SUSTAINABILITY

AROUND THE REGIONS
24
North Yorkshire
Ripon Parks and Ellington Banks
Elevator nets at Ripon Parks © East Dale Ringing Group
Ripon Training Area is comprised of
three main sites clustered within 2km
of one another on the northern fringe
of the historic city of Ripon, nestled in
between the Yorkshire Dales and North
Yorks Moors. The training area supports
a variety of military use, including driver
training, bridging, heavy engineering
and infantry training, and also supports
a range of diverse and valuable wildlife
habitats. Two of the training sites, Ripon
Parks and Ellington Banks, have national
and local nature conservation
designations and are subject to various
types of management and monitoring
throughout the year.
Ripon Parks consists of 275ha of neutral
and calcareous grassland, wetland and
woodland on the banks of the River
Ure, much of which is designated as
part of two Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI) due to the important
diversity of habitats and geological
features. Most of the area is managed
by sheep grazing, but one of the main
diffculties in maintaining the SSSI
habitat in favourable condition, like
many other riparian sites in the UK, is
the presence of the highly invasive
non-native plant Himalayan balsam.
This alien species is extremely adept at
rapidly colonising damp soils at the
expense of more diverse and beneficial
native plants. In summer 2014, as in
previous years, Landmarc Support
Services put considerable effort into
controlling the growth of balsam
before it could set seed. This is a
laborious task requiring pulling by
hand, a task with which many MOD
sites and conservation groups are
unfortunately all too familiar with, and
although we continue to endeavour to
set a good example of responsible land
management by controlling it within
our own boundaries, it will take a
concerted effort by other landowners
throughout the river catchment to
achieve a long term improvement.
During the winter months volunteers
from the East Dales Ringing Group led
by Jill Warwick gave up their time to
clear rushes from part of the SSSI and
manage adjacent willows. This is done
on rotation to maintain scrub that aids
the bird monitoring they have been
undertaking for the past 12 years, and
adds to overall structural diversity. Their
ringing efforts were rewarded with an
exceptional sample of migratory winter
thrushes thanks to the use of their
innovative ‘elevator nets’, most notably
redwing which totalled more than 400.
Nearby at Ellington Banks the
monitoring focus has been on
invertebrates, and Dr Charlie Fletcher is
keen to discover more about the life
cycle of Scrobipalpa pauperella, a small
inconspicuous moth that was thought
extinct in the UK for 40 years until
Charlie confirmed its presence on site,
along with 650 other moth species he
has recorded there. The plan for 2015 is
to broaden our knowledge by
confirming the larval food plant used
by S. pauperella so we await Charlie’s
results with interest, and in the mean
time have been concentrating on
maintaining the value of the magnesian
limestone grassland and wetland areas
where the moth was found.
Ellington Banks is 65ha in size and
notified as a Site of Importance for
Nature Conser vation by Harrogate
Borough Council. Thanks to an offer of
help from the Nidderdale AONB
Conservation Volunteers, three winter
volunteer days were organised which
focused on clearing invasive scrub from
the limestone grassland and ponds.
These are important features on the
site in terms of botanical value,
invertebrates and breeding amphibians
including great crested newts. The
group were able to field an enthusiastic
team of up to 15 volunteers per session
led by the AONB Volunteer Coordinator
Paul Mosley and supported by DIO, and
their efforts in clearing half a hectare of
alder and willow were greatly
appreciated. This was communicated
directly to the volunteers by a visit from
the training area’s Training Safety
Offcer Major (Retd) Paddy Ennis when
he thanked them for their contributions
and gave a short talk on the history and
use of the site. In times of austerity
when budgets are stretched support
from local volunteers to help maintain
the conservation value of the training
estate is becoming more important as
a means of maintaining effective
delivery, and we thank all who
contribute by giving up their time to
help manage and monitor our natural
resources on the MOD estate.
John Black
Ecologist
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Sanctuary 44 • 2015 97