Grazing is generally the best form of grassland management, however on some sites this is not possible. Alternative methods vary between heavy agricultural machinery to a strimmer. The piece of equipment best suited to the site will be dictated by a variety of factors including the size of and access to the site, the type of grassland to be managed and whether the habitat itself or species within it are given any legal protection.
Greenfield Valley Heritage Park
ELM is contracted by Greenfield Valley Trust to carry out annual conservation works to prevent vegetation causing a deterioration in some of the scheduled ancient monuments.
ELM is also responsible for implementing a management plan for the ecologically important meadows between the structures.
Minera
A SSSI and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) site that had not been grazed for 3 years required management with agricultural machinery to bring it back in to a favourable condition, which could then be maintained by grazing. Difficulties included steep slopes and a massive quantity of vegetation to be removed.
Tyn-y-Caeau
A small reserve created in mitigation for a population of GCN. The use of heavy machinery was not an option due to the scale of the site and the presence of the newts, consequently the site was cut with a brush cutter and raked by hand.
