Milton Country Park has come under fire for clearing a large swathe of habitat in the middle of bird-nesting season.
Scrub, brambles and bankside vegetation were removed by heavy vehicles around Hall’s Pool and Dickerson’s Pit on 10 and 11 May.
Cambridgeshire Bird Club has voiced its anger in a letter to the park, saying: “A bird club member witnessed a digger clearing large amounts of vegetation around Hall’s Pool and by the evening the full scale of habitat destruction had become very evident.
“We would like Milton Country Park (MCP) to explain why habitat clearance needs to be carried out in the middle of the breeding season.
“In their initial response, MCP justified their action saying this was the only ‘availability of the contractor’, which should go without saying is irrelevant when the law should be complied by.
“All birds, their nests and eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
“Any required clearance of habitat should be scheduled outside of the breeding season (March-August).
“When clearance is absolutely necessary – and to our knowledge this has not been justified by Milton Country Park – then experienced ecological clerk of works (ECoW) should be deployed to ensure the law is not contravened.
“The ECoW will require specialist ornithological skills as locating bird nests in habitats such as scrub is extremely difficult and requires time and effort.”
The club’s letter adds that while it may be possible to give a green light to clearance of a habitat such as an “isolated hedgerow”, it is “seldom possible in dense scrub even when employing qualified ECoWs”.
And it notes: “The area in question is a small lake within woodland in the heart of the park. It is very likely that multiple low-nesting species, such as blackcap, chiffchaff, robin, dunnock, long-tailed tit, plus others, were nesting in this habitat prior to clearance.
“Cetti’s warbler and kingfisher are Schedule 1 species which have nested in the park before; was the presence of these species surveyed before work was carried out?”
The letter is signed by Jon Heath, Cambridgeshire county bird recorder, who witnessed the clearance himself, and by Cambridgeshire Bird Club chairman Andrew Dobson and ecological consultant Ian Ellis.
They say their view is that “Milton Country Park could not be sure that they were abiding by the law when undertaking these activities” and add: “It seems in this case little consideration has been made for the wildlife that makes its home in the park or for nature-loving park visitors who have been left distressed by the situation.”
The letter concludes: “If our country parks have no regard for wildlife, then what chance does it have in a time of ongoing biodiversity crisis? We understand that park maintenance has to be carried out from time to time, but the ongoing trend of vegetation clearance at the park has been regrettable and MCP’s attitude to the outlined concerns gives us little confidence that management will have biodiversity at the forefront in the future.”
In a statement to the Cambridge Independent in response, Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust, which runs Milton Country Park, said: “The trust is proud of the wide range of natural habitats which we work hard to maintain and improve at Milton Country Park.
“We are aware of the concerns and reports that have been raised in this instance when we did some work to maintain and improve the water habitat in one part of the park. There is a balance to be struck when working with diverse habitats and we will aim to communicate our plans more clearly in the future.”
