Posted on Tuesday 3rd March 2020
By 2026 the number of visitors to Cannock Chase is expected to have increased by a fifth from the current 2.5 million a year.
Work to introduce a cattle-grazing conservation project on part of Cannock Chase will begin soon.
Staffordshire County Council is introducing the small-scale scheme at Moors Gorse as part of its duty to manage the Chase’s natural habitat in an environmentally-friendly way.
Mark Winnington, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member responsible for Cannock Chase, said:
By law we must look after Cannock Chase’s plants and wildlife and we are expected to use environmentally-friendly methods such as grazing to help manage vegetation to prevent the land becoming overgrown.
Cattle grazing is a recognised way of helping smaller plants to thrive and keep scrubland and small trees under control and is already used in Staffordshire and beyond.
This scheme involves up to six cattle in one small area. No rights of way are affected and informal paths will be kept open.”
Work will begin this month to erect a perimeter fence, which will allow other animals such as deer to pass through but keep the cattle within.
Gates will be placed where informal paths cross the site and later, as part of the project, ‘invisible’ fencing placed underground to control the cattle’s movement within the site.
The cattle will be a traditional British breed, with no breeding animals and noted for their placidity.
Mark Winnington added:
Although there is grazing nearby at Hednesford Hills and near Broadhurst Green, the pilot grazing scheme at Moors Gorse will enable us to introduce the idea carefully and let people see how it works in practice.”
Staffordshire County Council has a statutory responsibility for the 1,300 hectares of Cannock Chase and the 26 square mile Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that it lies within, containing plants and species of such national and international importance that it is also listed as both a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The range of flora and fauna includes herds of fallow deer, four of Britain’s six reptile species, rare and endangered birds including the woodlark and nightjar, and some seldom found plants.
In 2019 the authority signed a 10-year management agreement with Natural England, the government’s nature conservation agency to protect the site, which is identified at national and European level as having significantly important wildlife areas.
Mark Winnington said:
By 2026 we expect the number of visitors to Cannock Chase to increase by up to a fifth from the current 2.5 million a year and we have to manage that increased use and enjoyment of a fantastic treasure with the need to protect the very things that make it so special.”