Watchtree Management
Conservation Management at Watchtree Nature Reserve
Without some form of management or intervention, a particular habitat, for example a hedgerow, will move through a series of seres climax vegetation.
Most of the British Isles was once covered with woodland but over thousands of years humans have created a mix of urban, agricultural and woodland together with many other semi-natural and natural land uses. Some of these have high nature conservation value in their own right.
The more recent changes in land use, particularly that associated with intensive farming has meant that certain species and semi-natural habitats have shown significant declines, for example in the number of breeding numbers or total area of habitat. For this reason, conservation of a particular habitat or species is often concentrated on those which have experienced or are experiencing the most significant declines.