Just a thought. To what extent can a wildlife site be managed, and should they be managed?

Many of our orchids, especially the rarer and more local ones, grow in reserves and other managed sites. Some are even caged to prevent grazing .. or even human activity. There has been some mention of caged plants on discussion forums (fora?) and to be honest this doesn't seemed to have helped the Red Helleborines, one of Britain's rarest, on one site where a single spike was viewable through a zoom lens. Is this because caging the plants has upset the habitat just enough to tip the balance? Lack of grazing may have caused the surrounding vegetation to grow higher, or upset the moisture content of the soil, or any number of factors. On the other hand when you have such a small colony of rare orchids you cannot leave them at the mercy of rabbits ... or collectors! A dilemma.

Near another site in Kent, alongside a road were two square protected areas, again presumably to prevent rabbits eating the orchids that were growing in the middle. It would seem that this netting only highlighted the presence of something worth protecting as the flowers had been picked.

At Ynyslas in Wales there is a system of mobile dunes facing the sea, with orchidiferous dune slacks behind. It is a popular tourist beach with long wide clean sands, and (too) many caravans parked the other side of the approach road. Parts are fenced off from the visitors, and boardwalks provided to the beach. A lot of effort has been put in to help preserve the status quo. But as I have reported elsewhere this management has had the unwanted effect of scrub encroachment, to my mind possibly affecting the balance and numbers of orchid species in the dunes and slacks. Can a habitat be over-managed, or does intervention introduce new factors? If it wasn't for the visitors could this ecosystem be left to itself; let nature take its course. Of course it may change eventually, but nature would provide new opportunities for the orchids elsewhere, possibly not all in the same place nor in the same numbers. But that's nature for you. Who are we to argue with that?