Juniper Bank
Juniper Bank, as the name implies, has an extensive population of Juniper – an increasingly rare shrub of chalk downland. It is thought that most of the Junipers here may have been originally planted by John Spedan Lewis. The reserve has a chalk downland flora typical of north facing slopes, and is home to chalk-loving butterflies such as the Grizzled Skipper and the Brown Argus. Moths seen here include the locally distributed and colourful Scarlet Tiger and the rare Barred Tooth-striped. Regular work by conservation volunteers was needed to prevent the flora being overgrown by scrub, but Manx Loaghtan sheep are now grazing the site and doing much of this job.
See details of our ongoing conservation efforts at Juniper Bank below
Chalk scrape creation and Juniper Restoration – Juniper Bank Reserve
See before, during and after slide show below
Overtime we will add more to show the effects
The creation of chalk scrapes involves the targeted removal of turf and topsoil to expose underlying chalk. This management technique replicates natural disturbance processes and provides bare ground conditions suitable for the colonisation of chalk grassland specialist species. Scrapes act as important pioneer habitats, encouraging the establishment of wildflowers such as orchids and kidney vetch, whilst reducing over competition by dominant grasses. The bare ground of such scrapes are also great at supporting invertebrates communities.
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Whilst the potential is there to encourage germination of wildflower seeds remaining in the seed bank, our main focus for the scrape work on Juniper Bank was to promote the natural regeneration of our existing Juniper population. This was a project co-ordinated and funded by plant life, with contractors creating the large scrape in late August and in September, Leckford Estate and Spedan's Natural Trust volunteers harvested ripe Juniper berries for seed processing before broadcasting onto the scrape later in the year.
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The activity contributes to maintaining and enhancing the biodiversity of the reserve by aiming to restore the next generation of Juniper, prevent scrub encroachment, diversifying habitat structure, and sustaining the ecological integrity of chalkland systems.
