[Adastra] archaic grasslands unofficial grazing

[david bangs]

"Pooving the grais"

Three times recently I've come across romany travellers unofficially grazing (poove) their horses (grais) on neglected archaic Wealden grasslands in middle Sussex and SE Surrey. They say they "poove the grais". I've seen it on two neglected commons, where they keep their ponies on plug chains, though a foal was unchained, and once on a meadow that is mown but never grazed. This traveller woman and her dad regularly lead their horse onto the meadow in the evenings for a good feed up when no-one is about.



The travellers can do this because the neglected sites are unfenced, so they can easily walk on.



All three of these sites benefit from such grazing...and on one of them it is the only management (though the common is lovely...with abundant Pepper Saxifrage and Burnet Saxifrage....and some Cut Leaved Bramble with the juiciest blackberries !!) The ponies and horses seem contented and secure.



It's good to know that someone is doing the right thing by these places. Does anyone know of any more old grassland sites that benefit from this practice ?



I remember a young romany bloke staying on Whitehawk Hill for a bit and grazing his pony by his trailer (till the council moved him on). It may have been the first time the Hill's chalk grassland had stock grazing since world war two !!



Dave Bangs
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sxbrc.org.uk/pipermail/adastra_lists.sxbrc.org.uk/attachments/20131021/b2688e3a/attachment.html>

[James, Trevor J.]

For what it's worth, several sites, not just commons, receive this sort of unofficial grazing in Hertfordshire, at least one of which (a former gravel pit, back-filled and formerly threatened with re-development) is only of any interest because of this intermittent, unofficial (and frowned-upon) grazing! The problem is getting it properly timed and sanctioned.

Trevor James
________________________________________
From: Adastra [adastra-bounces at lists.sxbrc.org.uk] On Behalf Of david bangs [dave.bangs at virgin.net]
Sent: 21 October 2013 23:41
To: adastra at lists.sxbrc.org.uk
Subject: [Adastra] archaic grasslands unofficial grazing

"Pooving the grais"

Three times recently I?ve come across romany travellers unofficially grazing (poove) their horses (grais) on neglected archaic Wealden grasslands in middle Sussex and SE Surrey. They say they ?poove the grais?. I?ve seen it on two neglected commons, where they keep their ponies on plug chains, though a foal was unchained, and once on a meadow that is mown but never grazed. This traveller woman and her dad regularly lead their horse onto the meadow in the evenings for a good feed up when no-one is about.

The travellers can do this because the neglected sites are unfenced, so they can easily walk on.

All three of these sites benefit from such grazing...and on one of them it is the only management (though the common is lovely...with abundant Pepper Saxifrage and Burnet Saxifrage....and some Cut Leaved Bramble with the juiciest blackberries !!) The ponies and horses seem contented and secure.

It?s good to know that someone is doing the right thing by these places. Does anyone know of any more old grassland sites that benefit from this practice ?

I remember a young romany bloke staying on Whitehawk Hill for a bit and grazing his pony by his trailer (till the council moved him on). It may have been the first time the Hill?s chalk grassland had stock grazing since world war two !!

Dave Bangs

This message (and any attachments) is for the recipient only. NERC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the contents of this email and any reply you make may be disclosed by NERC unless it is exempt from release under the Act. Any material supplied to NERC may be stored in an electronic records management system.