Wildlife charities have written to the Secretary of State for Defence, John Healy, calling on him to step in and save a nationally important wildlife site in Essex. The Middlewick Ranges in Colchester has been put up for sale, with the land earmarked for up to 1,000 houses to be built- despite it being one of Essex’s largest remaining acid grassland habitats.
Wildlife experts say that the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) actions would be at odds with its biodiversity commitments and the sustainable development commitments of the Government. They suggest that the sale of Middlewick Ranges would set a worrying precedent for Government departments ignoring their responsibilities for wildlife and set back the Government’s vital nature recovery ambitions. This follows calls earlier this year for the site to be designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest- our most important protected places for wildlife.
The MoD is responsible for the management of nature-rich sites across the UK, including such iconic sites as the Salisbury Plain Training Area and the Castlemartin Tank Firing Range. However, Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, Colchester Natural History Society, Essex Field Club, Essex Wildlife Trust and the community led Friends of Middlewick say that the MoD’s decision to sell the 76 hectare Local Wildlife Site for housing would be catastrophic for the animals that call it home and are urging it to reconsider its position
Sitting on the southern edge of Colchester, the Middlewick Ranges is a former firing range that has become a much-loved community green space in an increasingly congested city. With habitats lost across the landscape, Middlewick now supports over 10% of the county’s rare remaining acid grassland. Its expansive mosaic of flowery grassland, sandy slopes, lichen heath, scrub, ponds and hedgerows has made it home to a rich diversity of animals.
Middlewick Ranges is a part of a nationally important network of sites for Red Listed Nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) – forming part of an assemblage of over 20 Red and Amber Listed breeding birds on the site. It is home to nearly 1,500 invertebrate species, including 167 species of conservation concern. Incredibly, a quarter of all the UK’s spider species have been recorded here, including the Vulnerable Six-spotted Mouse-spider (Phaeocedus braccatus). It is also home to a quarter of all of Essex’s recorded butterflies and moths. Other threatened species have found a refuge here, such as the striking Endangered Necklace Ground Beetle (Carabus monilis) and the Four-banded Weevil-wasp (Cerceris quadricincta), a wasp only found in Essex and Kent. The Ranges also support thriving populations of reptiles, amphibians, mammals and specialist waxcap fungi.
Martin Pugh, Deputy Chair of the Friends of Middlewick Ranges says, “Middlewick Ranges Local Wildlife Site is treasured locally but is of national importance. Those well-trodden sandy slopes and acid grassland are now a curiosity in Essex which has lost so much of this irreplaceable habitat. Home to a premier UK Nightingale population, European protected Barbastelle Bats and a myriad of wildlife, including notable and rare invertebrates, biodiverse gems like Middlewick simply must be retained, protected and enhanced. In a biodiversity and climate crisis our local community – and UK wildlife – cannot afford to lose a site like Middlewick Ranges to short-term thinking.”
Jamie Robins, Programmes Manager of Buglife says, “Against the background of a nature emergency, with our insects in steep decline, it is more important than ever for Government departments to do everything in their power to protect our most important wildlife sites. If we are to meet our ambitious 30 x 30 targets, we need to protect special places such as Middlewick Ranges, which is entirely within the powers of the MoD to achieve.”
Dr Jeremy Dagley, Director of Conservation at Essex Wildlife Trust says,”Middlewick Ranges is an outstandingly important site for biodiversity, not only for Colchester, but for Essex and the wider South East region. It is one of Colchester’s largest Local Wildlife Sites, covering almost 4% of the Council’s total Local Wildlife Site area. With tens of hectares of rare acid grassland, Middlewick Ranges supports the largest extent of this special habitat in north Essex. The grassland and its underlying carbon-rich soils have lain undisturbed for over two centuries and this has allowed high levels of biodiversity to develop and flourish. It is of the same ecological importance as acid grasslands of fully protected SSSIs, like Epping Forest”.
Read the letter to UK Secretary of State for Defence, John Healy, here.
Main Image Credit: Middlewick Ranges Colchester Natural History Society Walk (from top of sandy rifflebutt) ©️ Martin Pugh
