In spring 2020, with the agreement of the Commoners and others, we got legal consent to fence the Ramscombe mire for five years. By excluding grazing in summer, scarce plants have been able to bloom and set seed. We have recorded 88 species in about 0.25ha. The downside of excluding grazing is that tussocky grasses and scrub also thrive and out-compete smaller plants, so that now, with a renewed consent, we are varying the times of grazing and considering other management.
Ramscombe is only one of 26 mires on the Quantocks. In 2023 we surveyed them all, applying Natural England assessment criteria, and found that Ramscombe was the only one in good condition, 13 were reasonable and 12 were bad, mostly due to grazing pressure, scrub development or use by stags as wallows.
Following further assessment last year, we decided that all 26 should be regarded as part of a dynamic landscape, their individual condition varying over time, mainly due to changing livestock and deer numbers and distribution, and that no urgent intervention is required. We also know from Ramscombe that if we fence them they will begin to scrub up. However, we will continue monitor them in case action comes to be required.
[Photos: John Andrews]