Events Fun for all at ARC Friend’s Week 2021! By Anju Sarpal - Outreach and Communications Manager Following a difficult year due to the COVID pandemic and lockdown we wanted to celebrate the support of our ARC Friends by offering five days of free in-person guided walks across Cumbria, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and Norfolk. Supporters joined ARC staff on some key nature reserves to learn more about the sites, the wildlife that calls them home and our work to conserve them. Our ARC Friends enjoyed a range of events, from getting involved in a live sand lizard release with Marwell Zoo and Forestry England, to collecting useful monitoring records at East Weavers Down. Visitors to Great Ovens managed to find smooth snakes using GPS to locate refugia and visitors Common lizards at East Weavers Down in Surrey © Howard to St Catherine’s Hill enjoyed a guided Inns (ARC) archaeological walk. ARC currently manages over 2000 hectares across 80 reserves. Land management has always been the core activity of ARC, focusing on the reptile rich counties of Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey, but now incorporating nature reserves nationally including important amphibian sites in Cumbria, Norfolk and north Wales. We consider the best way to conserve our native species is by managing important core areas of their UK distribution and using these as demonstration sites to influence the thoughts and actions of others. Initially concentrating on threatened lowland heathlands in the south, we are now active across a wider range of habitats across the country, including military ranges, golf clubs and national parks.
"I attended the Woodbury Common walk. It was brilliant. Learned a lot and enjoyed the place, the animals we saw, and the people. I hope that there will be future opportunities to do this again." Andrew - ARC Member
The majority of our work on these sites is carried out by our own experienced field teams who undertake a seasonal set of activities; primarily tree and scrub control during the winter followed by bracken control, site infrastructure maintenance and monitoring work during the warmer months. Although our primary focus is herpetological we have a range of skills and specialisms within our teams which reflect our aim of managing our sites for the full variety of wildlife present, including insects, birds and plant species, in many cases equally rare or threatened. Following the success of the week we aim to offer further walks for our supporters. It’s an opportunity to get to know reserves, ARC staff and mingle with our volunteers.
"I was thrilled to be allowed to join our partners from ARC and Forestry England, and to meet representatives from Marwell Wildlife for the lizard release in Puddletown Forest. It was a real treat to assist and to see so many sand lizards so close up. Hearing about the work being done within the project was fascinating and I look forward to following its progress. The Urban Heaths Partnership is constantly working towards protecting and enhancing our Dorset heathland habitats and the wildlife they sustain, so to be present at the culmination of so much hard work was very special and my heartfelt thanks to all involved. 16
Photo above: Heather Radice releasing a sand lizard © ARC
Heather Radice - Project Support Officer - Urban Heaths Partnership.
