Listen to Andrea talking on the BBC Essex Breakfast Programme by clicking on the link below. Newland Grove is an Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserve made up a small woodland and a larger area of grassland intermixed with patches of rough scrub. It is situated between the A130 and the River Chelmer, which flows along its western boundary, just outside North Springfield, and is 3.36ha/8 acres in size. The reserve is one of several compartments of land that makes up the valley alongside the River Chelmer. This means it is not an isolated patch, it is very interlinked with the land around it. This connection makes it a very important large area and corridor for wildlife. Part of the land was previously a site for gravel extraction and was then used for domestic landfill. It was unofficially leased to the Essex Wildlife Trust in 1967, but legalised in 1983. Since then the site has been managed by the Trust’s volunteer reserve wardens, along with many willing locals who do all the work for free! The site has a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) upon it to protect the valuable woodland habitat, which means any work carried out has to be approved by the Chelmsford Borough Council. The Essex Wildlife Trust reserve management annually draws up an action plan to enhance the habitats for their wildlife value under the jurisdiction of a five-year management plan. But why should such a small area be of such great importance? It’s all because it has such a diversity of habitats. The small mature wood area shows old ditch and bank boundaries, old coppice stools and pollards. The plant species such as Bluebell and Dogs Mercury are indicative that the wood has been unspoilt for many, many years. The rest of the reserve has been managed in such a way that the natural succession to mature woodland has not been allowed. There is a very mixed age structure in the scrub and woodland, which caters for many different species of plant and wildlife to survive. The grassland areas are cut annually after the flowering season and this has meant they are very rich in plant and insect species provided the rabbits don’t get there first. There is even a seasonal pond at the edge of the wood and being alongside the river means species that prefer water are also found at the reserve. Over 230 species of plant have been noted, such as Twayblade, Pignut, St.John’s Wort, Bluebell, Dogs Mercury and a large patch of Cowslips. There are 28 species of tree such as the many veteran Oaks and Ash, along with Hazel, Wych Elm and Spindle. Under those trees, 28 species of fungi have been found, along with signs of Mole, Fox, Weasel, Deer and even a Badger footprint! Out on the open areas of rides and grassland, 8 species of Bee, 23 species of butterfly and 12 species of Dragon and Damselfly have been recorded. The bird species have been up to 93 species, including the threatened “Biodiversity Action Plan species’’ such as the Skylark and Song Thrush. The Scrub areas attract many warblers and Flycatchers in summer and the Fieldfares and Redwings visit in winter. There are used bird-boxes all around the reserve as well as the newly added 12 bat-boxes. The reserve is under threat of a Cross Valley Link from Springfield to Broomfield. There are 3 options of where this link could go and one of them is right through the reserve. The route is being decided in March 2007. If a road were to go over this, not only would valuable habitat be lost at the site, the whole valley would be broken up, and this affects all the wildlife in the surrounding area. The preferable options are those that are near the edge of the green belt area, such as near to an existing road or development. The permissive path that runs alongside the river, from Springfield to Little Waltham, is used by many locals. Often the reserve is a point of interest along the way. Many of the volunteers that have helped manage the reserve are from the surrounding areas. This is a valuable green space between urbanisation. It seems that the answer to traffic problems seems to be more roads, but this is totally unsustainable in the long term. There has to be other measures planned if our future generations are not going to live sandwiched between a maze of concrete. | 
