| |
Grazing management on sea cliffs
Land on sea cliffs and accessible slopes may well have a history of intermittent
grazing even though the terrain may be difficult to graze. These grasslands
and heathlands, except in the most exposed locations have been created and maintained
by grazing by domesticated animals, (perhaps in association with woodland and
scrub cutting, and burning) and revert to woodland if left unmanaged. Over the
last thirty years or many of these areas have reverted to scrub as a direct
result of changes in management practice. This has most noticeably been as a
result of a reduction in stocking levels in some areas and cessation in others,
which has led to a reduction in botanical interest directly through encroachment
of coarse grasses and scrub (Mitchley & Malloch
1991).
|
General guidance: The combination of a direct loss of natural
habitat to ploughing and the slower reversion of grassland to scrub may
be partly responsible for the demise of
Chough (Pyrrhocorax
pyrrhocorax) in many coastal areas where it formerly bred. Similarly
the last sites for the Maculinia arion
(large
blue butterfly) in the UK were in coastal areas and reduction
in grazing pressure appears to have been the reason for their extinction.
Appropriate grazing
levels are thus a key to the survival of many cliff and cliff
top plant communities and associated animals.
|
References
Mitchley, J. & Malloch, J.C.
1991.
Sea Cliff Management Handbook for Great Britain.
University of Lancaster & Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
|
|
