Managing Livestock for Wildlife at Rainham Marshes
PRESS RELEASE
November 7, 2007
Wild West comes to the Wild East
If the only corral you have ever heard of is in the classic Western, “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, then you might be surprised that the wildest part of east London is about to gain two corrals of its own. And they are going to be far more than just OK!
The state-of-the-art corrals are being built at RSPB Rainham Marshes as a key tool in managing this huge new area of nature reserve.
The corrals will be used to help in the handling of over 200 hundred cattle and 150 sheep which are used by the RSPB as living lawnmowers to keep the marshland habitat in the right condition for wildlife.
The new corrals are generously funded by SITA Trust, the Rail Link Countryside Initiative (RLCI) and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC).
Julian Nash, Rainham Marshes very own John Wayne, said, “Rainham Marshes is the size of about 500 football pitches, so we need big numbers of livestock roaming across it to keep the grass under control.
‘Our new corrals will mean that, when it comes to having to give the cattle health checks, they are much calmer and safer to work with.
‘We hope that our corrals will become ‘show facilities’ to highlight best practice in livestock management.”
This little taste of the Wild West can be seen from the RSPB Visitor Centre at Purfleet, open daily.
John Leaver, Chairman of SITA Trust, said; “The RSPB is an organisation that the Trust has built a superb relationship with over the years and this is once again a fantastic project that we have been delighted to support under our Enriching Nature programme.”
David Standen, Director of RLCI said; “We are very pleased to be supporting such an important project. Grazing is fundamental to securing the wildlife interest and landscape character of the marshes for the longer term. We are particularly pleased to see the RSPB adopting the most up to date technology to ensure minimum stress for the animals and minimum risk for staff”
Jennifer Norman, Development manager of LTGDC said; “It has been a pleasure to work with the RSPB to enhance Rainham Marshes on a programme of projects that will contribute towards key green-space infrastructure for local communities. The public-access Discovery Zones and the Environment & Education Centre are exciting and well designed projects, and the new cattle corals are essential to the ongoing management of this bio-diverse habitat.”
For further information contact: Andrew Stanton, Communications Officer - 01708 899 846 or 07889 615 748
Notes to Editors:
1. Rainham Marshes
The new cattle handling facilities (‘corrals’) are designed using current animal behavioural principles as recommended by Dr. Temple Grandin, the world’s foremost cattle handling expert. The facilities will make handling of the livestock easier and decrease animal stress during routine husbandry activities. A diagram of the corral is available in request.
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is inarguably the most accomplished and well-known adult with autism in the world. She has been featured on major television programs, such as "ABC's Primetime Live", the "Today Show", "Larry King Live", "48 Hours" and "20/20" and written up in national publications, such as Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and New York Times. For more information see: http://www.templegrandin.com/
Rainham Marshes is next to the River Thames, just inside the M25 and within sight of the Dartford Crossing. It is an ancient marshland that survived because the Ministry of Defence used the area as a firing range until the 1990s. The RSPB bought the 870-acre site in 2000. It was opened to the public in November 2006.
The establishment of the RSPB nature reserve and the Purfleet Environment and Education Centre is part of Phase 1 in the development of a large area of green open space on the London/Essex border to benefit wildlife and people. It is known as 'Wildspace for a World City'. The organisations taking this ambitious and exciting project forward are: RSPB, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, SITA Trust, Channel Tunnel Rail Link, London Borough of Havering, Thurrock Council, Veolia ES Cleanaway Ltd, Environment Agency, Natural England, Port of London Authority and Veolia ES Cleanaway Havering Riverside Trust, Mayor of London, London Development Agency, TfL (Transport for London) and Design for London.
The construction of RSPB Purfleet Environment and Education Centre would not have been possible without the generous support of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Veolia ES Cleanaway Havering Riverside Trust, Heritage Lottery Fund, The City Bridge Trust, and the South Essex Green Grid/Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.
In summer, wading birds such as lapwings and redshanks breed on Rainham Marshes. High numbers of wintering ducks, wading birds, finches and birds of prey use the site in winter with flocks often numbering more than 7,000 birds. The rare water vole and scarce wetland plants and insects are also found at Rainham.
The RSPB owns nearly 20 square kilometres of land in the Thames Gateway, the largest area of land owned by a non-governmental organisation in the Gateway.
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