"The council's Green Sefton service has two winter-grazing enclosures over more than 228 hectares of the Ainsdale and Birkdale Sandhills nature reserve. English longhorns, on loan from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, are used for conservation grazing to help manage the sand dune grassland and dune slack habitats. At other times of the year, herpetologists might encounter sand lizards, great-crested newts and natterjack toads. Today I'm visiting to view the cattle up close, to understand this project and its benefits."
"Using Nofence technology, rangers remotely move the cows around the huge enclosures, sending them to feed wherever fodder needs breaking up and pushing back. This helps control and prevent the spread of non-native species, while forging new stretches of open sand habitat, creating space for indigenous flora and fauna, including marsh and dune helleborines, early marsh orchid and grass of Parnassus."
Green Sefton operates two winter-grazing enclosures totaling over 228 hectares across the Ainsdale and Birkdale Sandhills nature reserve. English longhorn cattle, loaned from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, provide conservation grazing to manage sand dune grassland and dune slack habitats. Cattle shelter in dune hollows during winter while rangers use GPS-collar Nofence technology to remotely move the herd to targeted areas. Targeted grazing breaks up fodder and suppresses invasive species such as sea buckthorn, creating open sand habitat for indigenous flora including marsh and dune helleborines, early marsh orchid and grass of Parnassus. The reserve also supports sand lizards, great-crested newts and natterjack toads, and signage advises visitors to keep dogs on leads.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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