Prees Heath Common Reserve Re-creating Heathland Arable cultivation Area 2 in 2004 before reserve purchase.

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1 Prees Heath Common Reserve Re-creating Heathland Arable cultivation Area 2 in 2004 before reserve purchase. Area 2 fallow in June 2006 reserve just purchased

2 Deep-ploughing Area 2 in March 2007 Area 2 in May 2007 after the deep-ploughing (potatoes sprouting)

3 Area 1, October 2007 sand rolled flat following acidification with sulphur (Area 2 also treated) Area 2 in November 2007 spreading heather brash harvested from Cannock Chase

4 Area 2 in February 2008 the brash rolled out over the raw sand Area 2 in July 2008 heather seedlings appearing

5 Area 2 in June 2009 heather seedlings have established best in the slight depressions of tyre or ploughing furrows. Rabbit grazing was a concern. Area 2 in August 2010 a carpet of Ling from the Cannock Chase heather brash, and around 50% survival of the 10,000 Bell Heather plugs grown from seed harvested from Prees Heath.

6 Area 2 in August Area 2 in August Black Ants Lasius niger are now being found in the margins of this area and bringing high expectations for the Silver-studded Blue butterfly to be breeding on the new habitat within the next few years.

7 Area 1 in 2006 two years after arable cultivation ceased. Area 1 following deep-ploughing in 2007

8 Area 1: potatoes persisting after deep ploughing Area 1 in 2010: three years after sowing with green hay. Black knapweed and other desirable forbs are well established.

9 Area 3 in 2009: colourful early phase of ruderal vegetation before docks, thistles and coarse grasses dominate. The Bell Heather heathland that developed naturally on the former airfield runway.

10 Prees Heath Common Reserve: layout of areas Area 1 Control tower field (4.5 ha); Area 2 Hangars field (6.5ha); Area 3 East of runway field (14.5ha) Area 4 Corner field (2.5 ha) - This field was in an agricultural tenancy with a local farmer until 2008 after which habitat re-creation work was able to commence. Butterfly Conservation purchased the reserve in Areas 1, 2 and 3 were all deep-ploughed in March Area 2 was the first to be sown with heather brash. Over 10,000 Bell Heather plugs were planted in 2008? Area 1 was sown with wildflower and grass seed harvested from the nearby Melverley Meadow (SSSI), with good levels of germination. This has created a flowery grassland, though not yet comparable to the donor site. Only part of Area 3 was treated with sulphur and then heather brash (only Calluna vulgaris) from Cannock Chase was applied in November But the quantities of viable seed were not found to be very high, ruderal weeds were more prolific and poor germination resulted compared to Area 2. In October 2009 heather brash (only Calluna vulgaris) harvested from the Long Mynd was applied to the same part of Area 3, then another 10,000 Prees Heath origin Bell Heather plugs were planted. Bell Heather and Wavy Hair-grass seed collected from the SSSI parts of the reserve has also been spread over areas 2 & 3. Whilst the Wavy Hair-grass seed has germinated well, to date the Bell Heather seed has not. More heather brash from Cannock Chase was applied to Area 3 in December In March 2010, 2 ha of Area 4 was deep ploughed and treated with sulphur, then heather brash from Cannock Chase was spread in December No signs of germination have been detected during 2011 and In October 2012 wildflower and grass seed was broadcast by volunteers on the parts of Areas 3 and 4 that had had heather brash applied. This was the fourth application of heather seed applied to Area 3, and there is now evidence of successful germination, although it remains patchy.

11 In November 2012 was brush harvested over 4 days to collect heather seed. The heather seed, estimated to be in total 381 million seeds, was broadcast on Areas 3 and 4 by volunteers in December Much time and effort has had to go into weed (ragwort, creeping thistle, spear thistle, rosebay willowherb) and scrub (birch, willow and bramble) control on all these areas, and will need to be ongoing for several years.

12 The Silver-studded Blues A UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Transect has been walked to monitor the Silver-studded Blue Plebeius argus population on Prees Heath Common since Its route has covered the species habitat on both halves of the Common (the BC reserve is only the western half), as well as habitat within the former airfield hangars compound alongside the A49 road that are also within the SSSI notification. The results shown in the graph are of total numbers recorded on the transect in each year was the first of two wet and cool summers that markedly affected the numbers of all butterflies seen throughout the country. Low numbers have also been seen in the last two years, but overall the trend as shown by the black line has continued to increase. The route of the monitoring transect is shown on the map; Section 1 in the hangars compound was destroyed in On 29 th June 2011 twelve volunteers attempted to count the entire Silver-studded Blue population on the known habitat areas, not just the samples covered by the transect route. A total of 3,364 silver-studded Blues were recorded, including 770 on the eastern half of Prees Heath Common. Plans are in hand to repeat this count in Stephen Lewis & John Davis February 2013