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award for carrying out an important
environmental project on the MOD
estate. In the eight years or so since the
award, the group has not rested on its
laurels. In fact it is going from strength
to strength; its members are
represented on the Holcombe Moor
conservation group and their work is
helping to cement relations between
the MOD and the local community.
Alongside the work that many
conservation groups do to document
the historic value of MOD land, a key
focus of any meeting will usually
involve activities to monitor and
protect the wealth of biodiversity and
environmental features within the
militar y estate. With around 227,000ha
of land owned directly plus a similar
area used under various rights and
agreements, the responsibilities and
opportunities are considerable and the
contributions of local volunteers and
other stakeholders are an important
component of how MOD manages
some of the highest value wildlife
habitats in the UK.
Barry Buddon, near Dundee, is a busy
training area which gained national
publicity when it hosted the target
shooting elements of the recent
Commonwealth Games. The
conservation group led by Capt Harry
Roy are an enthusiastic bunch with
decades of combined experience of the
extensive dunes that surround the
ranges, and each year the group focus
on two major community involvement
events in addition to their own interests
on site. In April Barry Buddon hosted its
big beach clean up in conjunction with
Angus Council, bringing together local
groups such as the Rotary Club to help
clear tonnes of rubbish that gets
washed up every year, and in August
the annual nature day gave a range of
local naturalist groups the chance to
have extensive access to the site to
record everything from birds to botany
and moths to mammals in a mini
bio-blitz that has been known to turn
up a few surprises as well.
Conservation group members also
contribute to some of the work that
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
(DIO) does to support military training,
for example one upland site in Scotland
where parachute drops are carried out
as part of annual training exercises on an
area that also happens to be designated
a Special Protection Area due to the
presence of breeding hen harriers. While
the DIO Ecology Team deal with
statutory assessments and consents and
the military staff plan the exercise,
ornithologist Geoff Sheppard from the
West Freugh conservation group
identifies the locations of harrier
territories when they return from their
winter migration, liaises with the
Exercise Planner to mark these areas
with a 500m buffer zone as out of
bounds, and continues to monitor the
nests under licence until the end of the
breeding season. This arrangement has
worked well for a number of years now,
and although monitoring shows the
hen harrier numbers are declining in line
with national trends, we are confident as
a result of Geoff’s consistent monitoring
that any nest failures are not the result of
military activity.
These are just a few examples from
MOD conservation groups across the
UK whose members can be as diverse
as the sites they are involved with. Like
any relationship a degree of give and
take is involved, group members enjoy
privileged levels of access to sites and
the opportunity to be involved with
unique conservation projects, and in
return the MOD has continuity of local
knowledge and involvement that
helps support its activities and
responsibilities for management. The
system works well on the whole, and
the input of our volunteers and other
stakeholders is very much appreciated.
Phil Abramson
Archaeology Advisor
John Black
Ecologist North
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Members of the HMHG excavating 18th/19th century cottages at Bottoms on the Holcombe Moor Training Area, near Bury, Lancashire © HMHG
Sanctuary 44 • 2015
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