BRICKFIELDS - Newtown Local Nature Reserve.

The Brickfield meadows at Newtown are part of the extensive Newtown Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the north west coast of the Isle of Wight, owned by the Isle of Wight Council.

Jutting into the Newtown estuary, the spit is remote and inaccessible to the public. However, the meadows, comprising areas of thorn scrub, are nationally recognised for their important range of plants which in technical terms are "calcareous and neutral grassland indicators leading to ungrazed high saltmarsh".

This combination is unique as the only permanent unimproved grassland on Bembridge Limestone. Thorn scrub has slowly invaded the meadows since the late 1970s when grazing of the meadows was finally abandoned. Open areas which survived were grazed by rabbits and here adder's-tongue fern, dyer's greenweed, green-winged orchids, devil's-bit scabious and saw-wort exist side by side with yellowwort, hairy violet, eyebright and lady's bedstraw. This particular flora has attracted
butterflies such as grizzled skipper, marbled white and green hairstreak - the latter one of the few colonies on the Island feeding on dyer's greenweed.

Scrub dominated by blackthorn, hawthorn and dog rose produces a thicket impenetrable by light and the leaf litter that accumulates, improves the soil leaving thick acidic humus. This situation if left to develop will continue to lessen the ability of alkaline loving plants growing on limestone grassland to germinate and flower under these conditions.

In 1990, a project was started to remove large areas of scrub from the meadows in order to increase the size of this important meadow habitat. It had to be done sensitively as the scrub is undisturbed and an important nesting habitat for whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, linnets and nightingales and removal of large areas of scrub in the autumn could seriously reduce the number of nesting pairs in the spring. The work was funded by the Newtown Local Nature Reserve Management Committee with grant aid from English Nature.

Firstly, areas of scrub immediately adjacent to the meadow were cut and this produced grassland similar to that found in the meadow. Common spotted orchid, devil's-bit scabious and adder's-tongue fern numbers increased dramatically the following spring. This was not surprising as the seeds which lay dormant in the soil could easily recover from a short spell under shade from scrub.

Major works were also started to remove large areas of scrub that had existed for over thirty years. Where no grassland remained, old ant hills were uncovered. These provided evidence that grassland used to be present in the past (meadow ants only build hills on warm soils covered by grasses).

The management which was often experimental has paid off and the list of plants recolonising areas of cut scrub is very impressive. Overall, the cleared areas are dominated by grasses such as yorkshire fog and flowers such as fleabane but the following herbs and sedges are also evident:


Those areas which were cleared more recently are dominated by pioneering plants such as teasel, ragwort, spear and creeping thistle and scarlet pimpernel. The appearance of flea sedge is important as there are few sites on the Island for this plant. Another rarity is purging buckthorn (the leaves of which were once used for medicinal purposes!). Two specimens were found in the scrub which is significant as it is very uncommon on the Island with less than a dozen specimens.

The removal of scrub is often perceived as a very destructive operation but in certain circumstances and under strict control, it can reap enormous benefits for wildlife, including the creation of habitats suitable for the rarer species of the Island's flora and fauna.

Countryside Index
WightOnLine - The Isle of Wight on the Internet