Grazing
The reserve has a resident flock of working Hebridean sheep that are used to manage the different types of grassland throughout the year. The sheep are an intricate part of the management at the Commons in the fight against scrub and bramble re-establishing itself once it has been cleared. They have been particularly useful in the Howlands Meadow area, one hectare of grassland has now been restored following the removal of mainly ash trees that had encroached over the area of grassland since the 1980s.
The Hebridean breed is very good in the wetter areas of the reserve, in particular Blackfan Fen. The wet nature of the land makes management difficult; machinery is too heavy and is of little use. The Hebridean comes into its own in this type of habitat and grazes the rough vegetation with ease. Particular attention is paid to their feet while grazing these wet areas as foot rot is a problem in many breeds of sheep, however, the Hebridean breed is noted to have a high resistance to this problem and we have not encountered any problems.
The sheep have generated a lot of local interest; many families bring their children to see them at the weekends. Lambing usually starts in late March on Windmill Hill where the flock spend the summer grazing the meadows.
PIGS
The arable headland on Windmill Hill is an important breeding habitat for farmland bird species such as Sky Lark and Grey Partridge, other species also thrive in this type of habitat, in particular the Harvest Mouse. Without management grassland will develop through quick succession into scrub. Management such a harrowing or tine ripping the soil with a tractor is crucial to break up the dense grass sward that ultimately develops early in the succession process.
Consideration was given to a more natural form of possible soil ripping, the pig, which in our case turned out to be the Large Black. A trial using three pigs on a small area of arable headland was carried out between November 2003 and March 2004. They almost plough the soil while grubbing around with their noses, seeking out roots such as couch grass, a favorite tasty snack. This grass had become very dominant and was suppressing the growth of the wheat and barley that we sow as a winter feeding habitat for the farmland birds. The trial proved to be reasonably successful and set us thinking of other management possibilities such as controlling the bramble and scrub on the fringes of Howlands Meadow.
