Conservation Science in the RSPB 2006

44
Acid grassland re-creation on
former arable land at Minsmere
Dry acid grassland successfully re-created at Minsmere
Malcolm Ausden (RSPB)
Lowland dry acid grassland is a
priority habitat in the UK and
Government has set a target of recreating
500 ha by 2010. At our
Minsmere reserve we have been
re-creating lowland dry acid
grassland on 156 ha of former
arable fields.
The project has been carried out in
four stages. After a year of baseline
surveys to determine soil conditions
and seedbank composition, there
was a period of seven years of arable
cropping aimed at reducing soil
fertility. This was followed by a series
of small-scale field experiments to
identify suitable techniques for
reducing soil pH. The fourth stage
from 1996 onwards involved the
application at a field-scale of three
treatments: the addition of sulphur
and re-seeding with an acid grass
mixture; the addition of sulphur,
bracken litter and heather cuttings;
and natural regeneration.
After nine years, the success of this
habitat re-creation in terms of
vegetation and colonisation by
ground beetles was evaluated in
2005. Vegetation in randomly located
quadrats, and ground beetles using
randomly located pitfall traps, were
sampled in the treatment fields and
adjacent existing acid grassland.
Where the soil was suitably sandy,
natural regeneration resulted in acid
grassland of highest conservation
value, in terms of the speciesrichness
of annual plants
characteristic of this type of
grassland and the conservation value
of its ground beetle fauna. Where the
soil was less sandy, natural
regeneration was less successful,
but the addition of sulphur with reseeding,
or added bracken litter and