Species Survival Fund: New four-legged friends arrive at Shire Brook Valley
Rainbow Meadow in Shire Brook Valley is now home to a host of new four-legged friends as we see the arrival of Highland cows and Dexter cows.
The cows have been brought to the meadow to graze which will help manage the field naturally , creating open spaces for wildflowers to grow and preventing brambles from taking over the meadow.
As well as grazing, through moving and walking around the field this will create and maintain the open spaces. Sheffield City Council has welcomed the cows to maintain the land in a great condition, in between woodland and open grassland.
Locals are welcome and encouraged to come down and view the cows from the gate but should not climb the gate as there is a risk of injury from livestock. Dogs are not permitted to be in the field.
The introduction of the cows forms part of Sheffield City Council’s Species Survival Fund which aims to protect, enhance and widen areas of heathland, and it will help to manage and create areas of meadow, benefitting species of flora such as orchids and invertebrates such as dragonflies.
The Council’s Species Survival Fund was awarded more than £1million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as being supported by funding from partners and other organisations, totalling almost £400,000.
These include National Grid, The Environment Agency, South Yorkshire Sustainability Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Yorkshire Water, Friends of Richmond Park and the South Yorkshire Badger Group.
The mix of habitats are particularly important conserve in the area for invertebrate, fungi, birds and wildflowers - the diversity of which will fall if the site is allowed to become dominated by trees.
Areas the project will cover:
- Shire Brook Valley Nature Reserve
- Beighton Marsh
- Woodhouse Washlands
- Wickfield Heath & Plantation
- Richmond Park
- Silkstone Ravine (part of Birley Spa)
The project will improve sites covering a total area of 449.5 acres. The project will involve conservation management, woodland works to open sightlines, creation of leaky dams and new areas of wet woodland, removing 1/3 of the silt and Typha from a former mill pond, creating ditches and hedgerows, and removal of invasive species.
Species the fund will support include mice, bats, reptiles, amphibians (including toads and newts), birds such as swifts, house martins, skylarks, barn owls and kingfishers.
Patrick Gray, Grazing Co-ordinator at Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, said:
"We now have 18 cows on Rainbow Meadow including 17 Dexter Cows and one Highland Cow.
“The lack of grazing over the past few years has led to the meadow being overrun with brambles and scrub. The objective of the grazing is to maintain the site as a woodland pasture, which consists of a mix of veteran trees, young trees, and open grassland.
“This is a pilot scheme, and in the future plan to have grazing at Sally Clark Meadow across the lane, and at Linley Bank.”
The current plan of winter grazing is to remove the build-up of vegetation on the pasture so that ideal conditions are created for spring when all the interesting and colourful wildflowers begin to germinate.
Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, in partnership with Sheffield City Council, would like to set up a volunteer scheme for members of the public to assist in keeping an eye on the cows, reporting any sick or injured or escaped animals.
If you want to find out more about how you can get involved, please email Patrick Gray from Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust for more details p.gray@wildsheffield.com.
