Conservation & Ecology
“
We have been helping the mother fox out by placing a few small bits of scrap food close to the camera - an occasional practice
Meadow pipits chose to nest behind one of the main playing tees ...
The resident fox had a litter of three cubs - they are needed to catch a few rabbits
where there was a little more privacy and room to run. No stoats or weasels were reported, but there was some great news to report on with the slightly larger mammals; our resident fox has had a litter of cubs! The on-course infra-red wildlife camera has been catching some marvellous snaps of the female and her three cubs. We have been helping her out by placing a few small bits of scrap food close to the camera - we need her and the family to catch a few rabbits for us, but this practice is only undertaken occasionally.
How about the birds and their habitat?
Were they affected? An RSPB Red List species which has been having some success on the Old Course is the grey partridge. We work closely with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Partridge Count Scheme, which has been running for a number of years now, and it is pleasing to see a family of these declining in numbers birds here at the Home of Golf. It is no coincidence that we have such birds on site as our heather plants are managed to not only attract partridges, but to be dense enough for them to consequently raise a family! It is worth pointing out that any heather located on or near a spectator walkway was roped off and all foot and vehicular traffic was diverted away from these sensitive plants. There was a small issue affecting the
heather last autumn and that was an outbreak of the heather beetle. This annoying insect’s larvae, when in large
114 I PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
groups, are capable of stripping a mature heather plant to a state where it can no longer recover. The area which was previously dominated by heather reverts back to grassland in no time at all, so it was imperative that we managed the infested area as soon as possible.
We chose to manage the area holistically
rather than using chemicals, so a team of greenkeepers spent a good few afternoons manually stripping away the thatch from beneath the affected heather plants. The thatch layer is where the heather beetle overwinters so, by undertaking this task, we removed the problem at its source. I am pleased to say that this operation worked a treat and the damaged heather plants seem to be recovering nicely! The wading birds including
curlews, oystercatchers and lapwings were noted on the New and Jubilee Courses when the tide was high, with many being seen on the ninth and tenth of the Old Course too. However, the denizen grasshopper warbler did not like all the fuss and made a swift exit over to the main composting station where it remains to this day - it is very difficult to see, but its impersonation of a grasshopper is quite endearing to hear and, if you try and position yourself within earshot of this beautiful bird, then you may be lucky enough to see it darting through the undergrowth. The grasshopper warbler’s
departure was in stark contrast to the other similar sized birds
on the Links - linnets, house sparrows, stonechats, reed warblers and yellowhammers were not perturbed by the giant crowds and remained throughout the tournament. The well managed gorse and trees (yes the Old Course has trees!) offered lots of hiding places when things got lively, so they simply hid away until the crowds subsided. Another example of birds staying onsite
whilst the competition was played was the nesting meadow pipits behind one of the main playing tees; approximately three weeks prior to the Open, one of the Old Course’s greenkeeping team found a nest behind the fifth championship tee and I was asked to go and investigate. The nest had four tiny brown eggs in it, so the area was
The grey partridge is on the RSPB Red List
Our resident grasshopper warbler made a swift exit to the compost heap
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