work about to start on construction of new railway bridge by the Lake.’

I hope you found these recollections interesting.  If you have any similar memories or photographs of the Blackwater Valley before the Relief Road was constructed we would love to hear from you.