Golf
involved various management strategies within specific areas of the course to preserve and enhance our habitats. One project was to maintain our
already abundant heather and try to encourage new heather regeneration in key areas, such as carries and the course boundaries. Admittedly, this was quite easy in some areas as there were individual heather plants trying to grow in areas that were intensively managed, showing that there is a healthy heather seed bank within our soil. All we did here was to leave these
areas to grow and, hey presto, we now have new areas of heather. Other areas weren’t so easy due to a very healthy sward of moorland grass species, so we trialed a small area where we removed the turf to the point where the humus layer was revealed, thereby exposing the seed bank. Heather has started to colonise these areas now, two years on, showing that the method works, albeit very slowly. Another key habitat present within our boundaries is ‘lowland dry acid grassland’, which hosts a thriving wildflower community and has largely disappeared from our countryside. Management of this habitat required strimming of vegetation and subsequent removal of the clippings so as not to
increase fertility of the soil here. Timing is imperative so as to not impact upon the invertebrate and flower populations, and work commenced during the autumn, after the first frost, when most of the invertebrates had retreated away from the cold and vegetation growth had ceased.
Strips of vegetation were strimmed, about three metres wide, leaving a mosaic of strimmed and unstrimmed areas, so as not to completely remove the vegetation and allow somewhere for creatures to reside. The strimmed areas are rotated annually, in such a way that the whole of the acid grassland receives this treatment over a period of three years, before we start it all over again. This management removes fertility
from the soil, thereby preserving this very important habitat that is full of colour throughout the summer. Heathland is another important habitat in Britain, which, along with most other habitats, has decreased dramatically over the past century. Luckily, at Turton, we have a considerable amount which forms the main out-of-play areas on the course. It is home to heather, bilberry and gorse that, in turn, provide food and shelter for a host of birds, mammals
and insects. Deer, badger, weasel, stonechat, grasshopper warbler and bard owl are just a few species which inhabit the heath and, without proper management, would revert to woodland, and the heath would be lost. However, management of the heath is not quite as time consuming as it would first appear, as we only need the scrub and tree saplings to be kept in check. Here, we removed some, not all, of the older hawthorn and mountain ash (rowan) and simply snipped any tree saplings. This management helps prevent shading of the vegetation below, thereby allowing heath species to thrive. Now, all the largest trees and shrubs have been removed it is simply just a walk through the area once a year to clear any new saplings. Providing nestboxes for birds is another measure we have taken to ensure a healthier population of those species that have a limited availability of nestholes in which to raise their young. Boxes have been placed on the course for blue, great and coal tits, and robins, with further plans for boxes for barn owls, tawny owls, kestrel and nuthatches. We have had major success from
“I once successfully campaigned against expansion of a local golf course, long before I came to work in the field - if only I had known then what I know now about what golf can offer to improve our countryside and, ultimately, the environment”
The 12th hole at Turton Golf Club set amongst a heath and moor habitat
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