Inside Salisbury: New RSPB managed nature reserve near Salisbury
A new nature reserve will restore chalkland habitats
By Annette J Beveridge
A FORMER dairy farm is being turned into a chalk grassland nature reserve to protect the rare stone curlew and to attract ‘chalk-loving’ butterflies, bees and birds.
Following a competitive bidding process with Wiltshire Council, the RSPB will manage Roundbarrow farm transitioning from dairy cattle and using some sheep and cattle grazing to transform the land.
Many chalk grasslands have been lost across the UK but these are extremely important habitats for nature, however, it is likely to take years before the nutrient pollutants found in cattle manure will be reduced sufficiently to sow the right types of grasses.
Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Waste, Councillor Dominic Muns, said: "Roundbarrow Farm has an exciting journey ahead as a site that will benefit local communities and nature - both locally and further down the River Test and Solent catchment.
"We're pleased to be working with the world-renowned RSPB on this project, and we share a common ambition and shared vision to allow an exemplar chalk grassland to establish. There will be plenty of opportunities for residents to play their part in this project and our aim is for this to have a community-focus right at the heart of it."
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The restoration of this vital habitat will benefit many birds in decline including skylarks, corn buntings, lapwings and yellowhammers. Plant life includes sheep’s fescue, oat grasses, scabiouses, vetches, bellflowers and orchids as well as nationally rare or scarce plant species including dwarf sedge, burnt-tip orchid, early gentian and tuberous thistle. Important populations of rare species including the marsh fritillary, and the chalkhill blue and silver-spotted skipper will also benefit.
RSPB Roundbarrow is located to the east of Salisbury. A new permissive bridleway will run through the reserve connecting Firsdown and Pitton villages for the first time. There is also a plan for a community orchard.
