The combined impact of 16 years of active – and at times intensive – conservation management led to noticeable improvements at Ranscombe during 2021/22, with several threatened species recording their best ever years.
Man Orchid numbers rose from 96 in 2010 to 384, while Clustered Bellflower – a rare plant in Kent – increased from just 20 in 2012 to 796.
Both increases are likely to stem from the way the grassland on which they rely has been managed. Clustered Bellflower has benefitted from the introduction of an effective mowing regime, and has also successfully spread to restored chalk grassland reclaimed from dense scrub over the last few years.
Elsewhere, moving grazing livestock between different areas has been credited with the increase in Man Orchid, and may also be responsible for a healthy new population establishing itself in Brockles Field, where chalk grassland restoration started a decade ago. Habitat condition surveys carried out at the 23 hectare field during the summer also showed a considerable improvement in the species composition from the previous two years alone, which again is most likely due to scrub control and more effective grazing management.
