In 2009/10, the total area of sites meeting the Defra Public Service Agreement target – which requires either that they have 'favourable' or 'unfavourable recovering' status – was 99.98 per cent. This represented an improvement on previous years, thanks to major enhancements at two small SSSIs and a revised condition assessment of another SSSI.
Our Seven Springs groundwater site, known as Brassey Nature Reserve, has been managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust under a lease since 1965. It is situated on the northern side of the Windrush Valley approximately, north-west of Bourton-on-the-Water. At less than three hectares, Brassey is one of the Trust's smallest reserves. It consists of a steep limestone grassland slope plunging into the valley bottom of the River Windrush where springs from fault lines flow into the Windrush across a small area of fen and mire – very rare habitats in Gloucestershire.
The reserve has two main habitats of interest: an exceptionally botanically-rich example of unimproved limestone grassland and one of the few remaining base-rich freshwater marshes/mires in Gloucestershire. Unfortunately, scrub invasion and tree growth around the margins of the mire in recent years had led to the mire unit of the SSSI receiving an 'unfavourable declining' status from Natural England.
In partnership with the Trust, we undertook a project to aggressively tackle the scrub and trees to open up the mire area. We completed this work in 2009, as well as updating the management plan. We were pleased to learn that, following the work, Natural England upgraded Brassey SSSI to 'unfavourable recovering' in February 2010.
Following a visit by Natural England's expert in May 2010, two species of sedge previously thought locally extinct were rediscovered. These sedges were Tawny sedge (Carex hostiana) and Dioecious sedge (Carex dioica), which were last recorded in 1980 and 1997 respectively. Natural England's expert was further impressed to discover that the mosses and sedges of the spring heads and channels were indicative of highly restricted and threatened alkaline fen plant communities associated with base-rich spring heads listed under Annex 1 of the EU Habitats Directive.
Natural England intends to conduct further specialist surveys to determine the exact extent of these rare plant communities and will be advising the Trust and Thames Water on how to proceed with management and monitoring of the reserve's wetland area.
Dancers End Water Treatment Works, near Tring, Buckinghamshire, is a herb-rich calcareous grassland supporting uncommon and locally rare plant species including nine species of orchid.
The condition of the SSSI was until recently assessed as 'unfavourable no change'. It had become increasingly scrubbed over with an increase in coarse grasses.
Improving its condition required scrub and tree clearance and grazing to be introduced to maintain the SSSI in the long term. To remedy the unfavourable situation, we worked in partnership with the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust to carry out significant scrub and tree clearance and erect stock-proof fencing during late January 2009.
In June 2010, Natural England upgraded the SSSI to 'unfavourable recovering' status. With continued grazing and management, we aim to move it into 'favourable' condition.
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