Conservation & Ecology
It may be a reality sooner rather than later that we all have to hand weed our courses as many herbicides are taken off the market - hold that thought for a moment
The grass is cut using trailed gang mowers
which will reap rewards in later years. He’s also in the process of developing a thicket from hawthorn, blackthorn and hazel which have been relocated from around the course - these have to be protected from the local deer that have a penchant for juvenile shrubs.
Another habitat, which is equally
important as the woodlands and grasslands, is the small pond. Frogs and toads can be found here and there are numerous different types of dragonflies, such as hawkers and darters, present. Along with the ‘botanist’s dream’ of wildflowers, there are one or two aquatic floras on show; yellow flag iris and soft rush being the main displays and, on closer inspection, you may find a fine selection of water-forget-me-nots scrambling through the banks. If the bees are in decline, which we know that they are, then they should be guided in the direction of Kingarrock Golf Course where they will be made most welcome by the amount of tiny blossoms on offer. Whilst Owen’s greens do have the odd
broad leaved weed in them, he can be forgiven as these small weeds add to the charm of the place. When the course was built back in 1923,
no fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides were available to the amenity sector. Therefore, all you could realistically do to a golf course was mow it. The greenkeeper relied on hard work and the backbreaking task of hand weeding any areas which required it. Owen is no different in that no chemistry is applied to the course and that the only ‘herbicide’ to have seen Kingarrock is his own hands - you have to ask how many of us greenkeepers (or ex greenkeepers in my case) actually hand weed their courses? Askernish, on the island of South Uist,
undertakes a similar procedure, as does the Links Trust for the most part, but given the
Soil from mole hills have been collected to use as topsoil for the construction of a new tee
PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015 I 113
choice, would you? Could you? It may be a reality sooner rather than later that we all have to hand weed our courses as many herbicides are taken off the market - hold that thought for a moment. Whilst I’m on the subject of herbicides,
Owen has found an interesting way of keeping the dock leaves in check; astro turf and old carpets. These textiles are simply laid upside down on the overrun areas and left until any vegetation is dead - a simple way to reduce the problem of large weeds and a quick way of creating a seed bed for the desired floras. Another problem solved by the use of
holistic methods is the incorporation of the wildflower called yellow rattle. This flower is parasitic to the point where it will
outcompete most other vegetation, including broad leaved grasses and creeping thistles, both of which can become troublesome if left unchecked. One such area which was noted to be a problem was around the bunkers (three in total) and the fact that these areas had become swamped with Yorkshire fog and weeds - yellow rattle was sown in and the outcome of this can be seen in the photo, which is a carpet of thin grasses and wildflowers. The golf course does have other problems
to contend with and one of them is the moles which find Kingarrock’s soil a joy to forage in. Owen sees this as a source of free material and has been collecting mole hills to use as a topsoil for a new tee he intends to build.
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