Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 95

country life

Island Life - October/November 2010
Country Park near Southampton. Here and elsewhere the

be even more positive. The chalk rivers of Hampshire can

Trust is working hard on habitat restoration projects.

potentially provide ideal habitats. Gently flowing rivers
with well vegetated banks and relatively soft substrate

6. White-clawed crayfish

provide perfect conditions for maintaining water vole

The white-clawed crayfish is Britain’s only native crayfish

colonies. Where there is a strong fishery interest there is

species and lives in clean, mineral-rich rivers, streams, lakes

often the presence of a river keeper and these are very

and ponds. It was formerly widespread across England and

effective in keeping mink under control. Consequently the

was particularly common in the chalk rivers of Hampshire.

rivers Test and Itchen are recognised as key sites for water

However it has suffered a dramatic decline, primarily because

vole. On the Isle of Wight the same can be said but with the

of the introduction and rapid expansion of the non-native

added advantage that there are no mink. For this reason, it is

signal crayfish and the spread of the disease carried by it. The

likely that the Island is home to the safest population in the

situation is particularly serious in Hampshire where there has

whole of the UK.

been a 95% reduction in populations. However, the Trust and
its partners, including the Environment Agency and private
landowners, are working together to protect the existing
population. We are improving adjacent habitats and scoping
the potential of providing other safe havens or ‘ark sites’ in
the future.

It’s not all bad news
Thanks to Trust staff and volunteers there have been some
spectacular success stories in our counties in recent years.
Here are some examples that have been brought back from
the brink.

Field cow-wheat
Known from only four sites in Britain, field cow-wheat has

Photo: White clawed crayfish by Environment Agency

received a bad press for centuries. Also known as ‘poverty
weed’, the seeds of this attractive plant were too large to
be sifted from wheat and as a result ‘tainted’ the flour,
making it unusable for bread making. As a result the plant
was systematically destroyed by farmers. Lost from cultivated
fields, field cow-wheat clung onto the maritime cliffs at
St Lawrence and at the Wildlife Trust’s nature reserve at
St Lawrence Bank. In 2005 the Trust acquired the field
immediately adjacent to the field cow-wheat 6