Planting principles for LWA
Planting principles for LWA
This forms part of our management policies for LWA.
Trees and shrubs
Any planting of these that is proposed must be mainly of native species, appropriate to the locality and of local origin. (See Appendix on native plants for the reasons for this.) The attached schedules of species, prepared with guidance from outside experts, list the species we have used and will continue to use:
1. Plants in Schedule 1 must originate either from long-established local populations or from attested British stock. The decisions on species, numbers, sources and planting location can be made in a normal committee meeting or devolved to the Planning and Works sub-committee.
2. Plants listed in Schedule 2, although native, are not representative of local species. They may be planted only with the explicit and minuted agreement of the management committee. This decision must set out how many plants of each species are being planted and where. The representative of Surrey Wildlife Trust must be among the members agreeing.
3. Exotic, recently naturalised or invasive species, such as those listed in Schedule 3, will not be planted. Where deemed necessary, they will be removed. Even where there may be a fauna conservation argument for their presence, they would be untypical of the Low Weald and out of place.
4. Some naturalised species will be allowed in, in small number, if the management committee agrees that they can be justified in terms of educational or amenity value. The conditions for agreeing to Schedule 3 species apply here, too. These plants must be kept in check to ensure that they do not overrun native species.
5. Where possible, planting will be in deep blocks, to provide shelter from climate and human disruption for birds and other creatures. Generally, planting in unregimented ways will improve the reserve's appearance.
6. Without compromising public access, we will create quiet areas for wildlife by sensitive screening and additional hedges close to popular paths. This will encourage numbers of wildlife and breeding success.
7. We will consider future maintenance, particularly mowing, when planting or making other structural changes, to ensure it can be carried out easily and cheaply.
Meadow plants
From the beginning, our approach has been to reduce the nutrients in the soil of the meadows through an annual cut and take-away of the grass and other ground-level plants. This reduces the vigour of the grasses, giving the seeds of herbs [5] that are left in the soil (the `seed bank') a greater chance to germinate and grow.
This meets both the conservation and amenity objectives. By relying on self-selected specimens of existing herb species, we do not risk polluting the local gene pool. This is also a reason for using locally gathered shrubs and trees. Also, because these plants grow on quickly, visitors will see plenty of new species.
We stopped planting herbs in the meadows some years ago in favour of letting their seed banks assert themselves. Should the management committee decide it wishes to start doing so again, this must be on the same basis as for Schedule 2 shrubs and trees.
Pond and wetland planting
Until there is an adequate amount of vegetation in and alongside the pond, we will plant selected species of marginal, emergent and submergent species of plant. There is a list of approved plants shown at Schedule 4. Planting anything other than these will require a committee decision, as for Schedule 2 trees and shrubs.
We will not plant and, indeed, will remove any plants shown in Schedule 5.
Notes
5. In its everyday sense, `herb' means a plant whose leaves are flavoursome or aromatic and which are used, fresh or dried, in cooking, cosmetics or medicine. Botanically, a herb is a seed-bearing plant without a woody and persistent stem and which dies down after flowering. (When found growing in a meadow or pasture, a herb is sometimes known as a forb, from the same Greek root as “forage”.)
In its everyday sense, `herb' means a plant whose leaves are flavoursome or aromatic and which are used, fresh or dried, in cooking, cosmetics or medicine. Botanically, a herb is a seed-bearing plant without a woody and persistent stem and which dies down after flowering. (When found growing in a meadow or pasture, a herb is sometimes known as a forb, from the same Greek root as “forage”.)Local plant populations and the law [not part of the agreement]
[not part of the agreement]Most of the plants around the pond have come from nearby farms and nature reserves. They were all removed with the landowners' prior permission. Not only would it have been stealing to have taken them without their owners' approval, it is a specific offence to dig up wild plants without agreement.
The Theft Act 1968 sets out the law on the first matter. Under this, one cannot legally to dig up and take any plant, tree or shrub, or any soil, peat, gravel and so on which is part of the land. Digging up fungi could constitute theft unless one has permission.
The second offence arises from provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 (summarized here, under "Protection of plants", on the excellent Naturenet site).
The mention in the Naturenet article of "Schedule 8" refers to some scarce plants which cannot be picked at all without a special licence. These are listed in Schedule 8 of the 1981 Act (here) and its 1992 and 1998 amendments. Additionally, there are some species protected under European-wide law (listed here). So far as we know, none of these specially protected plants is to be found on the reserve, nor would we be looking to plant any of them.