If you ask somebody what a ranger does, they will likely conjure images of khaki-adorned, rifle-bearing people travelling through the savannah in a Jeep, protecting elephants and rhinos from would-be poachers.
Our ranger team looks after several sites across the Cotswold Lakes, from high-value nature reserves to country parks and even car parks. We work year-round to protect and enhance wildlife habitats and to ensure people can enjoy nature safely and responsibly — a very varied role that means no two days are ever the same. In this first of two blogs, I will endeavour to shed some light on the practical work rangers undertake on reserves in the Cotswold Lakes.
Practical reserve management
Although varied, the main focus of a ranger’s role is the practical management of land, whether for conservation or public use. This is usually the reason someone becomes a ranger: to spend their days outdoors, getting boots muddy and making a real difference for wildlife.
The designation of the Cotswold Lakes as an SSSI in 2021 recognises the huge variety of habitats present, from shallow pools and deep open water to reedbeds, marsh, wet ditches and rush pastures, as well as woodland and scattered scrub. These varied habitats support important numbers of breeding and non-breeding birds, as well as rare plants such as the Black Poplar
Left to their own devices, our reserves would naturally develop and mature through a process known as vegetation succession, eventually becoming closed-canopy woodland. In an intact ecosystem, large, free-roaming herbivores would slow or halt this succession, keeping habitats open and varied. Today, this job falls to rangers. We mimic these natural processes to hold habitats at earlier stages of succession, such as scrub. These stages support the incredible range of species found here and help maintain the rich mosaic described in the SSSI designation.
A light touch – Mosaics and the importance of an ecotone!
A mosaic of habitats at Cleveland Lakes – open water, shallow pools, reed, grassland, willow scrub and mature woodland in which herons build their nests.
To create varied habitats, we often need to control scrub and woody vegetation, primarily willow. In doing so, we replicate the role of herbivores such as beavers or red deer (a species now thought to be more adapted to lowland wet valleys than the upland hills of Scotland they have become synonymous with). Without this management, willow can quickly dominate lake margins and shade out reedbeds — habitats relied on by species such as Bittern and Reed Warbler.
But balance is key and willow is also valuable for a number of species, especially insects with willow being second only to oak in the number of invertebrate species it supports. Many of our important species thrive in ecotones — the transitional zones where habitats overlap. Sedge Warblers, Cetti’s Warblers, and countless invertebrates rely on these rich, layered environments.
To maximise biodiversity, we aim to create a mosaic of habitats; from open water and reedbeds to scrub, woodland, and everything in between. Take the grey heron: its prey needs permanent open water, the heron itself needs shallow pools or lake margins to hunt, and it nests in tall trees. A mosaic means all these needs can be met.
How do we do it?
Willow being removed from a reed fringe at Shorncote Reedbeds – Bittern successfully breed on this reserve due to the reed fringe habitat on site.
Ask any volunteer what they get up to during work parties and most will reply: “We cut willow.”
Using chainsaws or hand saws, we cut willow at the base, brash is stacked into piles or linear dead hedges, creating valuable habitat for insects, amphibians, small mammals and nesting birds. On very wet ground, where brash could root and regrow, we might have to chip or burn it to prevent undoing our efforts.
We also cut grassland to prevent scrub encroachment. Where possible, we remove cuttings to reduce nutrient buildup and boost botanical diversity. Some areas are left uncut or cut on longer rotations to support overwintering insects and provide seeds for birds—again, it’s all about mosaics and ecotones.
So that’s the basis of how our rangers manage sites across the Cotswold Lakes. Hopefully, next time you visit, you’ll have a deeper understanding of what goes into making them what they are. If you would like to get involved in helping us manage our reserves you can join one of our volunteer work parties. Visit www.cotswoldlakestrust.org/volunteering to register as a volunteer and find out more.
I hope to see you out there soon!
Kieren Thomas, Head Ranger