 Monitoring is a key part of the work of Wild Ennerdale and is seen as important for the following reasons:-
- informing the partners about levels of unacceptable change (e.g. increasing vehicles dominance of spruce regeneration)
- sharing the results of allowing natural process to develop the valley. providing a base line for future generations to see the effects of change on the valley.
- enabling the effectiveness of the Stewardship plan actions to be assessed.
This page includes information on how the Partnership is monitoring Vegetation Change, Birds, Extensive Cattle Grazing, Forest and Woodland Development, People and Weather.
The
Wild Ennerdale Partnership is involved in a number of monitoring activities
some of which are described below. In addition the Partnership has developed
a methodology
for ecological monitoring.
Vegetation Change
As part of understanding the development of the valley under natural processes the Partnership is keen to monitor changes in vegetation and habitats. This is being done through fixed point photos, aerial photography, a national vegetation classification survey of the whole valley and more detailed vegetation monitoring plots. In addition to funding by Natural England the Wild Ennerdale Partnership is very grateful to Keith Miller and Rigby Jerram for the high quality of their work and reports.
Birds
The
Ennerdale Valley is home to over 100 bird species and in order to better
understand their distribution and the impact of allowing the valey to
become wilder the Wild Ennerdale Partnership commissioned Peter Ulrich,
a local ornithologist, to complete a desk exercise in 2005 to produce
a Systematic Bird List of the Valley .
In 2007 the partnership commissioned Peter to complete a more detailed
field survey and report to establish base line populations for Ring
Ouzel, Grouse and Dipper.
For
2008 the partnership has asked Peter to draw up proposals to establish
base lines for key BAP (Biodiversity
Action Plan) species and carry out a general survey of the valley
bottom fields in advance of the introduction of extensive cattle grazing.
Extensive Cattle Grazing
A small female herd of Galloway cattle were introduced into a 145ha enclosure in Silver Cove in April 2006 to discover how practical it was to reintroduce extensive grazing by large herbivores back into the valley. This is seen as a missing natural process and in order to monitor the impact of the cattle a number of activities are being undertaken:-
- The matriarchal cow of the all female herd has been fitted with a satellite tracking collar. This records the location of the cow at regular intervals in addition to its level of activity and the temperature. The data is stored on the collar and is downloaded remotely every couple of months using a separate manual wireless handheld device. The data is then imported into a geographic information system and overlaid on a National Vegetation base map of the valley. This allows an investigation to be carried out into the cows preferred habitat and grazing activity. The system being used was purchased from Televilt, a Sweedish company, and includes the RX900 logger and R98E scanner coupled with the Tellus GPS System.
- A number of fenced and unfenced vegetation monitoring plots have been setup within the grazing area. The data from the survey of these plots carried out during the summer of 2006 will form a base line for comparing future surveys.
- A number of fixed point photos have been taken around the enclosure.
Forest and Woodland Development
A series of 100 permanent sample plots was setup across the valley during Autumn 2006. Each plot was 12.6m in radius (0.02ha) and located using GPS with the centre marked by a metal peg driven into and flush with the ground. Each plot was then photographed and the number of trees, saplings and seedlings recorded by species along with evidence of browsing and vegetation type.. The aim of this work is to provide a baseline for comparing the development of the forest into the future and follows a similar methodology to that proposed by the Forestry Commission for monitoring Continuous Cover Transformation ( see Forestry Commission FCIN45)
Lakeshore Revetment
This survey was undertaken to provide a baseline condition assessment of the manmade revetment which follows the north shore of Ennerdale Water. The revetment measures approx. 1600 metres in length, though is fragmented rather than continuous (interspersed with natural lakeshore stretches) and hence covers a total distance of approx. 3 kms. The revetment is built from a foundation of large stones then covered (in places) with a concrete face. The revetment has been falling into disrepair for many years, with some sections in more urgent need of attention than others.
People
The Wild Ennerdale Partnership believes that people are an important part of the valley. Indeed it is people who experience the valley as a wild place not the wildlife. It is also the belief of the partnership that the level and scale of human intervention in the development of the valley has in the past dominated the natural processes and wild characteristics. The partnership is still developing ways of monitoring the sense of wildness in the valley but a number of activities have been carried out and are currently active including :- |
