The first NNR
management plan was drafted during the late 1980s. A considerable
amount of information on the site was brought together in this
exercise. The description was a large and detailed document, but
the section on evaluation and objectives was never completed.
Objectives were written for the rhos pasture and other habitats. No
specific objectives were written for the marsh fritillary, but
management requirements were expressed as prescriptions under the
rhos pasture objective.
Objective: "To
maintain and encourage the rhos pasture'. (This is typical of the
period. It carries very little meaning, and there is no explanation
of what is to be maintained or what 'encourage' actually
means.)
Action plan
(prescription):
• Maintain
grazing at low levels throughout the year with no removal during
(lowering time in order that the Molinia sward is
maintained.
• Monitor
grazing regime by regular counts and mapping.
• Monitor
vegetation through established quadrats and fixed-point
photography.
• Monitor
invertebrates communities and key rhos spp.
• Maintain
butterfly transects and larval web counts of E.
aurinia.
• No
burning.
• No
alterations to hydrology.
The management and
monitoring projects were identified but not described.
Please note that the
term 'monitoring' is used inappropriately: in reality, these are
surveillance projects because the monitoring was not related to
measuring how close management was coming to a measureable
objective.
