Compartment 11 is the northwestern one of four parcels (commonly called "lozenges") bordered by the former runway and taxiways. The lozenges form four similarly sized, long linear sections, all of which are very rich in flora, containing national and Berkshire rarities.
Neutral grassland occurs as narrows strips bordering the south and north edges of the lozenge, with a much broader zone on the north side. The south side grassland contains upright chickweed, a nationally scarce species and on the north side, bird's-foot trefoil, oxeye daisy and common knapweed, along with isolated patches and single hawthorn and dog rose, can be found.
There are extensive gorse areas surrounding the heathland, which have been mown to diversify the structure and encourage heather regeneration. Lichen heath also occurs sparingly and the centre of the compartment has multiple damp acidic flushes which slowly run west to east towards a drain, a remnant of the airbase. The dry heath and acid grassland mosaic supports heather, dwarf gorse, pill sedge, heath bedstraw, tormentil and heath milkwort with sneezewort and slender St. John's wort occurring in localised areas. Some gorse-dominated areas are becoming degenerate and will need to be cut back to encourage heather growth or to diversify structure.
Livestock play a role in poaching the ground, especially in the central wet areas where open ground and temporary pools occur. This wet strip is a rich variety of marshy grassland and wet acid flush with species including heath dog violet, devil's-bit scabious, lesser spearwort, heath grass, oval sedge and various rushes. There are also less common plants including yellow sedge, common sedge, pale sedge, creeping willow and mat grass, all with restricted distribution in the UK.
Options exist for this compartment.
The overall objectives are to reduce the extent of gorse in favour of heathland and acid grassland, and to increase the structural diversity of both heathland and gorse.
| Objective | Area | Method | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.1) Reduce the extent of gorse in favour of heath and grassland. | Whole compartment. | Suitable areas of gorse can be cut, the arisings removed and the ground scraped to remove litter. Allow space to re-generate naturally.
Species-poor areas can have very small scrapes made within them to create bare gravel areas. |
Area to be determined in the heath and gorse cutting plans to be produced in the first year of this plan. |
11.2) Maintain existing heathland and acid grassland mosaic.
HLS objectives
|
Whole compartment. | Coppice degenerate gorse and dominant scrub. Treat birch stumps to prevent re-growth. Preserve heather and acid grassland in clearings on the south side and eastern end of woodland screen. Up to 0.25 ha per year maximum. | Gorse management for Dartford Warbler.
Retain scrub screen around wet flushes and along compartment edges. Monitor rare species. |
11.3) Maintain species, structure and extent of grassland.
HLS objectives
|
Whole compartment. | Grazing is the primary tool. Monitoring of the grassland sward and control of grazing is a vital part of this management to maintain short sward and help reduce soil fertility. Scrape small sections each year to create bare ground, especially in species-poor areas. Mow small areas if required at end of growing season. Control ragwort. |
Grazing is the primary management tool and will be reviewed as part of the grazing review planned in the first year of this plan. |