Taken from an "From bombers to skylarks" By Jane Hodges and published in the Sanctuary magazine

Habitat recreation and restoration on the St Davids Airfield, Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire's geographical location, at south-western extremity of Wales, was ideally suited for the stationing of military aircraft during the Second World War . Seven major airfields were built on some of the finest coastal locations in what is now the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. By the mid 1990's the airfield had become surplus to MoD requirements and was put up for disposal.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA) and the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) had the foresight to purchase two-thirds of the airfield (about 92 hectares), recognizing its potential for habitat recreation and restoration and for public enjoyment. The purchase was funded by the WDA's Land reclamation Programme and was completed in 1996. Included was a narrow strip of wet heath and scrub on the northern perimeter of the airfield which is part of the St Davids Airfield Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a suite of lowland wet heaths, fen and swamp of national importance lying adjacent to it. The SSSI includes several scarce or rare species of flowering plants that are closely associated with wet heath land/fen/swamp mosaics. In between the main runways are extensive areas of semi-improved grassland which have been let in the past for grazing. The remainder of the airfield (47 hectares) went back into private ownership and is being farmed.

FIRST STEPS

The National Park Authority's main objectives in purchasing the airfield site were/are to recreate and restore high-quality habitats for wildlife, and to enhance the landscape and opportunities for access and quiet enjoyment.

The early phases of work were centered on the demolition of concrete bases and associated hard standings. Surplus top soil and sub soil were used to construct new earth banks on the southern boundary of the site, which were planted with native shrubs such as hawthorn, blackthorn, common gorse, elder and wild rose. The footpath across the middle of the airfield was reinstated, to link the north and south sides after a gap of sixty years.

A decision was taken at an early stage in the project to retain the three main runways intact. Lifting and disposal of the concrete from the runways would have been a mammoth task which would have been both environmentally and economically unsustainable. They are now partially vegetated by bryophytes and a variety of bare-ground colonizing flowering plants, and are interesting artificial habitats in their own right

HEATH LAND RECREATION

Two areas, both on the northern perimeter of the airfield site, adjacent to the SSSI, were chosen for heath land recreation. This was to be achieved using two fairly standard, well-tried techniques: turf transplants and spreading of brashings cut from mature stands of heathers and western gorse. Although the techniques have been used elsewhere, this was to be the first attempt to recreate wet heath land, as opposed to dry heath land, anywhere in the UK.

In addition to the two areas of heath land recreation (which together should extend the wet lowland heath land by 2-3 hectares), scrub clearance was carried out using a bush-whacker on an area of wet heath land that had become completely overgrown by willow and gorse scrub. The main objective was to restore favorable conditions for the diminutive slender yellow centuary, which is closely associated with western oceanic lowland heath land.

Within the two heath land recreation sites, areas of bare soil have been colonized by a mixture of fen/wet heath land plants such as jointed rush, devils-bit scabious, purple loosestrife and common fleabane, as well as arable "weeds" such as fluellen. A single specimen of the flowering plant yellow bartsia also appeared: a new record for the St Davids Peninsula. Ox-eye daisy, black knapweed, and clovers also readily colonized bare ground.

Bird life

The runways attract interesting and unusual migrants such as snow bunting, Lapland bunting and dotterel.

Curlew, whimbrel and dunlin have also been recorded on the grassland and in the heath land recreation sites. The grassland, however, is primarily the province of skylarks: 40 - 50 breeding pairs in 40 hectares in 1999. For many years, the grassland has been grazed, but little else done to it. Grassland management on the airfield site now comprises winter grazing by beef cattle, followed by a hay cut in late July. Livestock are removed at the end of March and the grassland is left to the skylarks and other ground nesting birds. Under a low input/low output agricultural regime, sward diversity is increasing year by year. In the spring and in early summer, the "meadows" are very colourful with the delicate pinky - mauve of ladies smock in early spring giving way to yellows of buttercups and purples of black knapweed in high summer.

The new bridleway, footpaths and other action taken to enhance access have also proved to be a success, as has community involvement with management and educational projects. Links with local schools and the community are strong and the airfield site is popular with local residents and visitors alike. Whilst the roar of bombers taking off from the airfield may be a fading memory for those who knew the airfield in the war, the song of the skylark on a warm summers day is an experience to be savoured.