What’s new?
Walkies! Top tips for wildlife friendly dog walkers
Dog owners are invited to an event at Galley and Warden Hills - Luton’s foremost nature reserve – to learn more about walking their dog responsibly whilst safeguarding rare wildlife and protecting grazing sheep and cattle.
Warden Hill Walkies on 7 and 10 March will give dog owners a chance to discuss issues with the nature reserve officer and a professional dog trainer will be on hand to give training advice and demonstrations.
The nature reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its rare and fragile chalk grassland habitat and is an important refuge for scarce butterflies and rare insects. The best way to preserve this grassland and the wildlife that depends on it is to graze the reserve with either sheep or cattle. This is the traditional and most effective way to provide optimum conditions for the grassland flowers that thrive on the site but livestock and wildlife can be disturbed by dogs.
Warden Hill reserves officer for the Wildlife Trust, Esther Clarke, said, “Dog walkers are some of our most loyal and regular visitors and we want dogs and their owners to enjoy their visit but we have to ensure that wildlife is protected too. On this public site everyone has a part to play and we hope that visitors with dogs will respect the wildlife and the livestock so that the nature reserve and its sensitive wildlife can be preserved for many more generations to enjoy.”
Under the new Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000, certain areas of the countryside have been designated as ‘Open Access Land’ to give walkers more freedom to enjoy the nation’s countryside. There are several of these areas in Bedfordshire, including Galley and Warden Hills. In order to protect the interests of farmers and their livestock and to limit the disturbance to wildlife, for example ground-nesting birds like skylarks, certain restrictions were also put in place which affect dog walkers. These include keeping dogs on a short, fixed lead during the bird nesting season (between 31st March and 31st July) and where livestock is present. There may also be additional local restrictions.
At Galley and Warden Hills, Esther hopes to maintain a balance between the needs of dogs and the needs of the wildlife. “We want to ensure that the nature reserve can always be a place to enjoy walking the dog as well as the spectacular wildlife. The plan is to only have livestock on part of the site at any one time so that there is always somewhere people can let the dog have a run about. At the busiest times of year - such as the school summer holidays - we do not plan to have any livestock on the site. We will try to keep people fully informed as to where livestock will be so they can plan their visits.”
In the next few months a new fence will be erected on Warden Hill to create an additional grazing area to enable more flexibility for grazing different parts of the hill. Initially the sourthen-most part of Warden Hill will not be grazed. Docile, rare-breed Shorthorn cattle, who are used to people and dogs have been chosen to graze the site and will be on site in the spring. The site will still be fully open to the public but dog walkers will be asked to keep their dogs under close control where the cattle are. Meanwhile, the sheep on Galley Hill to the north will be taken off in April.
Warden Hill Walkies is part of Central Bedfordshire Council’s Dogs in Open Country project, funded by Natural England.
To book your place on the walks or if you have any questions about walking your dog(s) at Galley and Warden Hills please contact Esther Clarke on 07540 669907 or email esther.clarke@wildlifebcnp.org
The free walks on 7 and 10 March will run from 10am- 1pm.
More information on Central Bedfordshire’s Open Access Land
More information on Luton’s Nature Conservation Service
