Conservation & Ecology
planted last season is already showing signs of making the golf course its permanent home as they were just coming in to seed when I visited, therefore it will be ready to harvest around late autumn or early winter time - Mere’s bees will thank them for developing a proactive project such as this one, I’m sure! A personal dislike of mine, and a flora which
I suggest removing from every site I visit, is an evergreen called rhododendron (Ponticum). This annoying plant offers very little to the environment it is growing in, so it is almost useless to the ecology. Okay, you may find the odd bird’s nest in a rhododendron and I have to agree that the UK’s pollinating insects (including bumble bees) find the flowers irresistible, and I wouldn’t argue against the fact that they are simply stunning to look at. However, the birds which nest there will find
Newly planted heather
very little food on or around this shrub and the flowers last a couple of weeks then fall off, not to mention that the new and emerging leaves release a phenol called diterpenes which neutralises the soil it touches to a point where nothing else, other than the rhododendron, will grow. Therefore, and based on these facts, it is a good idea to remove rhododendron from your golf course asap! The boys at Mere have done just that and the subsequent shade and air movement throughout the course has done the world of good to the turf. Another highly invasive plant which the team
are doing their best to eradicate is bracken. No chemicals are used to defeat this rampant member of the fern family and the team undertake a holistic approach to their management - bracken bashing nonetheless! This method works by flattening or crushing the stem of the plant to a point where it oozes sap and, thus, depletes the internal food store - simple, but very effective. I must point out that bracken does have its
Man made habitat built from recycled pallets, wood and drain pipes
“
Egyptian geese can become quite aggressive towards pretty much anything which approaches their nest site - most wildlife will do the same, but will rather make loud noises than actually starting a punch up - not these fellas - they’re rough and ready!
Egyptian geese residing in a senescing tree 112 I PC DECEMBER/JANUARY 2016
uses in small clumps. For instance, a number of the UK’s moths, including Monochroa cytisella and the map-winged swift (Pharmacis fusconebulosa), use bracken as a foodstuff, whereas smaller birds, such as the whinchat and nightjar, have been known to take to a healthy stand of bracken to roost. However, as with all golf course organisms, the correct balance of ecology is paramount and, on every golf course, this is different. I was recently made aware that Britain’s snakes hold an interest in bracken, but there aren’t many snakes in Scotland and I believe there are none in Ireland, so there you go! Mere’s woodland management takes into
account the critters which live there. For instance, any trees which arrive at the end of their life are left standing for woodpeckers and treecreepers, of which there were many showing well during my visit. Saprophytes (decaying wood dwellers) go mad for this kind of thing too but, if the dead tree does need to be cut down, then the team stack them as ecopiles in an out-of-play area of the course - great management! One of the trees which is in the process of
senescing has recently become home to one of the three breeding pairs of Egyptian geese! These geese, which are actually a cross between a shell duck and a goose, can be seen all year round at Mere and are not too common a sight around the North West. This is something I am quite happy about as they can
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