Volunteers join in heathland restoration

HART District Council’s Countryside Service has been helped by Hampshire Conservation Volunteers in a weekend programme of scrub clearance and woodland thinning on part of Hazeley Heath.

The work is part of the management plan for the site and it involved opening up woodland to allow more light in to assist the heathland.

Hazeley Heath is a Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The volunteers have carried out a number of heathland restoration projects there over the years. Heathland was once common in this part of Hampshire-but it is now an extremely rare habitat. Intervention is needed to stop it becoming dominated by scrub and trees.

Phillippa Morrison Price, the Hazeley Heath ranger says: “Conservation volunteers are extremely important for the ongoing management of our local wildlife sites.

“Having a group of keen workers is such a valuable resource –it enables us to achieve a great deal more than we could normally manage. The work done not only helps the wildlife but also maintains this historic landscape.”

The plan for the management of Hazeley Heath can be downloaded at:http://www.hart.gov.uk/index/leisure/leisure-countryside_services/hazeley_heath.htm

To volunteer for Hart District Council email the Countryside Service at countryside@hart.gov.uk

For more information on Hampshire Conservation Volunteers visit www.hcv.org.uk or take part in their activity at Odiham Common on March 15-16.