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Wednesday 18 May 2011

SHEEP SHEAR COST OF MAINTAINING RAILWAY BEAUTY SPOT

Region & Route:

| Southern

Network Rail has unveiled its latest secret weapon to help drive down the costs of maintaining the railway – a flock of sheep.

The four-legged additions to the workforce will dramatically cut the company’s annual £50,000 bill to maintain Great Stukelely railway cutting in Huntingdon, home to rare orchids and wildflowers and a designated site of special scientific interest (SSSI). Network Rail owns and manages 146 SSSIs across Britain, which are protected by law because of their importance to the nation’s natural heritage for their habitats, plants, animals or geology.

The Great Stukeley site stretches for 2 miles along the East Coast Main Line, one of the busiest railway lines in the country, and covers approximately 35 hectares. Regular and careful maintenance is required because rare flowers and native grasses risk being crowded out of their natural habitat if invading species are not regularly cut back – a laborious and costly process.

That is set to change thanks to a new arrangement with Huntingdonshire District Council, which has agreed to take on responsibility for managing the site on Network Rail’s behalf. By signing up to a Natural England Environmental Stewardship scheme, funding is now available to the council to help maintain the site and provide a qualified shepherd to manage the flock of twenty Wiltshire Horn sheep that have been brought in to graze there.

Rather than rely on Network Rail maintenance staff and volunteers from environmental charity BTCV, the sheep will chew their way through the majority of non-native vegetation and help return the cutting to its natural state. The Wiltshire Horn breed has a short fleece that naturally moults in the spring, making the sheep less likely to get caught in the thorny scrub bushes they are helping to keep in check.

Steve Featherstone, director of maintenance at Network Rail, said: “Britain’s railway network provides a 20,000 mile green corridor spanning the length and breadth of the country, home to some of our rarest species and a major source of biodiversity. The partnership we have with Huntingdonshire District Council means we can continue to improve standards at Great Stukeley while driving down costs – which is good news for nature lovers and taxpayers alike.”

Matthew Johnson, ranger at Huntingdonshire District Council said: “This is a great opportunity for all organisations including Huntingdonshire District Council to work together for the benefit of the area. A considerable amount of effort goes into maintaining an area like this. Having the sheep there to graze will be a huge help and the funding will help towards reducing costs and resources, enabling the rare flowers and native grasses to continue to flourish.”

Dr Tom Charman from Natural England said: “Natural England is very pleased to be working in partnership with Network Rail, Huntingdon District Council and BTCV to safeguard this special site. Chalk grassland is a rare habitat in Huntingdonshire and despite being next to the East Coast Main Line this site supports some fantastic plants and animals, such as pyramidal orchids, marbled white butterflies and great green bush crickets.

“Bringing in the Wiltshire Horns is a really innovative and cost-effective way to prevent scrub and coarse grasses taking over and will help keep this site special. As they speed past, rail passengers may even be able to spot the trackside changes at Great Stukeley over the coming months as the sheep start to make a difference and more wildflowers and insects appear.”

Ed Green, BTCV senior projects officer, said: "As an organisation committed to protecting and improving the environment, BTCV has been working with Network Rail and Natural England for five years on this important site. Our work at Great Stukeley led to the project winning the Biodiversity Protection Award in the Network Rail Environment Awards 2008. The introduction of the sheep is a great way to ensure the long term, sustainable management of the site and we look forward to seeing them chomping their way around Great Stukeley whilst our volunteers continue their efforts to maintain and improve the habitat for the rare flowers and grasses."

Network Rail is responsible for more than 30,000 hectares of green space along the railway. As part of its biodiversity action plan, the company aims to improve and maintain the status of its SSSIs to ‘favourable’ (meeting the set conservation objectives) or ‘recovering’ (meaning that the necessary management measures are in place and that a favourable condition will be reached in time). Since 2003/04, the proportion of Network Rail owned SSSI land in favourable or recovering status has increased from 49.2% to 79.9%.

In 2000, Natural England agreed a target to bring 95 per cent of SSSI land in England into a favourable or recovering condition by December 2010. The delivery of this target is coordinated by them, and 21 of Network Rail’s SSSIs are included in it. The company has set up a £6.1m investment programme to move these 21 sites into a favourable or recovering status. Natural England has reported that 82.1% of these are now in favourable or recovering status – a great improvement on last year’s 52.2%.

Natural England runs Environmental Stewardship green farming schemes in England on behalf of Defra. Environmental Stewardship scheme payments totalling more than £400 million a year help farmers and land managers in England to protect wildlife and enhance the natural environment.