We think it is important to welcome the public and their pets onto the Reserve as long as the majority of the land is off-limits and exclusively reserved for the wildlife that is our main concern.
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| A freshly laid hedge. |
We plant hedges to act as wildlife corridors and nesting places, but also to be a barrier between the public and the wildlife that we are charged with protecting. Hedges may grow too tall and shade out any growth at ground level so we lay the hedges in the traditional Northamptonshire style with ash stakes and hazel bindings. We aim to replace or “soften” our stock-fences by planting hedges on the public side. We also aim to replace our dead hedges that we made from trimmings with living hedges.
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| A dead hedge with scrub recreation behind. |
Some fences have been put up to make exclosures that protect young bushes and trees from rabbits and muntjac. In future we plan to compartmentalise our largest areas of scrub, using fences to control grazing so that we can rotate a mix of scrub of different ages.
There are are also fences that prevent people falling into lakes and screens that make it possible to view wildlife without scaring it away.
